The Google Business Profile Guidelines are the “bible” of Google Business Profiles (GBP), and are referenced and studied more often than any other article in the GBP Help Center.

According to Google:

To keep your information on Google high quality, follow these guidelines for local businesses. These guidelines can help you avoid common problems, including changes to your information or, in some cases, removal of your business information from Google.

In other words, the guidelines inform us about what we, as managers of a business profile, need to pay attention to if we want to continue to enjoy Google's favor.

We strongly recommend that you review the guidelines at least once a year, as Google is constantly changing them.

Here are the key points from the guidelines that we believe are most important.

Company name

We know that company name is a ranking factor. Here is what Google says about company name:

To help customers find your business online, be accurate with your business name. Your name should reflect the real name of your business, which is used consistently throughout your store, on your website, on your stationery, and with your customers.

address

Google's worst nightmare is that customers show up at an address on the map, but the business doesn't exist. Providing the correct address and following the rules is crucial. These are the most important things to remember.

1. PO boxes or mailboxes in remote locations will not be accepted.
2. Create your business profile for your actual, real location.
3. Companies whose address appears on Google should permanently add their company name to the address.
4. If your business leases a physical mailing address but does not operate from that location (also known as a virtual office), that location is not eligible for a Google Business Profile.

Companies in the service sector

The address guidelines above apply to brick-and-mortar stores. But what about SABs? Here's what Google has to say about it.

1. Companies with service territories or companies that serve customers at their locations should have a profile for the head office or location with a designated service territory.
2. Businesses in service areas cannot specify a “virtual” office unless that office is staffed during business hours.
3. If your service company has different locations with different service areas and their own staff, you have a separate profile for each location.
4. The boundaries of your profile's entire service area should be no more than about a 2-hour drive from your business location.

Website and telephone number

Your website and phone number are ways customers can contact you, and Google wants to make sure these are listed correctly.

1. Provide a phone number associated with your individual business location or provide a website that represents your individual business location.
2. If possible, use a local phone number rather than a central call center helpline number.
3. Do not include phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “point” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business, including pages created on social media sites.

Categories

The right categories are one of the most important aspects of a successful Google Business profile. Here's what Google says about it.

1. Use as few categories as possible from the list provided to describe your entire core business.
2. Don't use categories solely as keywords or to describe characteristics of your business.
3. Select categories that contain the statement “This IS a…” instead of “this business HAS a…“ The goal is to describe your business holistically, not to create a list of every service offered, product sold, or amenity provided.

Towards the end of the guidelines, Google has created a separate section for chains, departments and doctor directories. Here are the highlights.

Chains

1. Use consistent names and categories for all your business locations so customers can quickly find your business on Google Maps and in search results.
2. All business locations within a country must have the same name for all locations.
3. All locations of a company must be assigned to the category that best represents the company.
4. Virtual food stamps are permitted under certain conditions.
5. If your business location combines two or more brands, do not combine the brand names into a single business profile. Instead, choose the name of one brand for the business profile. If the brands operate independently, you can use a separate profile for each brand in that location.

Areas

1. Departments within companies, universities, hospitals and government institutions may have their own company profiles on Google.
2. Car dealers and healthcare providers have their own separate guidelines.
3. Publicly accessible departments that operate as independent units should have their own page.
4. The exact name of each department must be different from that of the main business and the names of the other departments.
5. Typically, such departments have a separate customer entrance and should each have their own categories. Their opening hours may sometimes differ from those of the main store.

practitioner

1. An individual practitioner is a public professional who typically has his or her own client base. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners.
2. Business profiles for practitioners may include titles or credentials (e.g., Dr., MD, JD, Esq., CFA).
3. An individual physician should create his or her own business profile in the following cases:
   • You are acting in a publicly accessible role. Support staff should not create their own business profiles.
   • These can be reached directly at the verified location at the specified times.
4. A doctor should not have multiple business profiles to cover all his specializations.
5. Corporate sales representatives or lead generation agents are not individuals and are not entitled to a corporate profile.
6. If the physician is one of several publicly accessible physicians at this location:
   • The organization should create a separate business profile for this location, separate from that of the physician.
   • The title of the doctor's business profile should contain only the doctor's name and not the name of the organization.
7. If a physician is the only publicly accessible physician at a location and represents a branded organization, it is best for the physician to share a business profile with the organization. Create a single business profile using the following format: [brand/company]: [practitioner name].

Note that these are guidelines. Google seems to intentionally avoid the word RegulateKeeping an eye on and understanding the guidelines will help you better understand what Google thinks is best for its users (and your customers).

Don't just read what Google says, but also pay attention to what Google does in practice. That's the key to success.