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When someone in Orem types "plumber near me", the map with three businesses under it comes from Google Business Profiles. The profile is free, and Google publishes the rules for it across a dozen help pages. This guide puts them in one place for a Utah County owner, from verification to the reviews that move you up the map.
A Google Business Profile is free and controls how your business appears on Google Maps and in the map results for searches like "dentist Lehi". Google says it ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and that you cannot pay for a better spot. To rank, verify the profile, pick the most specific primary category, keep hours current, add real photos, and ask every customer for a review.
Google's help page on local ranking names three things. Relevance is how well your profile matches what the person typed. Distance is how far your business is from the person searching. Prominence is how well known your business is, which Google says includes your reviews and ratings. The same page says, in plain words, that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Distance is the one you cannot change. Google weighs how far you are from the searcher, so a Lehi shop has the edge on a search made in Lehi. What you control is relevance, through your categories, services and description, and prominence, through reviews, photos and a complete profile. Google's own tips are short: fill in every field, verify, keep hours right, get and answer reviews, and add photos.
The profile is one piece of local marketing. If you want the full picture of what else Utah County businesses spend on, from I-15 billboards to postcards, our guide to where to advertise in Utah County lists each option with its published price.
Go to google.com/business, sign in with a Google account the business owns, not an employee's personal account, and search for your business name. If a listing already exists, request access to it instead of making a second one. Google allows one profile per business location.
Use the name on your sign and your website. Google's rules forbid adding a tagline, a location or a description of your services, so "Smith Plumbing" is fine and "Smith Plumbing Best Plumber Provo Orem" breaks the rules. Use your real street address. P.O. boxes and virtual offices are not allowed. A desk in a Lehi coworking space only counts if your business has signage there, staffs it, and sees customers there during your hours.
Then verify. Google picks the method, not you. The options it may offer:
Google treats three kinds of businesses differently. A storefront, like a dental office on University Avenue in Provo, shows its address. A service-area business, like a house cleaner who works out of a home in Orem, hides the address and lists the areas it serves. A hybrid, like a landscaping company with a staffed yard in Spanish Fork, can show its address and list service areas too. Google says a hybrid needs permanent signage at the address; without it, set up as a service-area business.
If you work from home, Google's rules say to remove the home address from the profile.
You can list up to 20 service areas, by city, ZIP code or other area. Google no longer accepts a radius, and it says the whole area should stay within about two hours of driving from your base. In Utah County, list the cities you actually drive to: Provo, Orem, Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Springville, Spanish Fork, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain. Changes can take up to 48 hours to show.
You pick one primary category and a few additional ones. Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking, and the primary one decides which searches you can show up for. Google's example: a "Pizza restaurant" can show for "pizza", "Italian restaurants" and "restaurants".
Pick the most specific category that is true, like "Nail salon" instead of "Salon". Add more only for real departments or services, such as a family dentist adding "Cosmetic dentist". You cannot make a custom category, so if yours is not on the list, take the closest general one. Changing a category can trigger a new verification, so do not test categories week by week.
Then fill in the services list, the description and attributes like wheelchair access or free Wi-Fi. Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up. Write the description the way you would explain the business to a neighbor, including the cities you work in.
Google lists current hours as one of its ranking tips, and wrong hours send customers to a locked door. Set regular hours, then use special hours for short changes of up to six days in a row. For seven days or more, mark the business temporarily closed. Special hours only show if the profile is set to open with main hours.
Google suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even when they do not change. Add Pioneer Day to that list: Utah observes July 24 as an official state holiday. A seasonal business, like a snow cone stand in Springville, can use its season's hours as regular hours and mark itself temporarily closed in the off season.
Upload a logo, a cover photo and real photos of the business. Google says an exterior photo helps customers recognize you when they arrive, which matters in a strip mall on State Street where every storefront looks alike. Add the inside, your team, your work and your trucks. Google takes JPG or PNG files from 10 KB to 5 MB, recommends 720 by 720 pixels, and asks for photos without heavy filters. Videos can run up to 30 seconds. New photos take 24 to 48 hours to show, and only on a verified profile.
Posts show on your profile in Search and Maps. An update is news with a photo and a button. An offer needs a title and dates and gets a View Offer button, with an optional coupon code. An event needs a title, dates and times. Posts older than six months get archived unless you set a date range. Keep phone numbers out of the post text; Google may reject the post if it cannot tie the number to your business.
Google does not say posts raise your ranking. They help the person who already found you decide to call. If you want an AI tool to draft posts and review replies in your voice, our free AI 101 class for business owners walks through it.
Google's ranking page says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. So ask every customer, every time. In the profile, open Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link or download the QR code (the QR code only works from a computer browser). Google suggests putting the link in thank-you emails, at the end of chats and on receipts.
Google's policy bans a few things small businesses do all the time:
You have to verify before you can reply. Replies show as the business, and Google checks each one, which usually takes about ten minutes. Google's tips: keep it short, use the person's name, skip the generic thank-you, and never use a reply to push a deal.
For a bad review, say what went wrong if you got it wrong, say what you can and cannot do, and ask the person to call or email. Never post a customer's private information. You cannot delete a review yourself. If one breaks Google's policy, such as a review from a former employee, flag it.
Older guides tell you to fill the Q&A section of your profile with your own questions. That section is gone. PPC Land reports Google shut down the Q&A API on November 3, 2025, and Whitespark, a local search firm, reports the Q&A section then disappeared from profiles. Google Maps now shows an Ask button that writes AI answers about the business.
Whitespark found those answers cite the profile's reviews and uploaded menus, and sometimes a Facebook page. Keep hours and services current, upload your menu or price list, and answer common questions on your website, like whether you serve Eagle Mountain or take walk-ins.
A complete profile helps people already searching for you. It does nothing for people who have not heard of you yet. If you want to hire help, our list of SEO companies in Utah covers firms that handle Business Profiles along with the rest of local search.
We run Provo FOMO, a free email newsletter about things to do in Utah County, and we sell ads in it. It goes to 3,133 local subscribers, and one issue costs $99. A $99 a month listing in our Local Directory puts your name, phone number and website on your category page. See every option on our advertising page.
