How do you set up a Google Business Profile?

When someone searches “hairdresser Burdur”, a map with three businesses appears above every organic result. That block outranks the whole organic list and takes most of the clicks. You get in there through a Google Business Profile, not through your website. The profile is free, it is Google's own system, and it carries your name, phone number, opening hours, photos and customer reviews.

Sign in at business.google.com and choose “Add your business to Google”. You are asked for the business name, category, address or service area, phone number and website. The category is the most important step — it largely decides which searches you appear in, so pick the narrowest one that describes your work and add secondary categories afterwards. The last step is verification by phone, text, video or a postcard sent to your address. The profile does not appear on the map until verification is complete.

Write the name exactly as it appears on your sign. Stuffing keywords into it breaks Google's rules and can get the profile suspended after a competitor complaint. Consistency matters just as much: your name, address and phone number must be written character for character the same on your website, on the profile and in every directory you appear in.

Set the profile up as a service-area business. During setup you tick “I deliver goods and services to my customers”, which hides your home or office address and lists the towns you serve instead. Plumbers, electricians, photographers and software people all use this option. Google still asks for an address to verify you, but does not publish it. Keep the service area to places you genuinely travel to — covering the whole country weakens your local match rather than improving it.

Do not guess the words — use the ones people actually type. Someone in Burdur looking for a site might search “burdur web sitesi”, “burdur website”, “burdur web tasarım” or simply “burdur yazılım”. These mean the same thing but are different phrases. Describe your services in the everyday words your customers use, not in industry terms.

Reviews affect both ranking and click-through. When two businesses sit side by side, people click the one with more reviews and a higher score. Send satisfied customers the direct review link rather than asking them to look you up, and reply to every review, even briefly. Never buy fake reviews: Google removes them and suspended profiles lose their ranking entirely.

Usually one of three things. Verification is not finished — the dashboard shows a red warning. The profile is incomplete: category, hours, photos and service list all need filling in. Or it is distance and competition, because Google shows the searcher whoever is nearest first. New profiles typically take a few weeks to settle; posting regularly, adding photos and collecting reviews are the three fastest ways to move things along.