Guide for shop owners
Check verification first. Google says that when you add and verify your Business Profile, customers can find your business on Search and Maps. The other usual causes are a second copy of your listing, which Google hides, or a suspended profile. Each one has a free fix you can start today.
Sign in to the Google account tied to your shop. Then search your shop's name and city, or search the words "my business". Our tip: after that, open a private window, signed out, and search again. That second view is what a customer sees.
Go to business.google.com/add and choose "Add your business to Google". Follow the steps on the screen. Adding or claiming your business is at no charge.
On a computer, open Google Maps and search your shop's name and city. Select "Claim this business", then "Manage now", and pick a way to verify.
Google picks the ways you can verify, such as a phone call, text, email, video or a postcard, and you cannot change them. Google says its review takes up to 5 business days. If you wait on a postcard, do not change your name, address or category, and do not ask for a new code. Either one makes the mailed code stop working.
Google allows one profile for each business. A profile it marks as a duplicate will not show on Search or Maps. If you made the extra one by mistake, Google's duplicates page shows how to remove it.
Google says shops with complete and correct info are more likely to show in local results. Add your full address, your hours, and the kind of shop you are.
Every step about how Google or Apple works comes from the official help pages below. Checked November 2026. These pages change, so open them if a button has moved.
Would you rather not keep up your website and Google listing yourself? See what PageCrisp does. Want to see where your shop stands? Run the free shop check.