Google Business Profile Verification, Method by Method

What Verification Unlocks on Your Profile

Until a profile is verified, you can't edit the business information on it or interact with customers through it, and replying to reviews is one of the things that waits. Verifying is what gives you ownership of the listing.

It matters for visibility too. Google's own tips for improving local ranking start with verifying the business, and the performance report, with its views, searches, calls and website clicks, is only available on verified profiles.

Before you start, check the basics Google screens for. You need a Google Account. The business has to meet customers in person, at its own location or at theirs. And the address has to be a real place of business, never a P.O. box or a virtual office.

How to Verify a Google Business Profile, Step by Step

1. Find the business while signed in. Sign in to the Google Account you'll manage the profile with, then search Google for the business name and city, or search for "my business."
2. Add it or claim it. If no profile exists, add the business through Google's sign-up steps. If an unverified profile already exists, open it in Google Maps and select Claim this business, then Manage now. If somebody else already verified it, request ownership.
3. Select Get verified and choose a method. Google shows the methods available to your profile, based on things like the business type, its public information, the region and the hours. You can't swap in a different one, and some businesses have to complete more than one.
4. Complete the method. Enter the code, finish the call, or upload the video, following the steps for the method you picked.
5. Wait for Google's review. Google reviews what you submitted and says that takes up to 5 business days, occasionally longer. A confirmation email arrives when the profile is verified.
6. Then add the people who help you. Invite an employee or an agency as a manager once verification is done, and keep your own login to yourself. Adding a user covers the roles.

Some profiles skip the wait. Google can verify instantly when the business website is already verified in Google Search Console, or when the business uses bulk verification. A business with no profile yet can start with getting your business on Google.

The Verification Methods Google Offers

• Phone or text. Google calls or texts a code to the business number, and you enter it on the profile. An automated phone menu won't receive the code, so a person or a phone that takes texts has to be on that line.
• Email. Google sends the steps to the address shown on the verification screen, so pick it only if you can open that inbox.
• Live video call. A Google support representative joins a video call during your business hours, and you show the location, your equipment or products, and something only the business controls, such as keys to the building or an employee-only area.
• Postcard. Google mails a 5-digit code to the business address. Most arrive within 14 days, and the code expires after 30. While you wait, leave the business name, address and category alone and skip requesting a second code, since either one voids the code already in the mail.
• Video recording. A single continuous video recorded through the profile on a phone. Google recommends this method whenever a business is eligible for it.

Whatever the method, keep the code to yourself. Google says it will never ask for your verification code, and it tells owners not to share the code with anyone, including the people who manage the profile.

How Google Business Profile Video Verification Works

The verification video has to be recorded live and uploaded through your Business Profile on a phone, in one unedited take at least 30 seconds long. Pre-recorded clips aren't accepted, and the video can't show bank, tax or ID numbers, private information, or other people's faces. Plan the route before you press record.

What the camera needs to capture depends on the business type, and a business without permanent signage at its address should be set up as a service-area business before filming.

A Storefront or Hybrid Business

• The location: street signs, building numbers or nearby businesses that tie the video to the spot on Google Maps.
• The business: the storefront or permanent signage, with the name matching the name on the profile.
• Proof you run it: something only staff can open or use, such as a cash register, a storage room or the point-of-sale system.

A Service-Area Business

• Where it operates: street signs or landmarks at the business address. A business run from home can film signs and landmarks in the immediate neighborhood.
• The business: the tools, equipment, business cards or branded apparel you work with.
• Proof you run it: performing a service, unlocking a van with your branding on it, or a business permit, invoice or utility bill in the profile's name.

Google's review of the video can take up to 5 business days. If it's rejected, the profile shows Review issues with the reasons, such as a business name that isn't visible on the storefront or no nearby area shown. The next video has to include everything from the first one plus whatever was missing.

Why Verification Fails, and What to Try Next

• The Get verified button came back. Google couldn't completely verify the business. Try again, and try any other method the profile offers.
• The video was rejected. Select Review issues, read the reasons, and record a new video that covers all of them.
• Google asked for more information. Google's help says that's likely because business details were recently updated. Select Get verified and go through it again.
• The postcard code doesn't work. An edit to the name, address or category, or a second code request, cancels the code already mailed, and every code expires after 30 days.
• The phone code never came through. A number answered by an automated menu can't receive it. Make sure a person answers the business number when Google calls, or pick the text option if that number takes texts.
• Somebody else already verified the profile. Request ownership. The current owner has 3 days to respond, and if they don't, you may get the option to claim it. Finding your profile walks through that request.
• The business isn't eligible. Google doesn't allow profiles for online-only businesses, P.O. boxes or virtual offices, so no method will verify one.

Google's help asks owners to work through every available method before contacting support, and contacting Google Business Profile support lists the routes after that. A failed verification is also one of the repairs our Google Business Profile management takes on before any other work on a listing.