Your Google Business Profile and your website

The short version

Use your real business name on both, without extra keywords. If customers do not come to you, hide your address on the profile and do not publish it on the website. Set a service area within about two hours' drive of your base. Keep phone, hours and coverage identical on the profile and the site. Add LocalBusiness structured data only if you publish an address; otherwise rely on the profile for location details.

Two places, one business

A Business Profile is managed by you in your own Google account. It is what appears in Google Maps and in the local panel in search results. Your website is yours to control completely. People move between the two, and a mismatch, such as a different phone number or a town on one that is missing from the other, makes them wonder which is right.

This guide does not cover setting up a profile; Google's own help pages do that. It covers what your website should do so that the two agree.

Your business name

Google's guidelines say the name on a profile should reflect your business's real-world name, as used on signage, stationery and with customers, and that adding unnecessary information is not permitted. That rules out marketing taglines, phone numbers and lists of services in the name field.

Your website should use the same name in the header, footer, contact page and structured data. If your trading name differs from your company's legal name, use the trading name consistently and, if you want, state the legal name in the footer or terms.

Addresses and service-area businesses

If you visit customers rather than customers visiting you, Google treats you as a service-area business. Its guidelines say you should hide your business address from customers, and give the example of a plumber who runs the business from home removing that address from the profile.

On your website, do the same. Do not publish your home address on the contact page or in the footer. State your coverage instead, for example "We work across Hamilton, Cambridge, Te Awamutu and the surrounding districts."

If you do have premises where customers visit, such as a showroom or office, list the address on both and keep it identical, down to the abbreviations.

Service areas

Google asks that the area stay within roughly two hours' drive of the business base, while allowing that a larger area can suit some businesses. Set the profile's service area to the towns or regions you genuinely cover.

Your website's coverage statement should list the same places. If you have separate area pages, each should correspond to an area on the profile. The service area guide explains when separate pages make sense.

Phone, hours and categories

• Phone. Use the same number on both, formatted the same way. If you have one number for urgent work, say so on the site.
• Hours. Match them exactly, including public holidays and the Christmas shutdown if you post one. If phones are answered outside office hours for emergencies, explain that on the site.
• Categories and services. Choose profile categories that describe your main work. Your website's service pages should cover the same ground.

Where structured data fits in

Structured data is code on a web page that describes its content in a standard vocabulary. Google documents a LocalBusiness type that can help it understand details such as your name, address, phone and opening hours. Its documentation lists two required properties, name and address, recommends others such as telephone, openingHoursSpecification and url, and advises using the most specific business type available.

The difficulty for a service-area business is the required address. If you have hidden your address on the profile, publishing it in structured data on your website contradicts that choice. Options:

• You have premises. Add LocalBusiness markup with the real address on the home or contact page, using a specific type such as GeneralContractor, RoofingContractor, Electrician or Plumber where one fits.
• You do not publish an address. Leave LocalBusiness markup off rather than inventing or borrowing an address. Use Organization markup for your name, logo and contact details, and keep the Business Profile as the main source of location information.

Whatever you do, the markup must match what is visible on the page. Do not mark up reviews, ratings or prices that are not shown.

Reviews

Reviews belong on your profile, collected through Google's own process. Do not copy them onto your website as if they were written there, and never write them yourself or ask staff to. If you want to show feedback on your site, use exact words from clients who have agreed in writing to publication.

The mobile view

Google indexes the mobile version of a website, so check the contact page on a phone: a phone number that can be tapped, your coverage near the top and opening hours easy to find. The same details and structured data must appear on mobile and desktop.

A quick consistency check

Once a year, or whenever something changes:

1. Open your profile and your website contact page side by side.
2. Compare the name, phone number, email, coverage and hours word for word.
3. Check any area pages against the profile's service areas.
4. If you use structured data, run the page through Google's Rich Results Test.
5. Fix whichever is wrong, and note the date.