Google Business Profile Guidelines: Rules Small Businesses Break

Most Business Profile problems come from a handful of rules that small businesses break without meaning to, usually while trying to look more appealing. Following them costs you nothing, and breaking them can get your edits rejected.

This article is part of our local SEO guide for small businesses. It summarises Google's published guidelines, checked on 20 September 2026. Google updates them, so treat the current guidelines as the authority.

Who can have a profile

Google's guidelines cover businesses that have a physical location customers can visit and businesses that travel to their customers. If you do the second, read our article on service-area businesses as well.

Naming your business

The name on your profile should reflect how your business is consistently represented and recognised in the real world, across your signage, stationery and other branding.

According to the guidelines, the name should not include:

• marketing taglines
• store codes or location identifiers
• trademark symbols
• hours or operating status, such as "Open 24 hours"
• phone numbers or website addresses
• special characters without real-world proof

Why people break it: adding "Emergency Plumber Manchester" to a business called "Smith & Sons" looks like a shortcut to ranking for those words. It also risks a rejected edit. Put those words in your description and your website instead, where they belong.

Writing the description

The description is for telling customers what you do. The guidelines list things to keep out of it:

• links of any type
• promotions that emphasise prices and sales
• content that is low quality, irrelevant or distracting

Write two or three plain sentences about what you offer and who you serve, and leave the phone number and offers for your website.

Content that must never appear

Google's guidelines prohibit private or confidential information, such as personal financial information or government-issued IDs. It is worth applying that to photos too: check that an invoice, a customer's letter or a van's paperwork isn't legible in the background.

A quick self-check

Before you save changes, ask:

1. Would this name match the sign on my door or my van?
2. Is there anything in the name that isn't part of the business's real name?
3. Are there any links, phone numbers or prices in the description?
4. Does every photo show only things I'm allowed to share?

What to do next

Once the profile is accurate, add the same details to your website, marked up as local business schema, so search engines see one consistent picture. Then start asking for reviews the right way.