Register your company on Google: the five accounts and the order to open them

Google has no single company register to join. What people mean by registering is a Google Business Profile, which is free, takes about fifteen minutes to create and is the thing that puts your name, address, hours and phone number on Google Search and Google Maps. Four other free Google accounts cover the rest of the job, and the useful order is Business Profile first, then Search Console, then Analytics, then Merchant Center if you sell products, then Google Ads if you buy traffic.

Knowing that there are five separate accounts saves a lot of confusion. People open one, see that something is missing, and assume the registration failed. It did not. Each account controls a different surface, and you only need the ones that match what your business does.

The five accounts and what each one controls

Account	What it controls	Who needs it	Cost
Google Business Profile	Your listing on Search and Maps: name, address, hours, phone, photos, reviews, messages	Any business with a physical address or a service area	Free
Google Search Console	Your website in Google's index: which pages are indexed, which queries you appear for, sitemaps	Anyone with a website	Free
Google Analytics	What visitors do once they arrive on your site	Anyone with a website	Free
Google Merchant Center	Your product feed, which feeds free product listings and Shopping ads	Retailers selling physical products online	Free to list
Google Ads	Paid placements on Search, Maps, YouTube and the display network	Businesses buying traffic	You set the budget

Only the first is a registration in the ordinary sense, because it creates a public record of your business that Google shows to other people. The others are accounts about property you already own.

Step one: create the Business Profile

Sign in with the Google account you want to own the listing long term. Use a company address such as info@yourcompany.com rather than a personal account, because ownership follows that email and staff change. Then follow Google's own flow for adding or claiming your business.

Four fields decide how often you appear, so get them right first time:

• Business name. The name on your signage, your invoices and your front door. Adding a city or a keyword to the name is against Google's guidelines for representing your business and gets listings suspended.
• Primary category. This is the field that decides more than any other in the profile. It tells Google which searches you are eligible for. Pick the one that describes what you mainly do, then add secondary categories for the rest.
• Address or service area. A storefront customers visit gets an address. A plumber or a mobile locksmith gets a service area and hides the street address.
• Phone and website. Use a number that rings on a phone somebody answers, and the exact page you want visitors to land on.

Search for your business before you create anything. Google often already holds an unclaimed record built from other sources, and claiming that record keeps whatever history and reviews it has. Creating a second listing instead creates a duplicate you then have to merge.

Step two: verification

Google verifies that you are connected to the business before the profile goes live. Depending on the category and country you may be offered video recording, a phone call, a text message, email or a postcard. Google documents each method, and the one you are offered is chosen by Google rather than by you.

Video verification is the most common now and the most straightforward if you prepare. Have three things ready to film in one unbroken take: the location from outside including signage or street context, proof you have access such as unlocking the door or showing stock and tools, and proof of management such as a utility bill, a letterhead or the point of sale system. Film in daylight and keep the recording moving between the three.

Step three: the website accounts

Once the profile is live, connect your site. Verify the domain in Google Search Console, which is the only place you see what Google really did with your pages rather than what you hoped it did. Submit your sitemap, then check the Pages report for anything excluded from the index. Add Google Analytics at the same time so you have a visitor baseline from day one.

If you sell physical products, a Merchant Center account carries your feed and makes your products eligible for free listings in the Shopping tab. Open the Google Ads account last, and only when you have something worth sending paid traffic to.

What the registration gives you, and what earns the rest

The profile makes you eligible to appear. Where you appear in the local results is then decided by relevance, distance and prominence, and prominence is built outside the profile. The three things that move it:

• Reviews. Ask every satisfied customer, with a direct link, and reply to all of them.
• Consistent listings elsewhere. Your name, address and phone number should match across your site, your industry directories and the big data aggregators.
• A real page per service and per location. One page listing nine services competes with nothing. Nine pages compete.

The panel of company information some brands get on the right of the search results is a knowledge panel, which is a different thing. You do not apply for one. Google builds it when enough independent sources agree about your company, and you can claim an existing panel to suggest corrections.

This page covers getting registered and verified. For the longer programme of actually ranking in your city, see our guide to local SEO from the business profile to the map pack, and the step by step walkthrough of adding your business to Google Maps.

register your company on Google: asked and answered

Does it cost anything to register a company on Google?

Nothing. The Business Profile, Search Console, Analytics and a basic Merchant Center listing are all free, and they always have been. If somebody charges you a fee to register your business on Google, they are charging for the typing. Agencies that charge to manage the profile month to month are selling a different service, which is the ongoing posts, photos, review replies and reporting.

Can I register without a physical address?

Yes. Choose the service area option, which is built for businesses that travel to the customer. You still enter an address during setup so Google can verify you, then you hide it from the public listing. Businesses with no customer contact at all, such as a pure online store, use Search Console and Merchant Center rather than a Business Profile.

How long does verification take?

Phone and text verification are usually instant. Video and records review commonly take a few days. Postcards take longer because they travel by post. If a method fails, Google lets you try again, so recheck that the business name and address exactly match your documents before the second attempt.

Can two businesses share one address?

Yes, when each is a genuinely separate business with its own staff and its own hours, such as two practices in a shared medical centre. Give each one its own suite or unit number. Several listings for one business at one address is what Google treats as a duplicate.

What do I do about an existing listing I did not create?

Claim it. Search for your business, open the listing, and use the option to claim or request ownership. If somebody else currently holds it, Google runs a transfer request and contacts the existing owner. Claiming keeps the reviews and the search history attached to that record, which is worth more than a clean new listing.

The registration that decides what is said about you

The accounts above tell Google and its maps who you are. Assistants rely on the same facts, plus whatever directories and review sites say. If the business name, address or category differs from one place to the next, the reply may hedge, merge you with someone else, or skip you.

Ask three assistants for your business by name and then by category in your city. Compare each reply with your registration. AI Knows Us runs those prompts and shows the sources, so a mismatch can be traced to the page that carries it.