Google Business Profile Guide for Puerto Rico

Google says you're open on Sunday. You're not, and a customer who drove over tells you so on Monday. Another says they looked you up on Google Maps and a different business came up. You never put anything on Google, or you did years ago and can't remember which account you used.

Your Google Business Profile fixes that. It's what used to be called Google My Business. This guide walks you through the whole thing: finding or creating your profile, verifying it, filling it in, why you might not show up, holiday hours, and reviews. If you're starting from zero, read it in order. If you already have a profile and something is off, jump to your section. At the end there's a twenty-minute monthly routine so it doesn't go stale again.

The short answer: what a Google Business Profile is

It's your business's listing on Google Search and Google Maps: name, address, hours, phone, photos, reviews, and a button to your website. It's free. To control what it says, you claim it and verify it, which means proving the business is yours. After that, you manage it from your phone.

According to Google's help pages, verifying makes you the owner of the profile, so you control what it says and can keep it accurate.

Start here: look yourself up like a customer

Before you change anything, grab your phone and search for your business on Google Maps by name and town. Then search for what you sell, like "barbershop in Bayamón" or "auto repair in Caguas." Write down what you see:

Whether you show up at all.
Whether you show up twice, with two separate listings.
Whether your hours, phone number and address are right.
Whether there's a button to claim the business. That means nobody has verified it.
Which photos show up and who posted them.

That list tells you where to start. If you don't show up, go to the next section. If you show up but nobody has claimed the listing, same thing. If someone else already claimed it, skip to "If someone else already manages your profile."

How to get your business on Google Maps

You need a Google account. Use one that belongs to the business, not an employee's personal account or the one your nephew set up for you, because the profile stays with that account.

If your business isn't on Google yet, Google's page on how to add or claim your Business Profile says to go to business.google.com/add, choose to add your business, fill in the details it asks for, and pick a way to verify.

If your business already shows up but nobody has claimed it, find it in the Google Maps app, tap the listing, and choose "Claim this business." Then follow the verification steps.

One rule before you start: Google's guidelines only accept businesses that deal with customers in person, either at a location or by going to the customer. A store that only sells online, with no location and no in-person delivery, doesn't qualify.

Verification: the part that confuses everyone

Verifying means proving to Google that the business exists and that it's yours. According to its verification page, that can happen by phone or text, by email, by live video call, or by a postcard with a code. You don't pick the method. Google offers whichever ones apply to your business.

What to know:

After you finish the steps, Google reviews what you sent. That takes up to 5 business days, and sometimes longer.
If you get the postcard, it usually arrives within 14 days, and the code expires after 30 days.
While you wait for the postcard, don't change your business name, address or category, and don't request a new code. Any of those can break the process.

If you get the video option, plan it before you hit record. Per Google's video verification help, the video has to show where you are (the street, the building number, the businesses next door), a sign with your business name, and something only someone from the business can do, like opening the cash register or the kitchen. If you go to your customers, show your tools or your branded van. You record it on your phone from your profile, in one take with no cuts, for at least 30 seconds.

If you work from home If you're a contractor, do nails at people's homes, or run a food truck that moves around, you don't have to show your home address. Google says a business that goes to its customers should hide its address and list the towns it serves instead.

If someone else already manages your profile

This happens more than you'd think: the profile was verified by a former employee, a designer, or whoever built you a website years ago, and now they don't answer. Google has a path for this on its page about how to request access to a profile.

Go to business.google.com/add, enter your business name and address, pick it from the list, and select "Request access." Fill out the form and send it. The current owner has 3 days to respond. If they don't, Google may let you claim it yourself from the confirmation email, though that option isn't always available. If your business goes to its customers and has no storefront, that page says to contact Google directly instead.

So it doesn't happen again, anyone who helps you with your profile should put in writing that it becomes yours if you stop working with them.

Fill in the whole profile

A verified profile with nothing in it doesn't help anyone. Here's what goes in, most important first:

Your real business name, exactly as it appears on your sign. Google doesn't allow extra words added to get noticed more, like "Juan's Barbershop best haircut Bayamón." Just "Juan's Barbershop."
The main category closest to what you do: restaurant, beauty salon, auto repair shop.
Your exact address, or the towns you serve if you go to the customer.
Your regular hours, the ones you really keep.
The phone number you actually answer. Google lets you add up to 3.
Your website, with the full address starting with https://.
Real photos: the front of your place so people recognize it, the inside, your work, your food.

You change all of this from the profile, on Google Search or in the Maps app, under "Edit profile." Per Google's help on editing your profile, Google reviews changes before they go live, so don't panic if an edit doesn't show up right away.

One listing per business. Google's guidelines allow only one per location. If you found two, keep one.

Why your business doesn't show up on Google Maps

If you search your own name and don't show up, it's usually one of these:

The profile isn't verified yet, or verification is still under review.
You changed the name, address or category and Google is reviewing it.
There are two listings and Google doesn't know which one to show.
The name has extra words added, or the address is somewhere you don't serve customers. That can lead Google to restrict or suspend the profile.

If you show up by name but not when someone searches "pizza in Ponce," that's a different question. Google's page on how local results are decided says it weighs how well your profile matches the search, how close you are, and how well known your business is. It also says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Nobody can promise you the top spot. What you do control is a complete profile, the right category, photos, answered reviews, and a website that says the same thing your profile does.

Hours: holidays and closures

Wrong hours hurt in a way customers remember: they drive over and find the door locked. And Puerto Rico has holidays all year: Three Kings Day (Día de Reyes, on January 6), Good Friday, Christmas, and each town's own patron saint festivities.

Google's help on special hours explains how: in your profile, tap "Edit profile," then "Hours," and next to "Special hours" tap edit. Pick the date, mark whether you're closed or enter that day's hours, and save. Google suggests confirming your hours for official holidays even when they're the same as usual, so customers know they're current.

Special hours cover up to 6 days in a row. If you'll be closed 7 days or more, or you don't know for how long, mark the business as "Temporarily closed." When you reopen, switch it back.

When Google calls to confirm In some places, Google uses automated calls or texts to the phone number on your profile to confirm your details are current. A real one never asks for payment, a card number or passwords. If a caller wants money to keep you on Google, it isn't Google.

Reviews: how to ask and how to reply

Plenty of happy customers never leave a review because nobody asked, not because they don't want to. Google has a page on how to get reviews: from your profile you get a link or a QR code, and you give it to the customer so they land right where they write the review.

The best time to ask is when the customer is happy: when you hand back the repaired car, finish the haircut, or bring the check. A short WhatsApp message with the link is enough: "Thanks for coming in. If you liked it, a Google review helps us a lot," plus the link. You can put the QR code by the register or on the tables.

What you can't do is give something in return. Google's content rules forbid offering money, discounts or free stuff for a review, or for changing or removing a bad one. Google removes that kind of review and can even suspend the account.

Reply to reviews, good and bad. Google recommends short, polite, specific replies. For a bad one, reply soon, use the person's name, acknowledge what happened, and say what you'll do. Don't argue. The next customer who reads that review will pay more attention to your reply than to the complaint.

Your profile and your website should say the same thing

Your Google profile and your website work together. The profile is the first thing people see on Google Maps, and the website button is how they get to your menu, services or prices. Make sure that button goes to your current site, not an old one.

What confuses customers most is Google saying one thing and your website saying another. Name, address, phone and hours should match on both. The small business website guide for Puerto Rico covers what your site needs for that to work.

Apple Maps and Waze

Not everyone uses Google Maps. Some iPhone users stick with Apple Maps, and plenty of people here drive with Waze. Those apps have their own business listings, and updating your Google profile doesn't always change what they show. Look yourself up on both. If something's wrong, each app has its own way to fix it or claim your business.

Twenty minutes a month to keep it current

Your profile isn't a one-time job. Block off twenty minutes on the first Monday of every month and do this:

Look yourself up on Google Maps from your phone, like a customer would.
Check your hours and add special hours for that month's holidays.
Reply to new reviews.
Add two or three new photos of your work or your place.
Check whether anyone suggested an edit to your listing, and whether it's right.
Make sure the website button and phone number work.

Esensee's Starter plan already includes Google Maps with the website: we create or claim your profile, fill it in, connect it to your site, and you text us when your hours change. While you're on the plan, we manage it; if you cancel and owe nothing, your profile moves to your name along with the website, domain and email. See plans and prices or book a free 30-minute call, in Spanish or English.

Questions

How much does a Google Business Profile cost?

Nothing. Creating it, verifying it and managing it are free. What it can cost is the time to keep it current, or paying someone to do that.

How long until my business shows up on Google Maps?

It depends on the verification method. Google says review takes up to 5 business days after you verify, and sometimes longer. If you get the postcard, the code usually arrives within 14 days. Once it's approved, your profile can show on Maps.

My business is already on Google, but I didn't put it there. What do I do?

Anyone can add a missing place on Google Maps, so a customer may have done it. Find it on Google Maps and tap "Claim this business." If someone already claimed it, request access at business.google.com/add.

Can I have a profile if I work from home?

Yes, as long as you serve customers in person by going to them. Hide your home address and list the towns you serve.

Can I give customers something for a review?

No. Google forbids offering money, discounts or free stuff for reviews. Ask without offering anything, and when they leave one, reply to it.

Google Business Profile: the complete guide for Puerto Rico businesses