Your Google Business Profile: the foundation for visibility in AI answers

When an AI assistant wants to know which businesses exist in a town, exactly where they are and what customers think of them, Google Maps is one of the most complete sources there is. Gemini is Google's own, but other assistants also often end up with information that lives in or around Google Maps for local questions. Your Google Business Profile is therefore one of the first things to get right.

Checklist for your business profile

1. Choose the right primary category. This is the most important setting. "Plumber" is better than "Construction company" if you mainly do plumbing. Then add secondary categories for your other services.

2. Fill in your services and products. Each service with a short, factual description. Use the words customers use: "leak repair", not just "sanitary works".

3. Write a clear business description. What do you do, for whom and in which places? No superlatives, just facts.

4. Set your service area. If you work at customers' homes, set the towns and regions you cover.

5. Keep opening hours up to date. Including public holidays and vacations. Wrong opening hours are a well-known annoyance, and AI assistants repeat them.

6. Add real photos. Of your work, your team and your premises. Profiles with recent photos look more active and trustworthy.

7. Use the same details as on your website. Name, address and phone number should match your website and other listings exactly.

8. Answer questions and reviews. Respond to reviews and to questions people ask through your profile. That adds extra, current information about your business.

Keep it up

A business profile is not a one-off job. Post an update or new photos now and then, reflect changes in your services and regularly check whether someone else has suggested edits. Anyone can suggest edits to a profile, and they are sometimes applied automatically.

And then?

A good business profile is the foundation, but it is not enough. AI assistants combine several sources: your website, review sites, industry directories and articles. Want to know where you stand today in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude? Take the free AI check. You will also see which other sources AI uses in your industry.