To set up a Google Business Profile in Ireland, go to google.com/business, sign in with a Google account the business owns, search for your business in case it is already listed, then create or claim it with the exact name on your sign, the most specific category, either your address with its Eircode or a service area, your hours including bank holidays, your phone number and your website. Google then asks you to verify that you run the business, which in Ireland is now usually done with a short video from your phone. It is free, the form takes under an hour, and it is the listing that puts you on Google Maps and in the three-business box at the top of a “near me” search.
The numbered steps on this page are the short version. What follows is the detail Google’s own help pages leave out, and the Irish specifics.
Check for a listing before you make one
Google creates listings on its own from directories and old data, and former staff and former designers create them too. Before you add anything, search your business name and town on Google Maps. If a listing is there, use the “Own this business?” link on it and claim it rather than starting a second one. Two profiles for one business confuse customers and Google, and the duplicate can end up carrying your reviews.
If someone else already manages the listing, Google lets you request access from them. They get a few days to respond, and if they do not, you can usually continue the process yourself with proof you run the business. If that someone is an ex-employee, this is the moment to switch to a Google account the business owns, not a personal one, so it never happens again.
The name goes in exactly as it is on the sign
Google’s rule is simple: the name on the profile is the name you trade under in the real world, as it appears on your sign, your invoices and your CRO or RBN registration. Not the name plus “Dublin”, plus “best”, plus the trade. Just the name.
People add keywords and town names because it seems to work for a while. It is against the guidelines, competitors report it, and the result is a suspended profile at the worst possible time. If the trade is genuinely part of the name on your sign, it is fine; if you are adding it for Google, it is not.
Categories: one primary, a few secondary
The primary category is the main thing you do, chosen from Google’s fixed list, and it decides which searches you can appear for and which features you get. Be specific: “Barber shop” rather than “Hair salon”, “Plumber” rather than “Contractor”, “Physiotherapist” rather than “Health”. Add secondary categories for other things you really do, and no more. A chipper that lists itself as a restaurant, a takeaway, a cafe and a caterer is weaker for all four.
Address or service area
There are two kinds of business in Google’s eyes, and the choice matters for a lot of Irish trades.
If customers come to you, a shop, a salon, a clinic or a cafe, you show the address. Enter it with the Eircode, then check the pin on the map and drag it onto the right building. Irish addresses are often not unique, especially outside the cities, and the Eircode is what makes the pin land in the right place.
If you go to customers, a plumber, an electrician, a cleaner, a mobile hairdresser, you hide the address and list the areas you cover instead, by town or county. Google’s rules say a business that works from home without serving customers there should not show that address, and in any case you do not want strangers calling to your door at night looking for a plumber. If you do both, say a bakery that also delivers, show the address and add a service area.
If your pin is in the wrong place or the listing is missing from Maps entirely, the fixes are in how to get your business on Google Maps.
Hours, including the bank holidays
Set your regular hours first. Then set special hours for the days that differ, because the regular hours are what Google shows otherwise. In Ireland that means the ten public holidays: New Year’s Day, St Brigid’s Day at the start of February, St Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday, the first Mondays of May, June and August, the last Monday of October, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day. Google prompts you before each one, but it is quicker to put them all in once a year.
The point is not tidiness. A customer who drives to a shop Google said was open on the June bank holiday and finds the shutters down leaves a one-star review, and you have no idea it happened until you read it. Add “more hours” too if they differ from the door: kitchen hours in a pub, delivery hours in a chipper.
Phone, website, services and photos
Use the phone number you actually answer. A mobile is fine, and it should match the number on your website and anywhere else you are listed. Link the website to your home page, and if you take bookings online, add the booking page as the appointment link.
Fill in the services list with a line or two on each and a “from” price where you have one; it is what Google reads to decide which searches you suit. Shops can add products. Attributes such as wheelchair access, card payments and women-owned sit here as well.
Then photos. A square logo, a wide cover photo, a shot of the front from the road so people recognise the place, the inside, the team, and plenty of real work. Phone photos taken in daylight are fine. Stock photos are not; customers can tell, and so can Google. Keep adding a few every month.
Verification in Ireland
Google chooses the verification method, not you. For most Irish businesses now it offers video: you record a short clip on your phone showing the outside with the signage and the street, the inside, your tools or equipment, and something that proves you are in charge, such as opening the door with your key or opening the till. For a plumber it is the van with the name on it, the tools, and a document with your business name and address. Postcards by post, phone calls and email codes are still offered for some businesses, but less often than a few years ago. Google then reviews the video, which takes from a day to about a week in our experience.
If verification fails, read the reason, fix the detail it complains about and try again. The usual causes are a name that does not match the signage, a hidden address that Google does not believe, or a video that never shows the street.
Keeping it alive: posts, questions and reviews
A verified profile with no activity slowly becomes a list of stale facts. Three habits keep it working.
Post something once a week or so: an update, an offer or an event. It appears on the profile and shows Google and customers that the business is open and paying attention.
Seed the Questions and Answers section. Anyone can ask and anyone can answer, so put in the five questions you get every week, parking, card, kids, booking, prices, and answer them yourself before a stranger does.
Ask for reviews and reply to every one, good and bad. The direct review link lives in the profile under “Ask for reviews”. How to get more of them is in how to get more Google reviews, and the bad ones are covered in how to reply to bad Google reviews.
What gets Irish profiles suspended
- Keywords or a town in the business name
- A hidden address Google decides is a virtual office or a shared unit
- A home address shown for a trade that works at customers’ houses
- Several profiles for one business, or one profile for several businesses
- A category that does not match what the website says you do
- Changing the name, address and category in quick succession
If it happens, do not create a new profile. Appeal through the form Google gives you, with a utility bill or CRO document in the business name, a photo of the signage and a link to the website.
What we do for clients
Setting up and verifying the Google Business Profile is part of Essentials, €499 to set up and €50 a month. We find or create the listing, fix the name, category, Eircode and hours, add the photos, connect it to the site and do the video verification with you, in person for Dublin clients and on a call for everyone else.
Complete, at €1,499 and €100 a month, adds the monthly running: posts, new photos, answering the questions, review replies drafted for your approval, and a text after each visit with your review link. We do not promise a map position. The monthly report shows calls, direction requests and website clicks from the profile, and you judge from that. More on how we handle the Google side is on the Google services page and the plans are on the pricing page.
Set up a Google Business Profile in Ireland: the steps
- Search for your business first. Google your business name and town. If a listing already exists, claim it instead of creating a second one, because duplicates cause problems later.
- Create or claim at google.com/business. Sign in with a Google account the business controls, not an employee's or a designer's, and follow the prompts to add or claim the business.
- Enter the name and category. Use the exact name on your sign and your invoices. Pick the most specific primary category, then add a few secondary ones for things you really do.
- Set the address or service area. Shops and salons show the address with the Eircode and check the pin. Trades that travel to customers hide the address and list the towns or counties they cover.
- Add hours, phone, website and services. Set the regular hours, then special hours for the Irish bank holidays. Add the phone number customers ring, the website, and a list of services.
- Verify the business. Google decides the method. In Ireland it is often a short video walk-through of the premises; postcards, phone and email are offered less often.
- Add photos and keep it alive. Upload a logo, a cover photo and real photos of the premises and the work. Then post updates, answer questions and reply to every review.