How to get your business on Google Maps.

Getting your business on Google Maps is free, takes about twenty minutes of your time, and then a verification wait that Google controls. It works through a free listing called a Google Business Profile, and for a cafe in Neath or a plumber covering Bridgend it is the single most valuable free marketing there is: when someone nearby searches for what you do, the map decides who they see first. Here is the exact process, and the parts people get stuck on.

What being on Google Maps actually means

There is no separate Maps signup. Google Maps, the map block above normal search results and the listing with your reviews and opening hours are all fed by one thing: your Google Business Profile. Claim and verify that, and you exist on Maps everywhere it appears. The profile is completely free; nobody should ever charge you just to be listed.

Before you start

Three decisions save you headaches later. First, use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage and paperwork; stuffing extra keywords into the name is against Google's rules and gets listings suspended. Second, decide your address situation: if customers visit you, your address is shown; if you work at customers' premises, you can hide it and list service areas instead. Third, have one phone number and stick to it everywhere: profile, website, Facebook. Google reads consistency as trustworthiness.

Claiming your profile, step by step

Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account you will keep. Search for your business first, because Google often already has a stub listing built from directories, and claiming the existing one avoids a duplicate. If nothing exists, choose to add your business, then work through name, category, address or service area, phone and website. Pick the most specific category that fits: "Roofing contractor" beats "Contractor", because the category is a genuine ranking factor.

Verification, the part everyone gets stuck on

Google will not show your listing until it has proof you are real. The method is Google's choice, not yours:

Method	How it works	Typical wait
Video verification	Record your premises, equipment or signage in the app	Same week
Postcard	A code posted to your address	1 to 2 weeks
Phone or email	A code sent directly	Minutes, rarely offered

Video has become the most common route for new listings, and the trick is preparation: film your signage, your van, your tools, anything that proves the business operates where and how you said. If a postcard never arrives, request another rather than creating a second listing; duplicates cause months of problems.

Listed is not the same as found

Once verified, most owners stop. That is why most profiles do nothing. A bare listing sits behind every competitor who finished the job: fill in every field, write the business description in plain language, set accurate hours including holidays, add real photos of your work and premises (not stock), and list your actual services with prices where you can. Google's own guidance is blunt: complete profiles get dramatically more calls and direction requests than empty ones.

Being on Google Maps is free. Being the business people choose from the map is the work.

No shop? You still belong on the map

Plumbers, electricians, cleaners, dog walkers: service-area businesses are exactly who the map is for. Hide your home address during setup, list the towns you cover, and you appear for searches across your patch. One honest warning: you cannot rank everywhere. Google leans towards businesses based near the searcher, so a Merthyr plumber will always fight uphill for Cardiff searches. Win your own town first.

Why some businesses never show up

If you are verified but invisible, it is nearly always one of four things: the profile is thin while competitors' are complete; you have no reviews while the map pack holders have dozens (our guide to getting more Google reviews fixes that); there is a duplicate or suspended listing confusing Google; or the website your profile links to is slow and says nothing about your services or area. The profile and the website reinforce each other, which is why we build websites designed for local search and treat the two as one job.

Keeping it alive

Google favours profiles that look after themselves: fresh photos, weekly posts, questions answered, reviews replied to. It is thirty minutes a week that most owners never find, which is exactly what our Google Business Profile management covers for £99 +VAT a month: the weekly loop, handled, so the map keeps working while you do the actual job.

The bottom line

Claim the profile today, choose the specific category, survive verification, then do what most will not: finish the profile completely and keep it moving. For most Welsh small businesses the map is where the next customer actually comes from, and the whole thing costs nothing but attention.