Search "web design Saskatoon" or "plumber Regina" and the first three results are not websites. They are businesses on a map, each with a star rating, hours and a call button. That map pack is fed by Google Business Profiles (the tool used to be called Google My Business), and setting one up properly is the highest-return hour a local business can spend online. Here is the order we do it in for clients.
Before you start: check if you already have one
Search your business name and town on Google Maps first. Many businesses already have a profile that Google or a customer created, and creating a second one makes a duplicate that splits your reviews and confuses Google. If one exists, open it and choose Own this business? to claim it instead.
Sign in with a Google account the business controls - ideally a shared business email, not a staff member's personal Gmail. You can add other people as managers later. Profiles owned by someone who has since left the company are one of the most common messes we untangle.
Step 1: Create or claim the profile
- Go to business.google.com and add your business.
- Name: use your real-world name exactly as it appears on your sign, truck and invoices. Adding keywords or a city ("Smith Plumbing - Best Plumber Saskatoon") breaks Google's rules and is a common reason listings get suspended.
- Primary category: the single most important choice on the profile. Pick the most specific one that describes what you do ("Roofing contractor", not "Contractor"). You can add a few secondary categories later.
Step 2: Storefront or service area
If customers come to you, add your address. If you go to them - trades, cleaners, mobile services - hide the address and set a service area instead. Google allows up to 20 areas and asks that they stay within roughly two hours' drive of your base, so list the towns you actually serve: Saskatoon, Warman, Martensville, Osler, and so on, rather than "all of Saskatchewan".
Rural addresses are worth a second look. If you are on a land location or a grid road, check that the pin lands on your yard, not the middle of a field, and drag it if it doesn't. A customer who follows Google Maps to the wrong quarter section rarely calls back.
Step 3: Phone and website
Use the number that is answered during business hours. For the website link, point it at your homepage or the page for that location, and add tracking tags to the link so your analytics can tell visits from the map apart from other Google traffic. When we cleaned up the profile for Waniska Therapy, the tagged link was one of the first changes - it is the only way to see what the profile is actually sending you.
Step 4: Get verified
Google decides how you verify - by phone, text, email or, most often now, a short video. For a video, plan a single continuous clip that shows your street or service vehicle, your signage or branded equipment, and proof you run the business, such as opening the shop or showing the tools you work with. Verification can take a few days. Avoid editing your name, address or category while it is pending, because changes can restart the review.
Step 5: Fill in every field
- Hours and holiday hours. Set special hours for statutory holidays and seasonal changes, so nobody drives over to a locked door.
- Services. Add each service you offer, with a one-line description in plain words.
- Description. You get 750 characters. Write it for a customer deciding whether to call, not for Google: what you do, who for, where, and what makes you the safe choice. No links or sales offers.
- Photos. Your logo and a cover photo, then real photos of your work, your team, your vehicle and your storefront. Add a few every month.
- Attributes. Accessibility, payment types and anything else Google offers that is true for you.
Mistakes that get profiles suspended
- Keyword-stuffed business names.
- Virtual offices, mailboxes or a home address listed as a storefront when no customers visit.
- Two profiles for the same business at the same address.
- Reviews you paid for, swapped, or wrote yourself - more on that in how to get more Google reviews.
After launch: ten minutes a week
Reply to every review, add a photo, and post a short update - a finished job, a seasonal reminder, a new service area. Check the profile monthly for edits Google or the public has suggested, because anyone can propose a change to your hours or phone number. The profile is the front door for most local searches; it is worth keeping it swept.
Want it done for you? We set up and clean up Google Business Profiles as part of our local SEO work for Saskatchewan businesses. Get in touch and we will start with a free look at what you have.
