Google Business Profile for hosts: free, and most do not have one

When somebody searches for accommodation in a town on a phone, the first thing they see is not the regular results but a map with three highlighted places. Only businesses with a Google Business Profile appear there. The profile is free, and a large share of hosts either do not have one or set it up and forgot it.

Setting it up

• Create the profile with a Google account you will keep using, not one you will forget
• Enter the exact property name, as it appears on your site and on the portals
• Pick an accommodation category: holiday apartment rental, apartment building or holiday home, depending on what you offer
• Add the address and the area you cover
• Add a phone number you actually answer
• Enter your website address
• Verify ownership, usually by post or phone

The details must match everywhere

Name, address and phone must be identical on the profile, on the website and on the portals. If they differ, even in a street abbreviation or the format of a phone number, Google finds it harder to connect them as the same business and the profile loses trust. That is the most common and the most easily fixed mistake.

The two fields everybody skips

Photos and the website link. A profile without photos looks abandoned and guests skip it. A profile without a link sends all its traffic back to Google instead of to your site, where you would take the booking with no commission. Both fields are free and take a minute.

Reviews

Reviews on the profile count both for map position and for the guest’s decision. Asking for them is fine, buying them is not: Google detects fake reviews and the profile can be penalised. The best moment to ask is at check-out, while the guest is happy and still on site. Reply to reviews, good and bad, because everyone who comes later reads them.

Common mistakes that cost position

• Two profiles for the same property, usually because somebody created one long ago and forgot it: Google reads them as two businesses and splits the trust between them
• A name stuffed with keywords, along the lines of Apartments Zadar centre sea parking, which breaks the rules and can get the profile suspended
• An address that does not exist or points to the wrong spot on the map, so guests get lost
• A category unrelated to accommodation, a hotel instead of holiday apartment rental for example
• A phone number nobody answers out of season

Keeping it current

A profile left untouched for a year loses visibility. It does not take much: new photos at the start of the season, updated hours or the period when you take guests, and answers to the questions guests ask through the profile.