Google Business Profile: A Guide for Local Businesses

What Google Business Profile is

It's that box that pops up on the right when you type a company's name, and what puts you on the map with three results when someone searches "hairdresser Banja Luka". It used to be called Google My Business. It's free.

For a large number of small businesses in Bosnia, that profile brings in more calls than the website — because someone urgently looking for a tradesperson isn't going to open websites, they're going to call the first number on the map. The site and the profile work together: the profile gets you onto the map, the site convinces whoever clicks through.

Step 1: setup and verification

You go to Google Business Profile, search for your company (it may already exist — Google sometimes creates listings on its own) and claim ownership. If it doesn't exist, you create a new one.

Verification is usually done by postcard with a code sent to the business address, sometimes by phone or video. The postcard can take two to three weeks, so plan for that.

Important decision: if clients come to you (salon, clinic, restaurant) — show the address. If you go to them or work online (tradespeople, consultants, developers) — set yourself up as a service-area business and hide the address. Getting this choice wrong hurts your visibility.

Step 2: category is the most important field

Your primary category affects ranking more than anything else in the profile. Be precise: "dental clinic" is not the same as "healthcare facility". Add secondary categories for other services, but choose the primary one based on what you most want to be found for.

Check what category the competitors ranking above you are using — that's the fastest way to see what Google considers relevant for that search.

Step 3: NAP has to be identical everywhere

NAP stands for name, address, phone. Google cross-checks this information against every place on the internet where your business is mentioned — directories, social media, your own website. If one place says "LLC" and another says "Ltd", if one place has an old phone number, trust drops, and ranking drops with it.

Write down one version of your details in a document and use exactly that everywhere. It sounds like nitpicking, but it's one of the most common reasons a properly set-up profile stalls.

Step 4: photos

Profiles with photos get noticeably more calls and direction requests. The minimum worth having:

• Logo and cover photo.
• The exterior of your location — so people recognize where they're walking into.
• The interior, if clients come to you.
• You and your team at work. This performs better than polished stock photos.
• Results of your work — before and after, if your work can be shown that way.

Phone photos are perfectly fine as long as they're bright and sharp. Don't use photos from the internet — Google recognizes it, and so do clients.

Step 5: reviews

Reviews affect both ranking and whether someone decides to call you. A few rules that pay off:

• Ask for them, right away. The best moment is right after finishing the job while the client is happy. Send a direct link by message.
• Don't buy them. Ten fake reviews in one week is an easily recognized pattern, and the penalty can be having the profile removed entirely.
• Reply to all of them, including the bad ones. A calm reply to a bad review convinces the next reader more than five five-star reviews do.
• Don't chase a perfect score. A profile averaging 4.7 comes across as more credible than one with a perfect 5.0.

Step 6: keep the profile active

A profile untouched for a year loses weight. It doesn't take much:

• Fill in every service with a short description — those are extra terms people can find you by.
• Keep your hours updated, especially around holidays. "Closed" when it says "open" is the fastest way to earn a bad review.
• Post something occasionally — a promotion, a new service, a photo from a job. Once a month is enough.
• Answer questions in the Q&A section. You can even post the questions clients always ask and answer them yourself.

Mistakes I see most often

• No profile, or an unverified one. Surprisingly common even among companies that have been around for ten years.
• A home address shown for businesses that go out to clients — this exposes privacy unnecessarily and hurts visibility.
• Keywords stuffed into the business name ("Best Hairdresser Banja Luka Salon"). That's a policy violation, and competitors report it.
• A phone number that doesn't get answered, or forwards to someone who has no idea what it's about.
• A link to a website that loads slowly. The profile brings the person in, and the site loses them. If you're not sure what shape yours is in, send the link for a free analysis.

How long until you see results

After verification, the first movement is usually visible within two to six weeks. For competitive industries in bigger cities it takes longer — and that's where reviews and how well the profile is maintained make the difference. A profile combined with a site backed by proper local SEO works considerably better than either one alone.

If you don't want to do this yourself

Setting up and cleaning up a profile is something I do as part of the SEO service, and it's included with new website builds. But honestly, this is something you can do yourself in one afternoon — which is why this guide is free and covers every step.