Key takeaways
- Your Google Business Profile is what people see in Google Maps and the local results, often before they ever reach your website.
- Use your real business name and a real, staffed address, pick the right primary category and keep every detail complete and current.
- Reviews, photos and replies keep a profile strong. Fake reviews and virtual offices risk suspension.
Why does the profile matter so much?
For searches with local intent, such as ‘dentist near me’ or ‘café in Al Quoz’, Google often shows the map results above the regular results. Your profile is what appears there: your rating, hours, photos, and buttons to call, message, get directions or book. For many local businesses it brings in more calls than the website does.
What decides where you appear?
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search, so category and services matter; distance is how far you are from the searcher, which you cannot change; and prominence comes from reviews, links, mentions and your website’s overall strength.
Which category should you choose?
The one that best describes your main business, not every service you offer. A clinic offering dentistry, dermatology and physiotherapy should pick the category for its main specialty, then add secondary categories for the others it genuinely provides at that address. You can add several secondary categories, but each one should be true.
What should the profile include?
- Your business name exactly as it appears on your trade licence and signage.
- The full address including building and unit, or a service area if you visit customers.
- Opening hours, plus special hours for public holidays and Ramadan.
- Phone, website and, if it fits, a booking or WhatsApp link.
- Services or products with short, plain descriptions.
- A description of what you do and who for, without keyword stuffing.
- Real photos: the entrance, the inside, your team and your work.
How do you get more reviews?
Ask, at the right moment. Send customers a direct review link shortly after a good experience, by WhatsApp or SMS. Ask everyone, not only the customers you expect to be happy: Google’s policies don’t allow selectively asking for positive reviews or offering incentives for them. Reply to every review, thank people for good ones and answer complaints calmly and specifically.
What should you avoid?
Keyword-stuffed business names (‘Best Dental Clinic Dubai Marina’), virtual-office or flexi-desk addresses where nobody works, duplicate profiles for one location, and buying or scripting reviews. All of them break Google’s guidelines and can get a profile suspended, which is far harder to fix than to avoid.
What about businesses with several branches?
Each branch with its own staffed premises can have its own profile, with its own address, hours, phone and photos. Link each profile to the matching branch page on your website, not to the homepage, so Google can connect them.
When should you bring in an agency?
When you have several branches, a suspended or duplicate profile to fix, or want local pages, reviews and profile updates run as an ongoing programme alongside your website. Our local SEO service does this for businesses across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, starting with a free audit of each profile.