Set up your Google Business Profile
When someone nearby searches for what you do, Google shows a map and three businesses. Your Google Business Profile decides whether you are one of them. For any business with a location or service area, this free profile outranks every social channel in direct revenue impact.
Claim the profile
- Go to google.com/business and sign in with your business Google account.
- Search for your business — it may already exist from map data. Claim it; otherwise create it.
- Enter the exact business name (no keyword stuffing — Google suspends for it), category, address or service area, hours, phone and website.
Verify it
Google must confirm you control the business. Depending on category and history it offers video verification, a phone call, email, or a postcard to the address. Follow the prompt — nothing shows publicly until verified.
Complete every section
Profiles with complete information get dramatically more calls and direction requests:
- Categories: the primary category is a major ranking factor — pick the most specific one, add secondaries.
- Photos: real photos of the place, products, team. Add new ones regularly; stock photos hurt trust.
- Services/menu/products: fill them; they match against searches.
- Attributes (outdoor seating, wheelchair access, etc.) and the description.
The two ongoing habits that move ranking
- Reviews: ask happy customers consistently (the profile gives you a share link), and reply to every review — including the bad ones, briefly and professionally.
- Fresh activity: a weekly update post, new photos, current hours (especially holidays).
Connect it to Huuve
In Huuve, open Connections and press Connect next to Google Business. Sign in with the Google account that manages the profile and approve the permissions. Huuve then drafts weekly profile updates with a clear call to action, publishes them on approval, and pulls your reviews into your inbox so you can reply from one place.
If something fails
- Verification postcard never arrives: request a new one after 14 days, or try video verification.
- Profile suspended: usually name keyword-stuffing or an address mismatch — fix the data and appeal via the Business Profile help center.
- Wrong account in the connect chooser: sign out of Google in the browser first, then connect with the managing account.