When someone in Greece types "taverna near me" or "electrician Thessaloniki" into their phone, the first thing they see is not a list of websites. It is a map with three businesses, their stars, their opening hours and a button to call. What shows up there is the Google Business Profile: a free profile anyone can set up for their business.
Plenty of businesses have one, but half finished: no photos, old opening hours, or a name someone else typed in. And you cannot buy a better spot. Google itself says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. The only thing that counts is how well the profile is set up.
Who qualifies for a profile
The basic rule is simple: to have a profile, a business must make in-person contact with customers during the hours it lists. A shop, a restaurant, an office or a hotel all qualify.
- If you go to the customer (plumber, electrician, pool cleaning), you hide your address and list the areas you serve instead. Up to 20 areas, no further than about two hours' drive from where you are based.
- One profile per location. No second profile for the same business, and no "virtual office" at an address where you do not actually work.
- A villa or apartment rented out on its own does not qualify. Google explicitly excludes rental and for-sale properties such as holiday homes. Guests find those through the booking platforms and your own website.
- Seasonal businesses do qualify, as long as they keep permanent signage up all year.
The name: exactly as on your sign
This is where most mistakes happen. The name on the profile has to be your real business name, as it appears on your sign, your receipts and your website. Nothing more.
Not "Manolis Taverna | Fresh Fish Piraeus". No capitals everywhere, no phone numbers, no opening hours in the name. And not the same name in two languages, such as "Ο Μανώλης / Manolis Taverna", even if that is how your sign reads. Pick one.
I know keywords in the name seem to work, because some of your neighbours do it. It still breaks the rules, and Google can change the name or suspend the profile. The words you want to be found for belong in your category, your description and your website.
Verification
Until it is verified, your profile does not show up properly. Google picks the method, not you. The methods it lists are phone or text, email, a live video call and a postcard.
For the video call you have to be at the business, during opening hours, and show that the business exists and that you run it: the sign, the premises, the keys or the till. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days, and the code expires after 30. After that, the review takes up to five business days.
One tip that saves a lot of time: while you wait, do not change the name, address or category. Any of those can send you back to the start.
The details that matter
Google ranks local results on three things: how well a profile matches what someone searched for, how close it is, and how well known the business is. You cannot change the distance. You can work on the other two.
- Category. One primary category that says what you are ("Taverna", not "Seafood restaurant by the sea"), and up to nine more, only if they are true.
- Description. Up to 750 characters. Say what you do, for whom and where, as you would to a customer.
- Opening hours and special hours. Greek Easter, 15 August and public holidays. A customer who finds the door locked when Google said "Open" does not come back, and often leaves a review.
- Photos. Real ones: the front as someone sees it from the street (so they can find you), the inside, your products or dishes.
- Website. A link to your own site, not to Facebook.
- Chat. In some countries you can add a WhatsApp button. If you see the option in your settings, it is worth it.
What to do in the winter
On the Greek islands and in other holiday areas, many businesses close from November to April. Google's guidance is clear: if you close for seven days or less, set special hours. For longer, or for the off-season, mark the business "Temporarily closed".
Know that this has a cost: Google itself says that for broad searches, temporarily closed businesses can rank after open ones. So as soon as you know your opening date, remove the label and update your hours and photos before people start searching, not on the day you open.
Reviews: how to ask and how to reply
In a BrightLocal survey from February 2026 (of consumers in the US), 97% read reviews before choosing a local business. 74% look for reviews from the last three months, and 89% expect the owner to reply. Fifty reviews from 2022 are not enough.
Ask for them simply: Google gives you a link and a QR code. Put it on a card on the table, in the message after a booking, or on the receipt.
What is not allowed, under Google's policy:
- Anything in return for a review: a discount, a free drink, anything. Even if you do not ask for a positive one.
- Asking only happy customers and discouraging everyone else.
- Reviews from staff, relatives or partners, and targets like "ten reviews a month" for employees.
Reply to all of them, including the bad ones. Calmly, briefly, with no offers in the reply. A reply to an unfair review is not written for the person who posted it, but for everyone who reads it afterwards. And write it yourself: in the same survey, half of consumers said templated, generic replies put them off.
The profile does not replace your website
The profile belongs to Google, and it changes whenever Google decides. In 2024 Google shut down the free websites people could build inside their profile, and the same year it also ended the built-in chat. Businesses that relied only on those were left with nothing.
The two work together. The profile puts you on the map; your website says everything else: photos, prices, languages, a contact form. And it helps if the name, address and phone number are exactly the same everywhere: on the profile, on the site, on the platforms and on your sign.
The takeaway
If you have half an hour this week: open your profile and check the name, the primary category, the opening hours (winter ones too), the link to your website and the photos. Then reply to any reviews still waiting for an answer. It is free, and it is often the first thing a customer sees of you.
If you would like us to look at your profile and your website together, send me a couple of lines through the contact form.