Italiano 
In short
Google Business Profile is free: it must be verified, filled in section by section, enriched with photos and posts, and supported by recent reviews that you reply to one by one. Since 2025, customer questions no longer have a dedicated section: answers must be prepared on your website and description.
Why your Google listing matters
Think about how often you have typed "restaurant near me" or "pharmacy open now" on your phone. Someone searching that way has a specific need and wants an answer right away: where the business is, whether it is open, which number to call, what other customers think.
Google Business Profile is the free tool that lets you decide what Google shows about you at that moment, both in search results and on Google Maps. A complete, well-kept listing makes your business easier to find and more trustworthy to people discovering it for the first time. It is one of the pillars of the basic SEO of any business with customers in its area.
What the data says
- A 2017 Google/Ipsos Connect study found that complete profiles are 70% more likely to attract location visits than incomplete ones.
- A 2014 Google study, run in the United States, found that 50% of people who do a local search on a smartphone visit a store within a day (34% on a computer or tablet). Source: Search Engine Watch, 2014.
These figures are several years old and refer to a different market: read them as an order of magnitude, not as a promise of results.
Step 1: claim and verify your listing
Google may already have created a listing for your business from public data. Until you claim and verify it, you do not control what is shown and anyone can suggest edits. Verification proves to Google that the business really exists at the address provided.
- Sign in with a Google account you will keep using for the business: a company account is better than the personal account of a single team member.
- Search for your business name: if a listing already exists, claim it; otherwise create a new one.
- Enter your address or, if you work at your customers' locations, set a service area.
- Complete verification with the method Google offers you: depending on the business, it can be phone, email, postcard or video.
Once the listing is verified, you can start customizing it.
Step 2: fill in every section
Every field in your listing is a chance to answer the customer's questions in advance. Here is what to enter and what to avoid.
Business name
Use exactly the name shown on your sign and materials. Do not add keywords, for example "Plumber Milan cheap": it goes against Google's guidelines and can lead to edits or suspension of the listing.
Address and service area
Enter the full, precise address. If you serve an area without receiving customers at your premises, like a plumber or an electrician, set a service area.
Phone number and website
The number must be current and reachable. Link your website, which should read well on a smartphone and make contact details and services easy to find: in the 2026 BrightLocal survey (US sample), 54% of consumers visit a business's website after reading positive reviews. If your website is not ready yet, start from how to set up a professional website.
Opening hours
Keep them up to date, including holiday closures and seasonal changes. A customer who finds the door closed despite the hours shown online will not come back.
Categories
Choose a main category and a few secondary ones, as specific as possible: "Seafood restaurant" tells Google and customers more than "Restaurant".
Attributes
Select the ones that truly describe you, such as "Free Wi-Fi", "Wheelchair accessible" or "Delivery". They help people who filter results find exactly what they need.
Business description
You have 750 characters. Explain naturally what you do, where, for whom and what sets you apart, without keyword lists and without web addresses. You can start from this outline:
We are a [main category] in [area]. We offer [specific products or services] for [type of customer]. What sets us apart is [unique value]. If you are looking for [service or product] in [area], you will find us [opening hours or how to get in touch].
To write clear, persuasive copy, our guide to effective web copy can help.
Photos and videos
Photograph the exterior, the interior, your products and your team. Images help customers know what to expect before they visit; a short video can show the atmosphere of your premises or a product in use.
Posts
Use posts to announce news, offers, events and new products. They keep the listing active and give visitors one more reason to contact you. If you publish articles on your website, you can share them here: see why a company blog helps SEO.
Step 3: collect and manage reviews
Reviews are one of the things customers use to judge a business before they even know it. Positive ones bring new customers; negative ones, when handled well, show that you care about the people who choose you.
What the data says (BrightLocal, 2026)
- 97% of consumers read reviews of local businesses.
- 85% are more likely to use a business after reading positive reviews.
- 74% only consider reviews written in the last three months.
- 50% are put off by generic or templated replies.
Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, run in February 2026 among 1,002 adult consumers in the United States.
- Ask for reviews. In person, by email or SMS, with a direct link to your listing or a QR code on the receipt. In the same survey, 83% of people who were asked to leave a review went on to leave one.
- Ask regularly. Recent reviews count more than old ones: an occasional request is not enough.
- Reply to all of them, in your own words. This applies to positive and negative reviews alike. Say thank you, mention a detail from the review and, if there is a problem, offer to resolve it privately.
- Do not offer discounts in exchange for positive reviews. It goes against the guidelines of Google and other platforms.
- Do not write or buy fake reviews. If you are found out, the damage to your reputation outweighs any benefit.
Step 4: advanced features (and the ones that changed)
Google changes the features of the listing often. Two of those described in older guides no longer work as they used to, and it is worth knowing.
Questions and answers: the section has been discontinued
Starting in November 2025, Google discontinued the public "Questions and answers" section of profiles. Today, answers to customers are generated with artificial intelligence, based on what Google finds about you: website, description, services and reviews. In practice, you no longer write answers in the listing: you prepare them by taking care of that content. Add a frequently asked questions page to your website and reply to reviews thoroughly.
Messages and direct contact
Since July 31, 2024, chat from the listing is no longer available, as stated in Google's official help page. Phone, website and directions remain and, for eligible accounts, so do text messages or WhatsApp. Make the channels you really use easy to see, and reply quickly.
Online bookings and orders
Where available for your sector, such as restaurants, personal services or professional practices, you can connect a booking or ordering service directly from the listing.
Products and services
List what you offer with a clear description and, when it makes sense, prices. It helps customers decide and gives Google precise information about what you do.
Insights
Google shows how many people viewed your listing, called, asked for directions or visited your website, and which searches led them to you. Check them every month and adjust your organic visibility strategy: if direction requests drop, your hours or photos may be out of date.
Your listing and AI-generated answers
More and more people ask AI tools for advice instead of scrolling through a list of results. In the 2026 BrightLocal survey (US sample), the use of ChatGPT and similar tools for local recommendations rose from 6% to 45% in one year.
These tools build their answer by reading what they find online about you. If your listing, website and directories say different things, the answer may be wrong. To help them understand you:
- Keep your name, address and phone number consistent across your listing, website, social media and local directories. Even a small difference can cause confusion.
- Write hours, services and contact details as text on your website, not only inside images or PDFs.
- Prepare a frequently asked questions page with short, direct answers to what customers ask most.
- Add structured data to your website: invisible code that tells search engines, in an orderly way, your business name, address and hours. We cover it in SEO and structured data.
Practical examples for three types of business
- Restaurant. Photos of the most popular dishes, replies to reviews that mention fresh local ingredients, posts for the daily menu or special evenings, online booking connected to the listing.
- Clothing store. Photos of new collections, information on sizes and availability in the description, in products and in the website's frequently asked questions, posts for sales and in-store events.
- Professional, such as a lawyer or a dentist. A description that clarifies specialization and experience, reviews requested politely, and communication in line with the rules of the profession: clear information on services, with no promises of results.
The monthly checklist
A listing set up once and then forgotten loses effectiveness. Once a month, check these points:
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Business Profile free?
Yes. Creating and managing the listing costs nothing. What takes time is keeping it up to date: details, photos, posts and replies to reviews.
Do I need a website to have a listing?
You can create a listing without a website, but having one helps: in the 2026 BrightLocal survey (US sample), 54% of consumers visit a business's website after reading positive reviews. Your website is also one of the sources Google's AI uses to answer questions about you.
Can I have a listing if I work at customers' locations and have no shop?
Yes. If you serve a specific area without receiving customers at your premises, like a plumber, you can set a service area instead of a public address.
How often should I update my listing?
Right away whenever a detail such as opening hours, phone number or address changes. For photos, posts and reviews, a check at least once a month is a good rhythm.
How do I reply to a negative review?
Thank the customer, acknowledge the problem without arguing and offer to sort it out privately. Avoid canned replies: in the 2026 BrightLocal survey, 50% of consumers said generic or templated responses put them off.
An investment that compounds over time
Optimizing your Google Business Profile is not a one-off task: every new photo, every reply to a review and every corrected detail strengthens the trust of the people looking for you. By following the four steps in this guide, and keeping an eye on the features Google changes, you build a local presence that brings you customers at the moment they are searching for you.
Want local customers to find you before your competitors?
Optimizing your listing is the first step. To be found wherever customers look, you also need a clear website, useful content and consistent data across every channel. Our SEO service helps you build a solid, measurable local presence designed for Google and for AI search engines.
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