Set up your Google Business Profile, properly.

1. Create or claim your profile

Go to google.com/business and sign in with the Google account you want to manage the business with. Search for your business name. If it already exists, claim it. If not, create it.

Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your shopfront and your documents. Adding keywords or a city to the name goes against Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended.

2. Choose the right primary category

The primary category is one of the strongest signals for local ranking. Pick the most specific one that describes your core business, for example Hair salon rather than Beauty salon if hair is what you mainly do.

Add secondary categories only for services you genuinely offer. More is not better here.

3. Address or service area

If customers come to you, add your address. If you go to your customers, as tradespeople, cleaners or mobile coaches do, hide the address and set a service area instead: the Brussels communes and nearby areas you actually cover.

4. Get verified

Google will ask you to verify the business, usually with a short video, a phone call, an email or a postcard. Follow the steps shown in your dashboard. The profile won't show fully until it's verified.

5. Fill in everything

• Opening hours, including special hours for public holidays.
• Phone number and a link to your website.
• Your services, with short descriptions, and prices if you're comfortable sharing them.
• A plain-language description of your business, up to 750 characters.
• Attributes such as languages spoken, accessibility or online booking, where available.

6. Add real photos

Add your logo, a cover photo, the outside so people recognise it, the inside, your team and your work. Real photos build more trust than stock images, and keeping them fresh shows the business is active.

7. Reviews: ask, then answer

Reviews influence both ranking and trust. Ask happy customers right after a good experience, with the direct review link you'll find in your profile.

Answer every review, good or bad, politely and within a few days. Never buy reviews or offer something in exchange for one: it breaks Google's rules.

8. Keep it alive

Post an update, an offer or a piece of news every week or two, and keep your hours accurate. A complete, active profile tells Google the business is real and open.

A bilingual tip for Brussels

Write your description in the language most of your customers use, and mention the others you speak, for example "We speak French, Dutch and English". Add the languages attribute where it's offered.