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Key takeaways
- A Google Business Profile is free. Nobody has to pay Google to appear on Maps, and anyone charging you a listing fee is selling something else.
- You do not need a shopfront. A service-area business can run from home with the address hidden, which is what most trades should do.
- Verification is the real gate. Until the profile is verified it will not rank, however complete it looks.
- A new profile usually appears within days of verification but takes months to rank, so treat the listing as the start rather than the result.
To get your business on Google Maps, create a free Google Business Profile at google.com/business, enter your business name, category and service area, then complete verification. It costs nothing, it takes about twenty minutes, and the listing normally appears within a few days of being verified. Everything that decides whether customers actually find you happens after that.
How do I put my business on Google Maps for free?
- Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Google account you want to own the listing. Use a business account you control, not a staff member's personal one.
- Enter the business name exactly as you trade, then choose the most specific primary category available.
- Choose whether you serve customers at your address or at theirs. Trades almost always want the second option.
- Add your phone number and website, then request verification.
- While you wait, write out every service with a real description, load real photos of your vans and crews, and set your hours.
Is it really free?
Yes. A Business Profile costs nothing, and Google does not sell map pack positions. If someone is invoicing you a monthly fee simply to be listed on Google Maps, they are either reselling work you could do yourself or charging you for nothing. What you can pay for is advertising, which is a separate slot and clearly labelled, and that difference is covered in can you pay Google to rank higher in the map pack.
Do I need a physical address?
No, and most trades should not show one. Google supports two shapes of business, and picking the wrong one causes problems later.
| Type | Who it suits | What shows publicly |
|---|---|---|
| Storefront | Somewhere customers come to you: a showroom, a workshop with a counter | The street address and a pin at that address |
| Service area business | Plumbers, roofers, electricians, anyone who travels to the job | Your service areas, with the street address hidden |
| Hybrid | A trade with a yard customers occasionally visit | The address and the service areas |
If you work from home, set it up as a service-area business and hide the address. Leaving a home address visible is both a privacy problem and, if it does not look like a business premises, a suspension risk.
How does verification work?
Verification is Google confirming the business is real and that you are the one running it. Which method you are offered depends on the business type and is not really negotiable, so plan for the slowest one.
| Method | How it works | Typical wait |
|---|---|---|
| Video verification | A continuous recording showing your street, signage, premises and evidence you operate there | Days, and the most common method for trades now |
| Phone or text | A code sent to the business number on the listing | Minutes, when it is offered |
| A code to a business email on your own domain | Minutes, rarely offered | |
| Postcard | A code posted to the street address | Two weeks or more, and slower to rural New Zealand |
For video verification, film it in one continuous take without stopping. Start at the street sign, walk to the premises, show your signage, then show something that proves the business operates from there: branded vehicles, tools, stock, or paperwork with the business name on it. A recording that cuts between shots gets rejected.
What should I do in the first week?
The listing existing does very little on its own. The things that actually start producing calls, roughly in order of payoff:
- Set the most specific primary category you can, then fill in the services section. Almost every trade profile leaves it blank, which is free ground.
- Load real photos: your vans with signage, crews working, finished jobs. Not stock images and not AI ones.
- Write a description that says what you do, where, and carries your PGDB or LBP registration.
- Ask ten recent customers for a review, spread over the week rather than all at once, and ask them to mention the job and the suburb.
- Get the same name, address and phone number onto Yellow, Neighbourly, NoCowboys and Builderscrack so Google can corroborate you exist.
How long before my business shows up on Google Maps?
Usually within a few days of verification, sometimes the same day. Ranking is a different timeline entirely. A brand new profile with no reviews and no website behind it will not appear for competitive searches for months, because Google has nothing yet to tell it you are a real, active, trusted business.
Why is my business not showing on Google Maps?
- It is not verified yet. This is the most common answer by a distance. Unverified profiles do not rank.
- You are searching from the wrong place. Maps results change with the searcher's location, so checking from your own office tells you very little about what a customer across town sees.
- There is a duplicate listing competing with the one you are managing.
- The profile is suspended. If it has vanished rather than never appeared, start with the reinstatement guide.
- You are simply too new. Being on Maps and ranking on Maps are different things.
Once the listing is live, the next step is the part that actually produces calls: the profile checklist, then reviews. Both are in the Google Business Profile checklist for trade businesses.
Read next: the Google Business Profile checklist and how Google decides who shows up in the top three.
