How to set up a Google Business Profile in New Zealand

What a Business Profile does, and doesn't do

When someone searches “electrician Hamilton” or “café near me”, the map and the three businesses under it come from Business Profiles, not from websites. A profile with the right category, the right area, real photos, and reviews is how a local business gets into that box. Your website supports it: Google checks that the two agree, and customers click through to the site to decide.

A profile does not replace a website. Google shut down the free websites it used to build from Business Profiles in 2024, and those addresses stopped working. A profile is also not something you can buy your way up. There is no paid upgrade that improves the map ranking. Ads are separate and marked as ads.

Before you start: the details that must match

Write down three things and use them identically everywhere: the business name, the address or service area, and the phone number. Google calls this NAP — name, address, phone. Your website footer, your profile, and any directory listing (Yellow, Finda, NZBN, Facebook) should show the same strings. “Smith Electrical Ltd” on one and “Smith Sparky” on another looks like two businesses.

Use the name customers see on your van, your sign, or your invoices. Don't add keywords to it. “Smith Electrical” is right. “Smith Electrical — Best Electrician Hamilton 24/7” breaks Google's guidelines and is a common reason profiles get suspended. The phone should be one you answer. A number that rings out is worse than none.

Storefront or service-area business

This is the most important setting for trades and mobile businesses. If customers come to you — a café, a salon, a shop — enter the real street address and show it. If you go to customers — a plumber, a mobile groomer, a builder — you are a service-area business. Enter your address for verification, then hide it and list the areas you serve instead.

Service areas can be cities, suburbs, or regions, up to 20 of them. Be honest. List the places you actually travel to, not every town in the North Island. “Hamilton, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Morrinsville” is believable for a Waikato sparky. Don't use a PO box, a virtual office, or a mate's address to appear in a suburb you don't work from. Google treats that as a fake location.

Choosing categories

The primary category carries the most weight. Pick the one that describes the business as a whole, as narrowly as Google allows: “Electrician” rather than “Contractor”, “Hair salon” or “Barber shop” rather than “Beauty salon” if that's what you are. Start typing in the category box and read the options; Google only accepts its own list.

Add a few secondary categories only for services you genuinely sell. A café that does real catering can add “Caterer”. A builder who also does decks can add a deck category if one fits. Ten loosely related categories don't help, and they make the profile show for searches you'll lose anyway.

Verification

Google picks the verification method, and it changes over time. For many small businesses it is now a short video: you record the business location or your work vehicle, signage, and tools, showing that the business is real and where you say it is. Some profiles are offered a phone or email code instead. Postcards are less common than they used to be.

If you are asked for a video, plan it before you press record. Show the street or the van, any signage with the business name, and something that proves you do the work — tools, equipment, the counter. Keep it continuous and unedited. If verification fails, check that the name and address in the profile match what the camera saw, then try again.

Big edits after verification, like changing the name or the category, can trigger another review. Get them right the first time rather than experimenting.

Hours, holidays, and the small settings that matter

Set regular hours, then set special hours for public holidays. New Zealand has a few that catch people out: Waitangi Day, Anzac Day, Matariki, and the regional anniversary days, which differ between Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and elsewhere. A café showing open on Anzac morning when it isn't is how one-star reviews start.

Add your website link, and point it at the most relevant page. A business with several locations should link each profile to its own location page. Add services with prices if you publish them, a short description in plain words, and the attributes that apply, such as wheelchair access or online appointments. Leave out anything you can't stand behind.

Photos

Upload real photos: the shop front so people can find it, the inside, your team, and finished work. A tradie's best photo is often a tidy finished job and the van outside it. A café needs the counter and a few plates as they actually look. Skip stock photos. Customers can tell, and so can Google.

Add a few new photos every couple of months. It keeps the profile looking current and gives returning customers a reason to look. Use the same logo as your website so the two are obviously the same business.

Reviews, honestly

Reviews matter for both ranking and trust, and there are no shortcuts that are worth the risk. Ask every real customer after the job, by text or email, with a direct link to your review form. Ask everyone, not just the happy ones. Don't offer discounts or gifts in exchange, and don't write them yourself or have staff do it. Google's rules ban all of that, and it removes reviews and sometimes profiles that break them.

Reply to reviews, including the bad ones. Thank people by name. For a complaint, say what happened and what you did, in two or three calm sentences. A future customer reads your reply more than the original complaint. A new business can start with no reviews. Ten real reviews collected steadily beat fifty that arrive in one week.

Posts, questions, and messages

Profile posts are short updates that appear on your listing: a new service, a seasonal special, a holiday closure. They don't move rankings much on their own, but a recent post tells a customer the business is active. One a month is plenty. Write it like a sign on the counter, not an advert.

Anyone can suggest an edit to your profile, including strangers, and Google sometimes accepts them. Log in every few weeks and check the name, hours, and phone are still yours. Answer the common questions on your website's FAQ instead, where you control the wording. A clear answer there saves a phone call you'd otherwise miss on the tools.

Keep the profile and the website in step

Every time you change something real — hours, phone, a move, a new service — change it in both places on the same day. If the site says you open at 7 and the profile says 8, locals trust the profile and arrive annoyed. A mismatch between the two is also one of the signals Google uses to decide whether to trust the listing at all.

Your website should name the same areas your profile serves, in the words customers use. A page that says “we cover Hamilton, Cambridge, and Te Awamutu” supports a profile listing those places. The tradie website checklist covers the website side, and the café and salon pages show how hours, menus, and booking links should line up.

If you'd rather not do it yourself

Our Growth package at $1,499 includes Google Business Profile setup alongside a website of up to five pages. We set the name, category, service area, hours, and website link to match the site we build, and we help with verification. You stay the owner of the profile — it sits in your Google account, not ours. Starter at $599 includes the map embed and on-page titles, and you can follow this guide for the profile.

Whoever sets it up, make sure you are listed as the profile owner, not just a manager added by a designer. If you aren't sure, open the profile settings and check who the owners are. If you want both done together, get a quote with your business type and the areas you serve.