Google Business Profile verification: every method, step by step

The short answer

Verifying a Google Business Profile comes down to five things:

1. Google chooses your methods, not you. Open your profile, select Get verified and use what it offers.
2. Pick video if you can. Google recommends it when your business is eligible.
3. Plan the video before you press record. It must be live, unedited, at least 30 seconds and show your location, your business and proof you manage it.
4. Expect up to 5 business days. That's Google's review time, rarely longer. Postcards take longer to arrive.
5. Don't edit your name, address or category while you wait. Changes can restart verification or void a postcard code.

What do you need before you verify?

Verification is how Google confirms you really run the business. Until it's done, you can't properly edit the profile, and Google says only verified businesses can show their business info on Maps and Search (Find your business on Google). You need three things:

• A Google account. Google says it can use Gmail or any email address you prefer, such as your work address.
• A profile you've added or claimed. If you haven't yet, start with our guide on how to claim your business on Google. If the profile belongs to someone else, request ownership first.
• An eligible business. Google says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. Online-only businesses can't be verified, and neither can an address that's a P.O. box or a mailbox in a remote location (business eligibility and ownership guidelines).

To find your profile, sign in to the account that manages it and search Google for "my business", or your business name and city. Then select Get verified.

Which verification methods does Google offer?

Google says the methods are "automatically determined by Google and can't be changed". Which ones you see depends on your business type, public info, region and business hours, and sometimes you need more than one (Verify your business on Google). These are the methods on Google's page today:

If your profile shows several options, start with video. It's the one Google recommends, and the one most owners get stuck on, so the next two sections cover it in detail.

How does video verification work?

You film one continuous clip with your phone, inside the verification flow, and Google reviews it. Google's rules (Verify your business with a video recording) say the video must be:

• Recorded live. Pre-recorded videos aren't allowed, and you can't record offline and upload later.
• Unedited, unique and complete, with no breaks. One take, start to finish.
• At least 30 seconds long.
• Recorded and uploaded from a mobile device through your Business Profile.

It must not show sensitive info like bank account, tax or ID numbers, private info about you or others, or other people's faces.

The steps on your phone

1. Open your Business Profile and tap Get verified. You may need to enter your phone number and tap Next.
2. Tap Business video, then Next, and read the requirements.
3. Allow access to your location, camera and microphone if you're asked.
4. Tap Next, then Start recording. Tap stop when you're done.
5. Watch it back. Tap Try again to re-record if anything is missing.
6. Tap Upload video.

Google reviews it in up to 5 business days. If it's rejected, Google tells you why. Afterwards you can delete the video from Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings, under "Video uploads"; if you don't, Google deletes it later.

What should you film for video verification?

What Google needs to see depends on whether customers come to you. Each list below follows Google's help page; the tips after them are ours.

Storefront and hybrid businesses

If customers visit you, even if you also deliver, Google says the video must show:

• Your location. Street signs, building numbers, nearby businesses or familiar places, so Google can match the spot on the map.
• Proof the business exists. Your storefront, showroom or signage, with the business name on a permanent fixture like a sign, wall or window. The name in the video must match the name on your profile.
• Proof you manage it. Something only staff can access, like opening the cash register, the kitchen or storage room, or using your point-of-sale system.

Google adds that if you don't have permanent signage on site, you should list the business as a service-area business instead.

Service-area businesses

If you go to your customers, like a plumber or a locksmith, Google says the video must show:

• Where you operate. Street signs, landmarks or other identifiers at your business address. Avoid empty land or places with no clear markers. If you work from home, Google says you can film landmarks and signs in your immediate neighborhood.
• Proof the business exists. The tools, equipment or products you use: machinery, your workspace, business cards or branded clothing.
• Proof you manage it. You performing a service or unlocking something only the business uses, like a branded van, or a business permit, invoice or utility bill in the name on your profile.

Our tips for a video that passes the first time

Google doesn't give these; they come from planning around its requirements:

• Walk the route once before you record. Know where you start, where the sign is and what you'll open, so the take has no dead ends.
• Start outside and move in. Street sign or building number first, then the sign with your name, then the door, then the staff-only proof. That order covers location, existence and management in one walk.
• Check the name on your sign against your profile before you film. Google says the name in the video must match the name on your profile, so fix any difference first.
• Film when the place is empty. Faces aren't allowed, so before opening or after closing is easier.
• Hold documents so that numbers don't show. Show the business name, cover account and tax numbers with your hand.
• Don't stop at 30 seconds exactly. Thirty is the minimum. Take the time each shot needs.

Example shot list (a fictional bakery): the street sign at the corner, the building number, the sign reading "Rosie's Bakery" above the window, unlocking the front door, the kitchen behind the counter, opening the till. For a fictional mobile dog groomer: the street sign outside the home address, the van with the business name, unlocking it, the grooming table and tools inside, an invoice with the business name and the account number covered.

How do you verify by phone, text, email, live call or postcard?

All of these start the same way: go to your Business Profile and select Get verified. Then:

Phone or text

Select Phone or SMS, answer the call or open the text, and enter the code on your profile. Google says phone menus (IVR systems) won't get the code, so make sure a person or a phone that receives texts is on the number.

Email

Select Email and follow the steps in the email. You need access to the address shown on the verification screen.

Live video call

Select Live video call, then Next, choose your language and select Start call. You first chat by text with a support representative, who then helps you join the video call. Google says to be at the business with a device that supports video calls and to be ready to show your location (outside signs, nearby businesses, a street sign), your business or equipment, and proof you manage it, such as keys that open the premises or staff-only areas. Calls are only available during your location's business hours.

Postcard

Select Postcard, check your mailing address and request the code. Google says most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30 days. While you wait:

• Don't edit your business name, address or category. Google says the code won't work if you do.
• Don't request a new code. That cancels the one in the mail and starts the wait again.
• Don't share the code with anyone. Not even people who manage your profile. Google will never ask you for it.

When the card arrives, go to your profile, enter the 5-digit code in the "Code" field and select Submit.

Instant verification

Google says it sometimes verifies a profile instantly, for example when you've already verified your website in Google Search Console (add a website property in Search Console) or when you use bulk verification. There's no button for it: if it applies, it happens.

Do you have 10 or more locations? Use bulk verification

Chains can verify all their locations at once instead of one by one (Verify Business Profiles in bulk). Google's conditions:

• 10 or more locations of the same business. Duplicate, suspended or disabled profiles don't count toward the 10.
• Every location you manage is in the account. Google says not to leave any out, because it checks the size of your business.
• Not a service-area business. Service-area businesses verify individually.
• Not an agency mixing clients. Google says agencies with more than one business in one account can't bulk verify.

To apply, sign in to Business Profile Manager on a computer, select Verifications, then Chain, then Start, fill out the form and submit. Uploading a spreadsheet alone doesn't send a request. If you don't see a Verifications tab, Google says you may not have enough eligible profiles and should verify individually. Google also notes you may still need a video verification, with an authorized representative at the location.

How long does Google Business verification take?

Only what Google states:

• Review after you complete a method: up to 5 business days. Google says reviews can take longer on rare occasions. Video reviews take up to 5 business days too.
• Postcard delivery: most codes arrive within 14 days. Then the code is valid for 30 days.
• Instant, in some cases. With Search Console or bulk verification, as above.

When it's done, Google emails you a confirmation. Being verified doesn't mean you'll show up for every search straight away: Google says rankings for new businesses can take up to a month to appear, and edits can take up to 3 days to show (Find your business on Google).

Verification pending or failed: what does each message mean?

Here is what Google says each message or status means and what to do, from its verification page and its page on profile statuses (Business Profile status):

Why verification fails

Google doesn't publish a full list. These come straight from its requirements and the examples it gives for rejected videos:

• The business name isn't visible, or doesn't match. Google's first example of a rejection is "Business name not visible on storefront". The name on your sign and on your profile must match.
• The video doesn't show where you are. "No nearby area shown" is another of Google's examples. Film street signs, numbers or landmarks.
• There's no proof you run the business. Google's third example is "Missing proof of authorization to operate the business".
• The video breaks the format rules. Shorter than 30 seconds, edited, recorded in pieces or uploaded from outside the profile.
• The business isn't eligible as listed. Google says online-only businesses and P.O. box addresses aren't eligible (eligibility guidelines), and a business without permanent signage should be listed as a service-area business, not a storefront.

When you record again after a rejection, Google says to include everything from the first video plus what was missing. If you keep failing, Google suggests trying another method your profile offers before you contact its support team. A profile that says suspended is a different problem: see Google Business Profile suspended.

Why does Google ask you to verify again?

Verification isn't always once and done. Google says changes to your business info may require re-verification, and that a request for more info is usually because some business details were recently updated. Google doesn't list which changes trigger it. Its postcard rules point to the sensitive ones: editing your name, address or category while a code is in the mail stops that code from working.

Our advice: make those changes only when the business really changed, one at a time, and keep your phone and email on the profile reachable. Our guide on editing your Google Business Profile covers which edits Google reviews first.

Google can also take ownership away. Its guidelines list reasons such as not signing in to your account recently, or Google failing to reach you by email after several attempts (ownership guidelines). If that happens, you verify again or request ownership. And if you see two listings for your business after verifying, don't verify the second one: read duplicate Google Business Profiles first.

You're verified. What should you do first?

• Search for your business in a private window. If it doesn't show for its own name after a few days, work through why your business isn't showing on Google.
• Add people instead of sharing your password. Give staff or your agency manager access from People and access. Our claiming guide explains owners and managers.
• If you serve customers at their location, hide your address. Google says not to show it if customers don't come to you (service-area and hybrid businesses).
• Start answering reviews. The people reading your profile notice who replies.

To keep up with reviews without writing every reply yourself, Mekomi drafts a reply to every Google review. Once you switch it on, 4 and 5 star replies can go out during your opening hours, up to a daily cap, and every 1 to 3 star review or complaint waits for your approval. See AI review replies.