The Ultimate Google Business Profile Guide

Creating and maintaining a Google Business Profile is one major factor for getting more people in the door of your church. Looking for an address of a church? Searching for service times? Wondering what the building looks like? These are all things that a Google Business Profile can provide.

Create your church’s business presence with Google and allow your church to become searchable. We’ve put together this helpful google business profile guide to help walk you through making your account and what to do to maintain it.

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

What is a ‘Google Business Profile’?

Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) is a free tool that allows small business owners (and nonprofits) to promote their business information on Google Search and Maps. With Google Business Profile, you can connect with your customers, post updates to your business profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google. On average, a verified Google Business Profile receives about 200 clicks/interactions per month. 48% of these interactions are website clicks. Each view of a verified Google Business Profile can generate up to 10 interactions with the business.

Think of this as the way that people will find you in search engines. When a new guest is looking up “church near me”, you want your church to pop up with the appropriate location and times.

How to Create Your Google Business Profile

Step 1:  Start by going to Google Business

Be sure to bookmark this address, as you’ll need it to access your Google Business Profile listing in the future. 

Step 2:  Log in with your Google account

If you don’t have a Google account, visit google.com/accounts. You’ll be able to create a free account with any email address.

Step 3: Enter your business name

Be sure you spell your name correctly and use Title Case (where you capitalize the first letter of each word.) This is the first impression for a customer, and you want to make sure it’s a positive experience. 

Step 4: Enter your business address

This screen is where you’ll enter your business address, so Google can verify that your business exists. This cannot be a post office box or mailbox in a storefront like Postal Annex or UPS Store. You can also only have one business per residence.

Step 5: Choose whether you’re a storefront or a service provider

Here’s where you will choose whether you want customers to visit your storefront or if you work from home or would prefer your customers don’t visit your office; you can choose a mile radius around your business, a specific city or state, or a group of zip codes. 

Step 6:  Choose your Primary business category

Choosing your primary business description category is important because it dictates where and when you will show up on Google searches. Google is all about relevance, so if a potential customer searches for “Italian Restaurant” but you’re a pizza place, then you may not show up. If the customer searches “near me” or for “Italian restaurant near me,” then you’d have a much better chance of your business profile showing up in the search results. 

Step 7: Add your phone number and website

Both phone calls and website clicks are tracked by Google Business Profile, so make sure your information is correct here. You’ll want to make sure that your correct business hours are listed as well.

Step 8: Verify your local listing (most likely with a postcard)

According to Google, to manage your business information in Search, Maps, and other Google properties, you must first verify your business listing. The verification process helps Google make sure your business information is accurate and that only you, the business owner or manager, have access to it.

If you get stuck along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out to Google Support where they can answer any question you might have about this process.

Part 1: Understanding Google My Business and Local Searches

Now that you’ve created your business profile, let’s dive into how to manage it and all the functions it allows you and your church to do.

Google Maps and Google My Business

Unless your church location is brand new, you almost certainly can be found in a Google Maps search. Go ahead and search for your church at https://www.google.com/maps if you aren’t sure.

If your church can’t be found in a Google Maps search you have a big problem – but excluding brand new churches, this scenario is extremely uncommon. Even if you’ve never taken any explicit action, Google has probably figured out that your church location exists on its own and included it in Google Maps search results.

Search results displayed in Google Maps (or in Google’s local pack – more on this later) include several pieces of important data about the entity in question, including:

• Primary Category
• Address
• Phone Number
• Google Reviews
• Website
• Hours of Operation

If a user clicks on a search result or a map pin, an additional panel is displayed containing the information above as well as potentially:

• Logo
• Photos
• Events
• Featured Reviews
• Social Media Profiles

As you can see, someone viewing a local search result from Google Maps can be exposed to a lot of information about your church before they even reach your church website. This raises the question: where does Google get this information from? The answer is that it is aggregated from Google My Business and other authoritative third-party sources found online. If your church doesn’t have a Google My Business profile however, Google will be forced to rely entirely on third-party sources.

Local Searches and the Local Pack

When unchurched people search Google to find a church, they inevitably use keywords that Google recognizes are requesting a location. This triggers Google’s local search algorithm, which almost always includes a local pack.

The local pack is a set of three results from Google Maps (marked on a map), that typically appear above all other search results. The local pack contains only results that are geographically near enough to the searcher to be relevant, and that Google is confident exist at the location they claim.

What this means in practice is that even if people aren’t searching in Google Maps explicitly, in regular Google searches, unchurched people are most likely to discover your church through a Google Maps type result within the local pack.

Knowledge Panel Search Results

When someone performs a direct search or branded search (more on these below) using keywords that reference your church name explicitly, the first search result they receive is likely presented in the knowledge panel format. This panel behaves almost exactly as when someone clicks your search result or map pin in a Google Maps search as described above.

As we discussed previously, these results can contain a wealth of information about your church – the primary source of which (if available) is your Google My Business profile. Thus, even for people that already know about your church and search for you explicitly, their first interaction is likely to be with information drawn from your Google My Business profile, prior to them having the opportunity to reach your church website.

The Power of Discovery Searches

When a local search is performed, Google categorizes it in one of three ways:

• Direct Searches occur when a user searches for your church explicitly by name or address.
• Branded Searches occur when a user searches for a brand related to your church (for example, a branded ministry name).
• Discovery Searches occur when a user searches for your church is or does, but did not mention your church or its brands explicitly (for example, “church near me”)

You can view analytics that track which search types were used to find your Google My Business profile using the Insights tool.

People performing direct or branded searches rarely have difficulty finding the church they’re looking for – though in fringe cases there can be issues depending on nuances regarding a church’s name, etc. However, people performing these types of searches already know about your church.

The most valuable searches, however, are discovery type searches that are performed by people actively looking for a church. These searches help drive church growth by exposing new people to your church. Users that performed discovery searches may have searched for:

• “church near me”
• “[denomination] church” (ie. “Baptist church”)
• “church in [city name]” (ie. “church in Phoenix”)

What is Local SEO?

Local Search Engine Optimization (“Local SEO”) can be defined as the practice of optimizing your online presence to improve search result ranking in local type searches. This encompasses all search results from Google Maps (including the local pack), as well as the regular organic search results displayed in local type searches.

Google My Business’s Importance in Local SEO for Churches

When a local type search is performed, Google relies on its local search algorithm which differs from its typical behavior in several ways – one of which is the display of a local pack.

Google’s local algorithm uses several key drivers not typically considered to determine search rankings. Perhaps the most important of these is that Google wants to be supremely confident that the entity exists at the location it claims. Simply put, Google doesn’t want a user who searches for a bank to see a map pin for a bank on Google Maps, hop in their car and drive to the location expecting to arrive at a bank, only to end up at a park with no bank in sight.

While there are several important methods to increase Google’s confidence that your church’s location is correct, the simplest is to have a verified and actively maintained Google My Business profile.

How People Interact With Your Google My Business Profile

We’ve described above how closely linked your church’s Google Maps search result and Google My Business profile are. When your GMB profile is actively maintained, they may even be virtually synonymous.

When a user comes across your church’s local search result, there are several different ways they could choose to engage deeper. First and foremost, there are three primary actions that bring a user into closer contact with your church, which Google tracks within the GMB Insights tool:

• Clicks to your website.
• Directions requests.
• Phone calls.

In addition to the simple actions above, there are most definitely other less common ways a user might interact with your search result such as:

• View photos (managed via GMB – though users can submit their own).
• Read or submit reviews.
• Check out upcoming events (if Google is aware of them).
• Check out your social media profiles (if Google is aware of them).
• Suggest changes to your GMB information (for you to moderate).

Part 2: Managing Your Google My Business Profile

Claim/Add and Verify Your Google My Business Profile

First and foremost, to manage your Google My Business profile, it must exist and your church must have access to it. For the data contained within your Google My Business profile to be shared with Google Maps (meaning, for it to have any impact externally in search results), it must first be verified.

If your church already exists on Google Maps (true of the vast majority of churches), you’ll want to claim and verify your listing. Do NOT create a duplicate new Google My Business profile instead – this is confusing to Google and will inevitably hurt more than it helps!

If your church isn’t currently present on Google Maps (perhaps it’s a brand new church or campus), you’ll need to create a new profile in Google My Business and verify it.

Verification Methods

Verifying your Google My Business profile ensures that you are who you say you are (an owner or manager of the business). Until you’ve performed this step, the changes you make to the Google My Business profile in question won’t be used by Google in its Google Maps search results.

There are three typical methods that may be available to perform verification of your Google My Business profile.

• Verify by Post. This method has Google send a postcard with a verification code to the mailing address listed. After receiving the postcard, you simply enter the code. This method is the default and is available for all businesses. For newer churches/campuses, post verification will frequently be the only method available.
• Verify by Phone. This method allows you to receive an automated phone call (placed to the phone number associated with the Google My Business profile) that will read you a verification code. You then enter the code within Google My Business. This method will only be available if Google is very confident that the phone number in question is associated with the location in question due to authoritative external references.
• Verify by Email. This method allows you to receive an email from Google to an address on your church website’s domain containing a verification code. Simply enter the code within Google My Business. This method will only be available if Google is very confident that the domain in question is associated with the location in question due to the authoritative external references.

Once verification is complete, you’re all set. You now control the fate of your church’s Google My Business profile.

Ensure Your NAP Info Is Correct

It should go without saying, but make sure the NAP (name, address, phone) information contained within your Google My Business profile is correct and up to date. This is done within the “Info” section of Google My Business.

Service Areas

Immediately underneath the address info (“Business Location”) within GMB is a field called “Service Areas”, which is frequently misunderstood and misused by churches.

The Service Areas field is designed for businesses that travel to perform their services (ie. a plumber or housekeeping service), or businesses that deliver their product (ie. pizza shop) to outline how far they are willing to travel.

Because this model doesn’t apply to churches, you should not set a Service Area – it will only confuse Google and potentially hurt your search rankings.

Use the Most Specific Primary Category Possible

When setting the primary category for your Google My Business listing, choose the most specific category possible. If your organization is a Baptist Church, choose “Baptist Church” instead of just “Church”. Google has categories available for almost every denomination you can imagine, including “non-denominational”. You can include more generic categories such as “Church” and “Christian Church” as additional categories.

Having an appropriate primary category set for your church is a significant help in ranking for local searches seeking a specific denomination (ie. “Baptist church near me”).

Hours of Operation

Make sure you have hours of operation set. These should include your service times and your office hours – essentially, any time that your church is available for interaction with in-person traffic. You can use the Special Hours field immediately below to specify any deviations in these hours due to holidays, etc.

Manage Photos

Your Google My Business profile should have at minimum a handful of high-quality photos to help establish your church identity. Ideally, you should have one or more “exterior” category photos of your church location to help people identify what your church looks like before they go searching for it in the real world.

Most importantly, you’ll want to have individual images flagged as “Logo” and “Cover”. These images will be displayed within some formats of search results for your church. The “Logo” flagged image should of course be your church’s logo.

For the “Cover” image, we recommend the best frontal exterior shot of your church location you have available. If your church doesn’t have its own distinct building, use something that speaks to your church identity. This “Cover” image is going to be the first visual impression that your church gets to make on a lot of potential new visitors!

Post Special Events

Much like Facebook or Twitter, Google My Business is a great place to keep people up to date with the major happenings at your church. Use the “Post” and “Event” functionality to let people know what’s going on!

Read and Respond to Reviews

Your Google My Business reviews are a critical part of your church’s online presence. While generating positive reviews is extremely important, responding to existing reviews (both positive and negative) is an easily overlooked but equally crucial practice.

Responding to reviews shows both Google and potential new visitors that your church is engaged with the community and receptive to feedback.

Consider Adding a Virtual Tour

Using the Street View App and 360-degree cameras, or by hiring a professional, your Google My Business profile can contain a fully virtual tour of your location. You can find more information or help locating a pro here.

Create Your Profile Today

As you can see, the benefits of utilizing a Google Business Profile are endless. This is the easiest way for new guests to find your church and get there on a Sunday morning. It can be overwhelming trying to navigate somewhere new, so make it easy for people to find you!

We hope that this guide was easy to follow and gave you the tools to get started making your business profile today!

More Resources on Google Business:

• 6 Google Maps SEO Tips to Rank at the Top
• 9 Google Business Profile Hacking Tips
• Google My Business For Churches – Everything You Need To Know
• GRANT Details
• The Anatomy of a Google Search And How Your Church Can Be More Visible

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