Google Business Profile: the fastest AI-visibility win

For a local business, a complete Google Business Profile is the quickest way to become more visible to AI. Google's own AI (Gemini, AI Overviews and Ask Maps in Google Maps) builds its answers about local businesses from your profile, your reviews and your website, and the same details get copied to other sites that other assistants read. It's free, and most owners leave half of it empty.

Key takeaways

• Your primary category is the most important single field: choose the one that matches what customers search for.
• Fill in everything: services, description, hours (including holidays), photos, website, phone.
• The old Q&A section is gone. Google's AI now answers customers' questions itself, from your profile, reviews and website, so those need to contain the answers.
• Reviews that describe the actual job give the AI words to use. Ask for them, and reply to every review.
• Use the same name, address and phone as on your website and in directories.

Why does Google Business Profile matter for AI?

When someone asks Google "Who repairs e-bikes in Kaunas?", the answer increasingly comes from AI rather than a list of links. Google's AI draws on its Maps data: your categories, services, hours, photos, reviews and the content of your website. A profile that is complete and consistent with your website gives it facts to work with. A half-empty one gives it a reason to name someone else.

What changed in 2026

Google removed the Questions & Answers section from business profiles. In Google Maps it's being replaced by Ask Maps, where Gemini answers questions about a business and can suggest a single place for a request. You can no longer write those answers yourself. The AI assembles them from your profile, your reviews and your website. So the practical rule is: every question customers often ask (prices, parking, how long a job takes, whether you do a specific repair) should be answered somewhere it can read, ideally on your website and in your profile's services and description.

Step 1: Claim and verify your profile

Search for your business on Google Maps. If it's there, choose "Claim this business"; if not, add it at business.google.com. Google will verify that you're the owner, usually by video, phone or postcard. Until verification is complete, your changes may not appear.

Step 2: Choose the right categories

The primary category tells Google what you are. Pick the most specific one that matches how customers search ("Bicycle repair shop", not just "Store"). Then add a few secondary categories for other main services. Don't add categories for things you don't really do.

Step 3: Fill in services, description and details

• Services: list each main service in the words customers use, with a short description and a price or price range where you can.
• Description: say plainly what you do, where, and for whom. Don't stuff it with keywords.
• Hours: keep them accurate, and add holiday hours before every holiday.
• Attributes: fill in the ones that apply (for example accessibility, payment options).
• Website and phone: the same as on your site, written the same way.

Step 4: Add real photos

Add photos of the outside (so people recognise the place), the inside, your team and your work. Real photos help customers decide, and they show Google that the business is active. Add new ones every now and then.

Step 5: Get reviews that describe the job

Reviews are among the strongest signals for local recommendations. Ask happy customers right after the job, with a direct review link (you'll find it in your profile under "Ask for reviews"). A review like "replaced my e-bike battery in one day" helps far more than "great!" because it tells the AI what you're good at. Reply to every review, including negative ones, calmly and specifically. Never buy reviews or offer rewards for them: that breaks Google's rules and can get reviews removed.

Step 6: Keep it up to date

Check your profile once a month: hours, services, photos, and any "suggested edits" from the public. Google can accept changes from other people, so a quick monthly check catches a wrong phone number before customers do.

Don't stop at Google

Other assistants rely on other sources. Bing Places (used by Bing and Microsoft Copilot) can import your Google profile in a few clicks, and Apple Business Connect controls how you appear in Apple Maps and Siri. Lithuanian directories such as rekvizitai.lt matter too. Use exactly the same name, address and phone everywhere.

How to tell if it's working

Ask the questions your customers ask, in Google and in other AI assistants, a few times over several weeks. A RecoPulse report does this for you across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity and shows which competitors get named instead of you. Start with the free check.