A Google Business Profile is the free listing that appears on Google Maps and in Google Search when someone looks up a business, with your hours, phone number, photos, reviews and directions. For a small Nigerian business it's one of the highest-value things you can do in an afternoon.
This guide covers shops, home-based businesses and delivery-only sellers.
Before you start
You need:
- A Google account (any Gmail works).
- Your real business name, exactly as customers know it.
- A phone number you control, ideally your business line.
- Your address and a landmark, or the list of areas you deliver to.
- Your opening hours.
- 5–10 clear photos: products, your shop front or workspace, and your logo if you have one.
Google says adding or claiming a profile is free. Nobody needs to "pay to get you on Google Maps".
Step 1: Check whether you're already listed
Sometimes a profile already exists because a customer added your shop. Open Google Maps, search your business name and area, and look for "Claim this business". If it's there, claim it instead of creating a duplicate. Google only allows one profile per business.
Step 2: Create the profile
- Go to business.google.com/add.
- Enter your business name. Use the real name only, with no slogans, phone numbers or areas added to it.
- Pick your primary category. Choose the most specific one that completes the sentence "This business IS a…": for example Bakery, Caterer, Make-up artist, Perfume store, Women's clothing store, Tailor.
- Say whether customers can visit you.
Step 3: Shop, home business or delivery-only?
This is where many Nigerian sellers go wrong.
- You have a shop or studio with signage that customers visit: enter the full address. If your street address doesn't pinpoint you well, you can drag the map pin to the right spot.
- You work from home and deliver or visit customers: list yourself as a service-area business. Remove or hide your home address and add the areas you serve, up to 20 (for example Ikeja, Ogba, Maryland, Gbagada). Google says your overall area should usually be within about 2 hours' drive of your base.
- You have a shop AND deliver: that's a "hybrid" business. Show your address and add service areas too.
Purely online sellers, read this: Google says businesses that are online-only (an e-commerce shop that never meets customers in person, whether at a location or by delivering or visiting) aren't eligible for a Business Profile. If you deliver orders yourself, meet customers, or provide a service at their place, you can usually list as a service-area business.
Don't list a friend's shop or an address you don't operate from. Google's guidelines say a business that shows its address should have permanent signage there.
Step 4: Add your contact details and hours
- Add the phone number customers should call or WhatsApp. It must be under your direct control.
- Add your website if you have one. Google's guidelines say not to use links that redirect people to a different page, so link a page that's really yours.
- Set your opening hours. If you work by appointment only, you can leave hours off.
Step 5: Verify
Google decides which verification options you get; you can't choose. Depending on your business, you may be offered:
- Phone call or SMS with a code.
- Email.
- Video recording: a short, continuous video showing your location, your products or tools, and proof you manage the business (for example opening your shop, showing your kitchen or equipment). Google recommends video if you're offered it.
- Live video call with Google support, during business hours.
- Postcard by mail, in some places (codes expire after 30 days).
After you submit, Google says reviews can take up to 5 business days.
Tips for video verification, based on Google's own requirements: the video must be recorded live in the Business Profile app on your phone, at least 30 seconds long, in one continuous take with no edits. Start outside so street signs, a building number or a well-known landmark nearby are visible. If you have a shop, show the signboard with your business name exactly as it appears on your profile. Then show proof you run the business: open the stock room, kitchen or POS, or (for home-based sellers) show your tools, products and a business document like an invoice. Don't show ID or bank numbers, or other people's faces. Record in daylight.
Step 6: Complete your profile
Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. Fill in:
- Description: what you sell, who you serve and your area, in plain words. Google doesn't allow links, prices or sales promotions in the description, so keep those for posts.
- Photos: products, interior, exterior, team at work. Replace blurry photos.
- Products or services: list your main items.
- Attributes: for example "delivery", "women-owned", where offered.
Step 7: Start collecting reviews
Google uses relevance, distance and prominence to rank local results, and reviews feed into prominence. Ask every genuine customer after delivery, by WhatsApp, with your review link (find it under "Ask for reviews" in your profile). Reply to every review, good or bad, politely.
Never pay for reviews, offer discounts for them, or only ask happy customers; Google's policy forbids these and removes such reviews.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Adding "Best", "No.1" or your phone number to your business name.
- Creating several profiles for one business.
- Listing a home address publicly when you don't receive customers there.
- Letting a "web designer" create the profile in their own Google account. Make sure you are the owner; you can add helpers as managers later.
Next step: give your profile a page to link to
A profile gets you on Maps. A simple page with your products, prices and "Order on WhatsApp" buttons helps convert the people who find you. You can make WhatsApp order links for every product with our free WhatsApp Order Link & QR Generator, or have PlugPage build a full page and set up your Google profile.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help, "Add or claim your Business Profile".
- Google Business Profile Help, "Verify your business on Google".
- Google Business Profile Help, "Verify your business with a video recording".
- Google Business Profile Help, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google".
- Google Business Profile Help, "Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses".
- Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google".
- Google Maps, "Prohibited & restricted content".
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Platform rules and fees change; check the linked official sources for the latest. PlugPage is not affiliated with Google, WhatsApp, Meta, Paystack or the other companies mentioned.