Google Business Profile: The Complete Optimization Guide

Google My Business, Google Mein Unternehmen (its German name), Google Business Profile: three names, one product. Google Business Profile is the free listing businesses use to control how they appear in Google Search and on Google Maps. It decides whether your business shows up in the Local Pack when people nearby search for your services.

This guide shows you how to set up, optimize, and maintain a Google Business Profile, with a specific focus on the Austrian market. It also explains what happened to Google My Business and where you manage your profile today.

Google My Business: how it became Google Business Profile

If you search today for "Google My Business" or the German "Mein Unternehmen bei Google", you land on the same product: Google Business Profile. There is a reason for all these names: since 2021, Google has rebuilt and renamed the service several times.

• Until November 2021: The service is called Google My Business, Google Mein Unternehmen in German, with its own dashboard and its own smartphone app.
• November 4, 2021: Google renames the service Google Business Profile, Google Unternehmensprofil in German. From 2022 on, management gradually moves directly into Google Search and Google Maps.
• July 2022: Google discontinues the Google My Business app. Since then, profiles have been managed through the Google Maps app or directly in Search.
• July 2024: Google also shuts down the profile's chat and messaging feature.
• End of 2025: Google discontinues the profile's Q&A feature.

Here is how you manage your profile today: sign in to your business's Google account in the browser and search Google for your business name. The editing interface appears directly above the search results. On a smartphone, the Google Maps app does the same job. For single locations, the former management address business.google.com redirects to Search; businesses with multiple locations continue to work there in Business Profile Manager.

Why Google Business Profile is business-critical

Local search is a volume business. 46% of all Google searches have local intent (international survey), and a considerable share of these searches ends in the map view: 42% of people conducting a local search click on results in the Google Maps Pack (international survey). If you are not listed there, you lose exactly the clicks with the highest purchase intent.

In Austria, this channel is practically the same thing as Google. Google holds a search engine market share of around 82% in Austria (as of May 2026, all platforms), and Austria had around 8.69 million internet users in early 2025, a penetration rate of 95.3%. In Austria, local visibility therefore means almost exclusively visibility through Google and Google Business Profile.

Professionals also see GBP as the most important lever. 76% of marketers rate Google Business Profile management as the most valuable local SEO service, ahead of content creation at 53% and citation building at 43% (international industry survey). Even so, many businesses leave this potential untapped because their profiles are incomplete or not claimed at all.

Set up your Google Business Profile: create, claim, and verify

Setting up a Google Business Profile is free and follows a fixed process. Only after verification can you fully edit the profile, and only then does Google show it prominently in Search and Maps.

• Step 1, check for an existing listing: Search Google and Google Maps for your business name. For many businesses, Google has already created a listing automatically. If one exists, take it over, because a second profile for the same location creates duplicates and policy conflicts.
• Step 2, create or claim: Sign in with your business's Google account. You create new profiles via business.google.com or directly from Search; you claim existing listings through the option to claim the listing in Maps.
• Step 3, verify: Google checks whether you actually represent the business. Depending on industry and location, this works via video verification, phone, email, postcard with a confirmation code, or Google Search Console. Google shows which methods are available for each account.
• Step 4, enter the basic data: Name exactly as used in business dealings, address, phone number, website, opening hours, and the most specific primary category. The same NAP data belongs on your website and in all directories, identical down to the character.
• Step 5, set the address type: Businesses with a storefront show their address. Service-area businesses without customer traffic at their location hide it and define the area they serve instead.

The order is deliberate: if you check for existing listings first, you avoid duplicates that are tedious to merge later.

Strategy: categories, NAP consistency, and ranking factors

Google ranks local results on three factors: relevance (does the business match the search), distance (proximity to the searcher), and prominence (how well known and reputable the business is). You can actively influence these signals.

Choosing the right categories

The category is the strongest lever you control. The primary Google Business Profile category is considered the most important Local Pack ranking factor, according to a survey of 44 local SEO experts on 149 ranking factors (international, US-centric survey). Choose the most specific matching primary category (for example "Dentist" instead of "Doctor") and add relevant secondary categories for further services. Avoid categories that overstate what you offer; that violates the guidelines.

NAP consistency and citations in Austria

NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. This data must be identical down to the character across all directories, because discrepancies weaken the prominence signal. In Austria, relevant directories include Herold.at, the WKO Firmen-A-Z, FirmenABC, and regional city portals. Even differences such as "Str." instead of "Straße" or inconsistent phone formats can dilute data quality.

Best practices: profile completeness and ongoing activity

A complete, actively maintained profile beats a static one. These building blocks belong in it:

• Description and services: Write a precise business description and add all services and, where relevant, products with description and price.
• Opening hours and attributes: Keep regular hours, holidays, and special hours up to date. Attributes such as wheelchair-accessible entrance, Wi-Fi, or parking answer common questions customers have in advance.
• Photos: Upload meaningful images of your location, team, and services, and update them regularly.
• Google Posts: Publish offers, news, and events. Posts keep the profile alive and create additional touchpoints.
• Questions from users: Google discontinued the former Q&A feature at the end of 2025. Its place is being taken by Ask Maps, an AI feature in Google Maps that answers questions from profile information such as the description, services, and attributes, as well as from reviews. Google first launched Ask Maps in the US and India and expanded it to more than 150 additional countries and territories in August 2026. At that point, the feature was not yet available in the EU and therefore not in Austria. Maintain these fields anyway so that they answer typical questions in advance, because customers already read them directly in the profile today.

Set up review management

Reviews have a double effect: on rankings and on conversion. The influence of reviews on Local Pack rankings rose from 16% (2023) to 20% (international survey), which made reviews the second most important factor there. On the demand side, Google is the dominant platform: in 2024, 81% of consumers used Google to read online reviews, down from 87% in 2023 (international, US-focused survey).

Reviews directly influence purchase decisions. 85% of consumers say positive reviews make them more likely to use a business, and 49% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (international survey). In practice, this means: ask for reviews actively and within the guidelines, respond to every review (positive or negative), and handle criticism objectively.

Common mistakes

• Profile not claimed or incomplete: Missing categories, photos, or attributes cost visibility and trust.
• Wrong or overly broad primary category: An imprecise category weakens the strongest ranking factor of all.
• Inconsistent NAP data: Different spellings across directories dilute the prominence signal.
• Ignoring reviews: No responses and a low average rating put off potential customers.
• Keyword stuffing in the profile name: Padding the business name with keywords violates the guidelines and risks a suspension.
• Duplicates and outdated data: Multiple listings or wrong opening hours cause confusion and policy conflicts.

Policy violations and suspended profiles

Google suspends profiles for violations of its guidelines for representing your business, for example keyword stuffing in the name, fake addresses, misleading categories, or review manipulation. If your profile is suspended, you can request reinstatement through the Google Business Profile Help Center, ideally with proof that the business exists (such as an extract from the company register, a trade register entry, or evidence at the location). Prevention is cheaper than reinstatement: a correct name, a real address, matching categories, and no artificial reviews.

Metrics and measurement

You measure a profile's success with the GBP performance reports (formerly Insights) and supplementary web data:

• Views and searches: How often the profile appeared in Search and Maps and which terms people used to find it.
• Interactions: Calls, clicks to the website, and direction requests.
• Review KPIs: Number of reviews, average rating, and response rate (target 100%).
• Category and search term analysis: Which terms trigger conversions, as a basis for services, posts, and the description.
• Search Console integration: Clicks and impressions for location-based queries, so you can evaluate profile and website together.

Going further: connecting the profile with your website

A profile reaches its full effect only in combination with your own website. Create an individual local landing page for each location with genuine local relevance (address, directions, local services) instead of identical templates. Mark up these pages with LocalBusiness schema (JSON-LD) so that Google and AI systems can read NAP, opening hours, and services in machine-readable form. For Austrian audiences, a consistent AT focus and correct hreflang markup ensure that the right language version is served. This data increasingly feeds into Google's AI-powered answers to local queries as well. Recommended next steps are a citation audit to clean up your data, a check of your categories, and a structured review process.

Have your Google Business Profile optimized: GBP management as a service

A Google Business Profile is not finished once it is set up. Reviews need responses, opening hours change, posts go stale, and Google keeps rebuilding features: the messaging feature was dropped in 2024, the Q&A feature at the end of 2025. Without clear ownership, a profile looks abandoned after a few months, and that is exactly what potential customers see first.

If you lack the time or routine in-house, Blck Alpaca takes over Google Business Profile optimization as an ongoing service. The service covers:

• Profile audit: Categories, NAP data, completeness, and policy risks, based on the local SEO audit checklist.
• Ongoing maintenance: Posts, photos, services, attributes, and opening hours including holiday hours stay up to date.
• Review management: Responses to every review and a guideline-compliant process to get more Google reviews.
• Reporting: Analysis of the GBP performance data: calls, website clicks, direction requests, and the search terms behind them.
• Website integration: Local landing pages and LocalBusiness schema, so that profile and website send the same signals.

If you want to hand off maintenance or start with a profile audit, get in touch. For an overview of the bigger picture, see our SEO services page.