Your Google Business Profile is now an AI answer: what to fill in and keep current

Your Google Business Profile is a source for AI answers. Google says Gemini answers questions about places from Google Maps data, including hours, ratings and reviews, and the Business Profile is how you control that data. Fill in every field that answers a customer question, keep hours and special hours current, reply to reviews, and keep the same details on Apple Maps, Bing Places and Yelp, because other assistants read those instead.

Why the profile now feeds AI answers

In October 2025 Google opened "grounding with Google Maps" to developers and described how Gemini uses it: answers about places draw on Maps data covering more than 250 million places, including addresses, opening hours and user ratings, with reviews used as a source for the answer (Google, 17 Oct 2025; documentation). When someone asks Gemini or Google AI Mode whether a place is open tonight or good for a group, the answer comes from the same data your Business Profile feeds.

BrightLocal compared answers from Google AI Mode, Gemini, Perplexity and ChatGPT on local queries and found that Google's AI relies on the Business Profile and shows its data even when it cites a different page as the source (BrightLocal, 22 Jul 2025). The sample was small, 20 queries in 10 industries in the US, so read it as an observation. It matches what Google itself describes.

The profile also still decides your place in ordinary Google Maps results. Google names three factors: relevance, meaning how well a profile matches the search; distance from the searcher; and prominence, meaning how well known the business is. On reviews, Google says:

"More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." (Google Business Profile Help)

Google also says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results, and gives no weights for any factor. For a sense of what practitioners think matters, Whitespark surveys local search specialists every year. In the 2026 edition (47 experts, 187 factors), reviews were the second-largest group of factors after the Business Profile itself, and the top 20 included a high Google rating (6th), the number of Google reviews (9th), review recency (11th) and a steady flow of reviews rather than bursts (14th) (Whitespark, 6 Nov 2025). That is expert opinion, not a measurement of Google's algorithm.

Field-by-field checklist

Each item below is based on Google's own help pages, linked in the text. You need to verify your business before you can edit most of these fields or reply to reviews.

Business name

Use your real-world name as it appears on your sign, website and stationery. Google's guidelines say to leave out taglines, store codes, phone numbers, URLs and location details, and that adding extra information can lead to suspension (Guidelines for representing your business). An AI answer that quotes your name should quote the name a customer will see on the door.

Categories

Google asks you to use as few categories as possible and pick the most specific ones that describe what the business is, not everything it has or sells (Google guidelines). The primary category is what your business is matched against for "best X near me" questions, so "Dental clinic" versus "Cosmetic dentist" matters. Categories also decide which other fields you get, such as services or a menu.

Address or service area

List your actual location; P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes are not accepted, suite numbers go on the second address line, and there should be one profile per location. Service-area businesses that visit customers, such as electricians, should generally hide their address and set a service area (Google guidelines). If you moved, check that the old address is gone everywhere, not just on Google.

Phone

Use a number that reaches that specific location and that the business controls directly. Google prefers a local number to a central helpline (Google guidelines). Use the same number on your website and other listings.

Hours and special hours

Hours are the field most likely to be quoted in an AI answer and the easiest to get wrong. Set your regular customer-facing hours, then use special hours for holidays and events (Set special hours):

• Go to your profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, then Edit next to Special hours, and add the date.
• Google recommends confirming hours for official holidays even when they match your regular hours, so customers can see the special hours are accurate.
• Special hours only show if the profile is set to "Open with main hours".
• Hours that cross midnight must be split into two entries.
• Use "More hours" for things with their own times, such as delivery or happy hour.
• For a closure of 7 days or more, or of unknown length, mark the business temporarily closed instead.

Put the next six months of holidays in now, and set a reminder to review them every quarter.

Website, booking and order links

The website should represent that specific location, not a redirect or a page on another platform (Google guidelines). For multi-location businesses, link each profile to its own location page. Google lets you add up to 10 links per category for booking, reservations, food orders and shopping orders, mark one as "Business preferred", and add a single link for a menu or a services list (Manage local business links). Check that third-party booking links listed on your profile still work; Google says those have to be removed through the provider.

Services or menu

Service businesses can list services and add a price or description to each, choosing from suggestions or adding custom ones; the options available depend on your category, and custom service names that break policy are rejected, so keep prices and phone numbers out of the name (Manage your services). Food and drink businesses can use the menu editor to add sections, items, descriptions and prices, which show under "Menu" on Search and Maps, or add a menu link (About the menu editor).

This is the field that answers "who does X near me" questions. If you offer EV charger installs, Invisalign or gluten-free pasta and it is not listed, the profile cannot tell anyone.

Attributes

Attributes describe features such as outdoor seating, Wi-Fi, payment options, accessibility and identity attributes like women-owned or veteran-owned. Google says they appear on Search, Maps and other Google platforms and can help a business show up in searches for places with those features (Edit your business attributes). Edit them under Edit profile, then More. Some are filled in from customer visits, and accessibility attributes have defined criteria, so answer them for your actual premises.

Photos

Google lists three types: logo, cover photo and business photos. Photos should be JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels and at least 250 by 250, sharp and without heavy filters. A logo only shows if the profile has a name, a valid street address, categories, a phone number and hours, and a low-quality cover photo may be replaced by a customer photo (Add photos to your Business Profile). Include an exterior photo so people recognize the entrance.

Description

Describe your products, services, history and what makes you different, accurately. Google's rules say not to focus on promotions, prices or sales, and not to include links (Google guidelines). Write it in plain sentences that state what you do, where and for whom; that is the kind of text an assistant can quote.

Reviews and replies

Read and reply under Read reviews. Google checks each reply against its policies, usually within 10 minutes but sometimes up to 30 days; approved replies appear publicly as coming from the business, the reviewer is notified, and you can edit or delete a reply later (Read and reply to reviews). Google also suggests sharing a review link or QR code with customers. Ask steadily, reply to positive and negative reviews, and never buy reviews.

Keep the same details on other platforms

Google covers Gemini and Google AI Mode. Other assistants read other listings, so the same name, address, phone, hours and categories need to be right there too. Dates matter because these arrangements change.

Directories matter too. When BrightLocal analyzed 800 local queries in ChatGPT in 2024, 15% of sources were directories, led by Three Best Rated (24% of directory citations), Expertise (18%) and Tripadvisor (8%), and 58% were businesses' own websites (BrightLocal, 12 Dec 2024). That study predates the Yelp deal, so the mix has changed since. In Yext's 2025 analysis of 6.8 million AI citations across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, 44% pointed to business websites and 42% to listings (Yext, 9 Oct 2025); Yext sells listing management, so treat it as an industry observation.

The practical rule: decide on one exact name, address, phone and set of hours, write them down, and make every listing and your website match. When anything changes, update all of them on the same day.

Keep it current

1. Weekly: reply to new reviews; ask a few of your customers what an assistant said about you, or check it yourself with the same questions.
2. Monthly: check hours, phone, links and services on Google, Apple, Bing and Yelp; add new photos.
3. Quarterly: enter special hours for the next holidays; review categories and attributes; look for duplicate or outdated listings, especially after a move.
4. After any change: new hours, a new phone, a new service or a closure goes everywhere the same day.

None of this guarantees that an assistant will recommend you. It makes sure that when an assistant reads your listings, it finds complete and consistent facts. AIReputa does this checking and upkeep for clients, but every step above can be done in house.