One Google Business Profile per location: the rules

The rule is simple: one Google Business Profile (your free listing in Google Maps and local search) for each real, staffed location you operate - and no more. Not one per suburb you wish you ranked in. Not one per service you sell. One per genuine place a customer could turn up to and find your people.

I know that answer disappoints some multi-location owners, because they can see the appeal of blanketing a region with listings. But Google's whole local system is built to reflect the real world, and it is surprisingly good at spotting profiles that don't match reality. Getting this right is the foundation for winning the Google map pack, so it's worth doing properly.

What counts as a real location

A location earns its own profile when it has a physical address where you're contactable during your stated hours, staff who work from or dispatch out of that address, and the right to receive mail there. A depot you visit twice a month doesn't count. A virtual office or a mailbox at a co-working space doesn't count. Your mate's garage that shares your postcode definitely doesn't count.

Think of it like a passport. Google wants one document per real person, tied to a real place. The moment you start printing extras to get into more countries, you've crossed from optimisation into fraud - and Google treats it that way.

Getting each Google Business Profile set up correctly

Once you've confirmed a location is genuine, the setup itself is mechanical. Do it the same way for every branch so nothing drifts:

• Use the real street address, and verify it (usually by postcard, video or phone).
• Pick the most specific primary category that describes what that branch actually does - 'plumber' beats 'contractor', 'brake shop' beats 'car repair'. The primary category does a lot of the ranking work.
• Add secondary categories only for services you really offer at that location.
• Set hours, phone and website to match that branch, not head office.
• Add photos taken at that actual site, not stock images shared across every listing.

That last point matters more than people expect. Identical photos across ten profiles is one of the patterns that makes Google suspicious that your locations aren't distinct.

Storefront vs service-area: choose honestly

Google lets a profile be one of two things. A storefront has an address customers visit, so the address shows publicly. A service-area business travels to the customer - a mobile mechanic, an electrician - so you hide the address and list the areas you cover instead. Some businesses are both: a workshop customers can visit that also does call-outs.

The mistake I see is service-area businesses listing huge, greedy coverage zones - 'we cover the whole of Auckland' - from a single van. Google reads a giant service area the same way it reads a thin one: as a weak signal. You'll rank better claiming the suburbs you genuinely serve well than by claiming everything and convincing Google of nothing.

One honest profile per real location will always out-rank three fake ones - because Google is optimising for reality, and reality is on your side.

Keep the NAP identical everywhere

NAP means Name, Address, Phone. For each location, that trio needs to read exactly the same on the profile, on your website's location page, and on every directory it appears in. 'Street' on one and 'St' on another, or a mobile on the profile and a landline on the site, chips away at Google's confidence that the listing is real. Consistency is boring, and it's also the cheapest ranking gain you'll ever make.

Don't chase fake listings - build real ones

If you want to rank in a suburb where you don't have a branch, the answer isn't a fake pin. It's either genuinely opening there, or ranking that suburb through your website's local pages and your nearest real profile. Fake listings get suspended in batches, and a suspension can take the good profiles down with the bad ones.

Get the profiles right and the next job is keeping them healthy at scale - especially reviews, which is where a lot of multi-location businesses quietly lose ground. That's worth its own plan for managing reviews across many locations. Do the foundations properly and every branch starts from a position of trust rather than suspicion.

Profiles are the highest-return work available to a multi-location business, but they are one part of the job. The full multi-location local SEO guide sets out the order to do the rest in.