How to verify a Google Business Profile without a storefront

If your business has no storefront, Google will usually ask you to verify your Business Profile with a short video. Film one continuous clip that shows three things: where you are, that the business is real, and that you are the one who runs it. Keep it unedited, keep the light good, and it usually goes through.

Why Google asks for a video

Google's local results are only useful if the businesses in them are real. A plumber, a cleaner or a marketing agency that works at the customer's place has no sign on a building, so Google cannot check the address the usual way. The video is how you show it instead.

Your address stays private either way. A business that serves customers where they are can hide its address and show a service area instead, and Google uses the address only to confirm you.

What to film

Record it in one take, on a phone, walking from outside to where you work.

• Where you are. Start outside. Show a street sign, your building or house number, and a bit of the street, so the video matches the address you entered.
• That the business is real. Walk to where you work and show the tools of the trade: a truck with your name on it, your equipment, a laptop with your booking system open, printed materials with your logo. Anything with your business name on it helps.
• That you run it. Show something only the owner can do. Log in to your business bank account, your scheduling software or the Business Profile itself, or show a business license or tax document with the business name on it.

No cuts, no music, no edits. Google reviews the raw video, and an edited one is a common reason it gets turned down.

Why a verification fails

• The video was cut or edited.
• Nothing in it ties the video to the address you entered.
• It shows a home and a laptop but nothing that says what the business is.
• The name on the profile does not match the name on your truck, your documents or your website.

If it fails, Google usually lets you try again, and it sometimes offers a live video call with a support person instead. Fix what was missing and film it again.

Moved recently?

Use the address you run the business from today, the one you can film. Your state registration can still show the old one for now. Update it when you can, so your records match where you are.

After you are verified

Fill in the profile completely: your service area, your hours, a plain description of what you do, your services, real photos, and links to your social pages. Keep the business name, phone number and website exactly the same on the profile, your site and every listing you have.

Then ask your customers for reviews. The profile gets you into the map and the local results, and reviews are much of what decides how high you sit in them.

The profile only gets you found if your website backs it up with the same details. Check your SEO to see what Google reads on your site.