Google Business Profile: the complete guide for local businesses in Norway

What is Google Business Profile, and who can get one?

Google Business Profile is the listing Google shows when someone searches for your business, or for a service near them, on Google Search and Google Maps. In other words, it is your Google Maps business listing, with your name, address or service area, opening hours, phone, website, photos and reviews. Google's help pages say it was formerly known as Google My Business or Google Places. It is the same product, and it costs nothing to use.

Google's eligibility guidelines say a business must make in person contact with customers during its stated hours. Online only businesses, rental properties and lead generation companies are not eligible. In practice there are three types:

How do you create and verify a Google Business Profile?

Plan about an hour for the Google Business Profile setup itself, plus the time verification takes. Use a Google Account that belongs to the business owner, not to an employee or an agency.

1. Check if a profile exists. Search for the business on Google Maps. If it is unverified, choose Claim this business, then Manage now. If a former employee or an old agency verified it, choose Request access; Google gives the current owner 3 days to respond.
2. Start the profile. Go to business.google.com/add, choose Add your business to Google and follow the steps.
3. Name, category, location. Enter the name exactly as on your sign, choose the most specific primary category, and add either the address customers visit or the towns and postcodes you cover.
4. Phone and website. A number someone answers during opening hours, and the full website address with https.
5. Verify. Choose one of the methods Google offers.

Verification methods Google uses today

Google decides which methods you get, based on business type, public information, region and opening hours, and you cannot change the choice. Sometimes you need more than one:

• Phone or text: a code by call or SMS. A phone menu system cannot receive it.
• Email: a message to the address shown on the screen.
• Video recording: recommended by Google where available. At least 30 seconds, unedited and recorded live.
• Live video call: with a Google support representative during your opening hours. Not available for all businesses.
• Postcard: a 5 digit code by mail. Most arrive within 14 days and expire after 30 days. Do not edit the name, address or category while you wait.
• Instant verification: possible in some cases if your website is verified in Google Search Console.

Google's review can take up to 5 business days, and photos stay hidden until the profile is verified.

Which primary category should you choose?

The primary category is the most important choice in the profile. Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking, and some categories come with extra features: health and beauty businesses, for example, can add a booking button and services.

Choose the most specific category that describes what the business is. Google's own example is "Nail salon" rather than "Salon". You can add up to 9 more categories for real parts of the business, but not one per service.

• Look at the leaders. Search for your main service and town on Google Maps and note the category under the top names.
• Choose from the list. You cannot create your own category.
• Change with care. Google warns that editing a category may mean you have to verify again.

Which fields should you fill in?

Google is direct: profiles with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. Open Edit profile on Google Search, or Business and then Edit profile in the Google Maps app, and go through every field.

Special hours only show when regular hours are set to "Open with main hours". Google's holiday list for Norway already includes Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve 2026, and customers may see a warning that hours can differ, so set them now. For booking, open Booking, choose Add link, and mark your own page as Business preferred if a platform also appears. See also how to run your own booking page with Vipps.

In some regions you also get fields for social media links and for WhatsApp or SMS chat. If they appear under Edit profile, use them.

Photos and posts: what should you show?

Google's photo tips suggest at least three photos of each type that fits your business: exterior, interior, products, at work and team.

• Salon or clinic: the entrance, the treatment room, the team, hands at work, and results only from customers who agreed.
• Craftsman: finished jobs before and after, the team on site, the van with your logo.
• Shop: the storefront, shelves and popular products.

Google's requirements: JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, recommended 720 × 720 pixels, at least 250 × 250, in focus and well lit, without heavy filters or AI edits. Videos: up to 30 seconds and 75 MB, 720p or higher.

Posts show news on the profile. Open Posts, choose Add post and pick Update, Offer or Event. Posts older than six months are archived unless you set a date range, so post every week or two. Keep phone numbers out of the text: Google may reject a post with a number it cannot connect to the business. Good topics: open appointments next week, a finished bathroom in Lørenskog with two photos, holiday hours, a new treatment with its price.

How do you rank higher on Google Maps?

Google says local results are mainly based on three factors, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches the search. Category, services and description matter here.
• Distance: how far the business is from the person searching. You cannot change it.
• Prominence: how well known the business is, based on information such as how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.

Verified profiles are also more likely to show up, according to Google. Your website matters too: Google uses publicly available information, such as content from your official site, when it builds business information. That is why this guide works best together with how to get found on Google.

Reviews

Google writes that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask every satisfied customer with a link or QR code, and reply to every review, the critical ones too. Offering discounts or gifts for reviews is strictly prohibited by Google. The full method with templates is in how to get more Google reviews.

The same name, address and phone everywhere

Google builds business information from several sources: owners and users, publicly available information such as your website, licensed data from third parties and its own interactions with the business. My practical advice: make every public source say exactly the same thing. In Norway, check these four:

1. Brønnøysundregistrene. The official source. A sole proprietorship updates its address, name or contact details with the form Samordnet registermelding (Coordinated register notification) in Altinn.
2. Proff. Names Brønnøysundregistrene as its primary source for official company information. If that is right but the contact details are wrong, contact Proff's customer centre.
3. Gule Sider. Search for your business, choose "Endre dine detaljer" and sign with BankID. Name, address and phone are updated once a week.
4. 1881. On Min bedrift you can change name, addresses, phone numbers, links, industries and opening hours.

Use the same version in your website footer. "Storgata 1" in one place and "Storgt. 1" in another is exactly the kind of difference worth removing.

Which rules can get your profile suspended?

Breaking Google's guidelines for representing your business can lead to changed information, removal or suspension. The rules that matter most for local businesses:

• The real name only. Google does not allow slogans, service descriptions or location details in the name, and says unnecessary information there could result in suspension. Allowed: "Example Plumbing AS". Not allowed: "Example Plumbing AS Plumber Oslo 24/7".
• A real address. No P.O. boxes, and virtual offices are not eligible. A coworking space only qualifies with signage, your own staff and customers during opening hours.
• One profile per business. A craftsman gets one profile with a service area, not one per town.
• A phone number you control, never one that sends callers elsewhere.

If the profile is suspended, check it against the guidelines, then appeal in Google's appeals tool with evidence such as a business registration or utility bills where name and address match. An appeal can only be submitted once, and Google asks you not to create a new profile for the same business.

Features Google has removed

Older guides still tell you to switch on chat. According to Google Business Profile Help, the chat and call history features are no longer available as of 31 July 2024. Customers can still call from the profile, and some regions offer WhatsApp or text messages for verified profiles instead.

Which numbers should you watch, and what is a good weekly routine?

Open the profile and choose Performance (verified profiles only):

Note calls and website clicks in a spreadsheet once a month; they matter more than views. Add UTM parameters to the website link in the profile, for example utm_source=google, utm_medium=organic and utm_campaign=gbp, so Google Analytics shows those visits separately. No tracking on your site yet? Start with conversion tracking for your website.

The weekly 15 minute routine

1. Reviews, 5 minutes. Reply to every new review, by name and with one specific detail.
2. Google updates, 2 minutes. Check the profile for edits suggested by users or Google. You have 4 days to accept or reject; after that, Google may publish the edit if other public information supports it.
3. Photos, 3 minutes. Add one or two photos from the week's work.
4. Post, 3 minutes. An update or offer every week or two.
5. Hours, 2 minutes. Look two weeks ahead and set special hours.

Common mistakes and a checklist for this week

Common mistakes, each one against Google's rules or advice: towns or services in the business name, a craftsman showing a home address, a broad category where a specific one exists, no special hours at Christmas, a profile owned by a former employee or agency, a second profile after a suspension, and different phone numbers on the website, Gule Sider and 1881.

• Claim or create the profile, and verify with the method Google offers.
• Set the real business name and the most specific primary category.
• Fill in hours, special hours for Christmas and New Year, services, attributes and the description.
• Add a booking link, the website with UTM parameters and a phone number you answer.
• Upload at least three photos each of the exterior or van, the interior or finished jobs, and the team.
• Check Brønnøysundregistrene, Proff, Gule Sider and 1881 for the same name, address and phone.
• Ask five recent customers for a review and reply to every existing one.
• Put the 15 minute routine in your calendar for every Monday.

When the profile is in order, think about AI answers too: SEO, GEO, AEO and AIO explained covers what changes when customers ask an AI assistant instead of searching.