# Google Business Profile Setup: Rules That Trip Up Founders

> Set up a Google Business Profile for free at business.google.com: use the name on your sign, a real address or a service area, one precise category, opening hours and a phone number. Google then verifies by phone, email, live video call or postcard. Virtual offices are not allowed, and coworking spaces only qualify with signage and staff on site.

- URL: https://spreesolutions.de/en/website-and-shop/google-business-profile-setup/
- Language: en
- Updated: 2026-10-19
- Publisher: Spree Solutions (OnlineBuilders LLC, https://onlinebuilders.biz)

Search "locksmith Friedrichshain" or "tailor near me" in Berlin and a map with a few businesses usually appears above the regular results. Those spots come from Google Business Profiles, the service formerly called Google My Business.

A profile is free and takes about an hour to set up. For many local businesses it brings in more enquiries than the website. Yet international founders run into the same walls again and again, because Google's rules collide with the way many people start a business in Berlin: from a coworking desk, from home, or with a rented business address.

## Who is allowed a profile

Google requires in-person contact. Either customers can visit you during opening hours, or you go to them, like a painter, a plumber or a mobile hairdresser.

Pure online shops without pickup, consultants who only work by video and companies that only have a mailbox don't qualify. One profile per location.

**Which profile type fits your business?**

| | Storefront | Service area | Hybrid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example | Späti, café, barber | painter, plumber, mobile care | bike shop with pickup service |
| Address shown | yes | no, hidden | yes |
| Service area listed | no | yes | yes |
| Permanent sign required | yes | no | yes |
| Staff on site during hours | yes | no | yes |

Source: Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help

## The rules that sink Berlin profiles

Virtual offices are out. If you rent a postal address but don't actually work there, you can't use it for your profile. That includes the business address services that many founders use for their legal notice.

Coworking spaces are allowed only under conditions. There has to be permanent signage with your business name, your own staff must be present during the listed hours, and customers must be received there. A hot desk almost never meets that.

The name must match your sign, letterhead and website. "Barber Kreuzberg cheap" is not a name. Slogans, phone numbers or opening hours in the name field are banned too. Legal suffixes like GmbH or UG are only allowed if you can show they are part of the name, for example on the shop sign.

If you work from home and travel to clients, choose a service area and hide your private address. Google suggests keeping the area within roughly two hours' drive of your base. For a Berlin tradesperson, a handful of districts looks more honest than "all of Germany".

## Setting it up, step by step

Start at business.google.com with an account the business owns. Don't use a part-time employee's personal Gmail. When they leave, your profile leaves with them.

For categories, Google's rule of thumb is to complete the sentence "This business IS a …", not "HAS a …". A bakery that serves coffee is a bakery, not a café. Pick as few and as specific categories as possible. Google adds the broader ones automatically.

**How long verification takes**

- **Instant to minutes:** Phone, text message or email, where Google offers them.
- **During opening hours:** Live video call in which you show the location and that you manage it.
- **Up to 14 days:** Postcard with a five-digit code. Codes expire after 30 days.
- **Up to 5 working days:** Review after verification, occasionally longer.

Source: Google Business Profile Help, verification section

Google decides which methods you get. If video is offered, take it. Have your sign, entrance, work area and a document showing the address ready, and don't make the call from your living room.

## What a good profile contains

A verified but empty profile wastes most of its value. Google's help pages name relevance, distance and prominence as the factors for local ranking, and recommend complete, current information. You can't change distance. You can work on the rest.

**Profile check after verification**

- [ ] Regular hours and special hours for public holidays
- [ ] Your own photos: outside, inside, at work, products
- [ ] Services or products with prices where possible
- [ ] Booking or ordering link
- [ ] Description with your district and specialty, no marketing fluff
- [ ] Website link goes to a page with the same address and phone number

Write your business details identically on the profile, your website and directory listings. That sounds trivial, and it is, but it slips after every move, say from Neukölln to Treptow.

Customers can book directly from your profile if you add a booking link. How to pick a suitable tool is covered in our guide to [online booking systems](https://spreesolutions.de/en/website-and-shop/online-booking-system/).

## Reviews and German law

Reviews are the part of your profile people read most closely. You may ask happy customers for one, in person, with a card at the till or with a link in your invoice email.

Fake reviews are a different matter. Since May 2022 the annex to the German Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG) explicitly lists submitting or commissioning fake reviews as an unfair practice. Competitors and consumer associations can send formal warnings, which in Germany usually come with legal costs.

Answer bad reviews factually and in public, not for the person who complained but for the next hundred readers. Reviews that are abusive, clearly not from customers or otherwise break Google's policies can be reported from within the profile.

## Ten minutes a week

A profile is not a project with an end date. Most problems arise because nobody looks at it after setup.

Opening hours are the classic. If you close on public holidays, between Christmas and New Year or for summer holidays and don't enter special hours, customers stand in front of a locked door. The review follows the same evening.

There is another catch many owners don't know about: other people can suggest edits to your profile, such as a new phone number or "permanently closed", and Google sometimes accepts them. Check regularly that everything is still correct and read the notifications in your profile.

A simple Monday routine: read and answer new reviews, check whether anyone suggested changes, look at the next two weeks for holidays, and upload a new photo if there is something worth showing. If several people help out, give them their own access with limited rights instead of sharing a password.

## Without a website? Works for a while

A profile works without a website. For a Späti or a takeaway it is often enough. Once customers compare prices or services, you need a place for details, and as soon as you run your own site, Germany's Impressum rules apply.

Our breakdown of [small business website costs](https://spreesolutions.de/en/website-and-shop/small-business-website-cost/) shows what a simple site costs. If you also want to sell online, the legal duties are in our guide to [starting an online shop in Germany](https://spreesolutions.de/en/website-and-shop/online-shop-germany/).

Businesses with several locations, hundreds of products or data that should flow automatically from the till into the profile will need Google's APIs. A team working on [data analytics and integration](https://onlinebuilders.biz/solutions/data-analytics) can automate that. For a single shop, doing it by hand is fine.

Your next step: open Google Maps, search for your business and check whether a listing already exists that someone else created. If it does, claim it via "Own this business?" instead of creating a second one.

## Step by step

1. **Create the profile** Sign in at business.google.com with a Google account owned by the business and enter the name exactly as it appears on your sign.
2. **Pick the category** Choose the most specific primary category, such as bicycle repair shop rather than store.
3. **Add address or service area** Enter the signed shop address, or hide your address and list the districts you serve if you work at customers' premises.
4. **Add contact details and hours** Phone number, website, regular hours and special hours for public holidays.
5. **Verify** Use the method Google offers, ideally a live video call. Postcard codes usually arrive within 14 days and expire after 30.
6. **Complete the profile** Add photos, services, a booking link and a short description, then reply to your first reviews.

## FAQ

### Can I use my registered business address service?

Not if you don't actually work there. Google's guidelines exclude rented mailing addresses where the business has no real presence. Many Berlin founders use such addresses for their Impressum, but they can't be used for the profile.

### Does a Google Business Profile cost anything?

No. Creating, verifying and editing it is free. You only pay if you also run ads or hire someone to manage it.

### Can I ask customers for reviews in Germany?

Yes, asking politely is fine. Buying reviews, writing your own or commissioning fake ones is listed as an unfair commercial practice under the German Act Against Unfair Competition and can lead to cease-and-desist letters.

### My business is online only. Can I have a profile?

Generally no. Google requires in-person contact with customers, either at your location or at theirs.

Photo: ChickSR, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sp%C3%A4tkauf_Late_Buying.jpg)