How do you verify your Google Business Profile?

What does verifying your Google Business Profile do?

It proves to Google that the business is real and that you run it. Once it’s verified, you get an email from Google, and you can add owners and managers to the profile. If you haven’t claimed or created your listing yet, start with our step-by-step setup guide, then come back here.

How do you start?

Sign in with the Google account you’ll keep for the business, ideally one in the owner’s name. Search for your business on Google or Maps, open your profile, and choose Get verified. Google then shows you the ways you can verify.

Which verification methods are there?

Google decides which methods you get, and you can’t change them. Some businesses have to do more than one.

• Text or phone call: Google sends a code to the business number. A phone menu (“press 1 for…”) can’t take the code, so answer it yourself.
• Email: follow the steps in the email Google sends.
• Live video call: a short call with someone at Google, during your business hours, while you’re at the business.
• Recorded video: you film a short video on your phone and upload it from your profile.
• Postcard: a 5-digit code mailed to your address.
• Instant: if your website is already verified in Google Search Console, the profile may verify straight away.

How do you pass video verification?

The recorded video is where most owners end up, and where most get rejected. Google’s rules are strict.

• Record it live, in one take, on your phone, through your Business Profile. No editing, no pausing, no uploading an old video.
• Make it at least 30 seconds. Plan what you’ll show before you press record.
• Show where you are: a street sign, the building number, or businesses next door.
• Show the business is real: your sign with the business name on it, or for trades and home-based businesses, your tools, equipment, branded van or shirts, and business cards.
• Show that you run it: something only staff can get to, like the register, the kitchen or the back room. Or unlock your work van, or show a business permit, invoice or utility bill with the same name as your profile.
• Leave out bank, tax and ID numbers, private details, and other people’s faces.

If you go to customers and work from home, Google suggests filming street signs and landmarks in your neighborhood to prove the address. Avoid filming empty land or places with nothing to show where you are.

How long does verification take?

Google says its review takes up to 5 business days, and on rare occasions longer. Postcards are slower: Google says most arrive within 14 days, and the code stops working after 30 days.

What should you avoid while you wait?

• Don’t change your business name, address or category while a postcard code is on its way, or the code won’t work.
• Don’t ask for a new postcard. It cancels the one in the mail and starts the wait again.
• Don’t share the code with anyone. Google says it will never ask you for it, even if someone helps manage your profile.
• Don’t make a second listing to get around a stuck one. Duplicates make it harder for Google to trust the real one.

What if verification is stuck or rejected?

If the Get verified button comes back, Google couldn’t verify the business. Try again, or pick another method if one is offered.

If a video was rejected, Google tells you why. On your phone, open your profile, tap Review issues, and record a new video that shows everything from the first one plus whatever was missing.

If Google asks for more information, often after you’ve changed your business details, choose Get verified again and go through it once more.

What if your profile gets suspended?

Use Google’s Business Profile appeals tool, signed in with the account that manages the profile. You can attach proof like a business license, registration or a utility bill, and the name and address on them should match your profile. Get your proof together first: Google says an appeal can only be sent once. Google emails you the decision, and you can check the status in the same tool.