Create Your Google Business Profile

If you run a business in Barbados or anywhere in the Caribbean, there's a good chance a customer has already looked for you on Google Maps. Maybe they were a tourist searching "best rum tour near me" from the airport, or a local checking whether your bakery is open before driving across the island. Either way, if you don't have a Google Business Profile, you didn't show up.

That's the whole game. When someone searches on Google for a service in your area, Google shows a map with a shortlist of businesses. The ones on that shortlist get the clicks, the calls, and the visits. The ones without a profile might as well not exist.

The good news: it's free, it takes about an hour, and you can do most of it from your phone. Here's how.

What you need before you start

A Google Business Profile is only for businesses that meet customers in person during stated hours. Before you spend time on this, check the eligibility:

• You need a physical location customers can visit, or you travel to customers (a service-area business like a plumber or electrician).
• Online-only businesses, lead-generation agents, and brands with no in-person service aren't eligible.
• You can't use a P.O. box as your address.
• One profile per physical location. If you have multiple locations, each gets its own profile.

Barbados is fully supported by Google, so there's no regional restriction holding you back.

Before you start, gather these:

• Your legal business name - it must match what's on your signage. Don't get clever with keywords (more on that later).
• Your primary category (the most accurate description of what you do).
• Your address or service area.
• A phone number.
• Your website.
• Your hours.

You'll also need a Google Account. If you don't have one, create one with your company email - you don't want this tied to a personal account that an employee might take when they leave.

Step by step: create your profile

First, check if you already exist. Search Google Maps for your business name plus your city. Many businesses have a profile they never created - Google auto-generates them from directory listings. If you see yours:

• Unverified? Click "Claim this business," then "Manage now."
• Verified by someone else? Request ownership. This happens more than you'd think, so it's always worth checking.

If nothing shows up, go to business.google.com/add and click "Add your business to Google." You'll be asked for:

1. Your business name.
2. Your primary category.
3. Your location or service area.
4. Contact details, website, and hours.

Google then assigns a verification method automatically - you don't get to pick. More on that below.

A note on where to manage it afterward: the old Google My Business app is gone. For a single location, manage everything from Google Search (search "my business" while signed in) or the Google Maps app's Business tab. Multi-location businesses use business.google.com.

Verification: what to expect

Google needs to confirm you're real. Here are the ways that can happen in 2026:

Video recording (now the default). Most new profiles get this. You record a video of at least 30 seconds from your phone - one continuous, unedited take, recorded live (no screen recordings or uploaded clips). If you have a storefront, show your signage, your location, and proof you manage the place. If you're a service-area business, show your tools or equipment, a branded vehicle if you have one, and a document like a permit, invoice, or utility bill. Review takes up to 5 business days.

Postcard. Google mails you a 5-digit code. In Barbados and on smaller Caribbean islands, allow 2-3 weeks for delivery - that's a long wait, so if you're assigned a postcard, start it immediately. The code expires after 30 days, and here's the trap: if you edit your name, address, or category while it's in the mail, the code becomes invalid. Don't touch anything.

Phone or email. Sometimes instant. Email verification goes to a business-domain address. Phone verification often rejects VoIP numbers, so use a real line.

Instant (Search Console). If you already own and verify your website in Google Search Console, verification can be automatic.

Live video call. You can book a same-day call within your business hours. This is a great option if you'd rather just talk to a human.

For most new Caribbean profiles, expect the video path. It sounds intimidating, but it's straightforward - record your storefront or your gear, show a document, and submit. Google may take up to 5 business days to review.

After you're live: the optimization checklist

Verification is the gate. The checklist below is what separates a profile that gets found from one that just exists.

Category. This is the single biggest local ranking factor. Choose the most specific category that accurately describes you - "Plumber," not "Home services." You get 1 primary category and up to 9 additional (10 total). Best practice: add 2-3 tightly relevant ones, not every category under the sun.

Description. 750 characters max, but only the first ~250 show before "Read more." Front-load what you do, where you are, and what makes you different. No links, phone numbers, or prices in the description - Google won't display them.

Photos. Use real, good-quality photos - JPG or PNG, 10KB-5MB, minimum 250×250, recommended 720×720. Upload a cover photo (16:9), a square logo, and at least a few shots of your exterior, interior, and products or service in action. Plan to add 1-2 new photos every week. Real photos of your actual business only - stock and heavily filtered AI images get rejected or devalued.

Services and products. Each service gets its own 300-character description. Products get a name (58 characters), a price, and a description (1,000 characters). Fill them in - they're the fields that answer "what exactly do they do?"

Hours. Keep them accurate and add special hours for holidays and long weekends. "Open at time of search" is now a top-5 ranking signal - the more accurate your hours, the more Google trusts you. Nothing sends a customer elsewhere faster than showing up to find a closed door.

Reviews. Respond to every review, good or bad, within 24-48 hours. Never offer incentives for positive reviews - Google frowns on it and it can get you penalized. Just keep asking genuinely happy customers to leave one. In the Caribbean, a quick WhatsApp follow-up after a job is the most effective way to make this happen.

Posts. Publish 1-2 posts a week - specials, events, new arrivals. Google doesn't offer native post scheduling, so to truly set-and-forget, connect your profile to a scheduling tool like Buffer, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social. Keep bodies under 1500 characters.

Q&A. Be proactive. Add 5-10 common questions with clear answers ("Do you offer delivery?", "What areas do you cover?"). You control the answers, so make them helpful.

Insights. Check the Performance tab (formerly Insights) monthly: how many people viewed you, what they searched, and how many called, got directions, or visited your site. That data tells you what's working.

NAP consistency. Your name, address, and phone must match exactly across your website, social profiles, and every directory you're listed in. Tiny differences confuse Google and erode trust.

Mistakes that get profiles suspended

A few things genuinely get people in trouble, and they're easy to avoid:

• Keyword-stuffing your business name. "Joe's Plumbing | Best Plumber Near Me" violates the guidelines and triggers suspensions. Use your real name.
• Choosing the wrong or too-broad category. "Consultant" when you're a tour operator helps no one.
• Showing an address you don't want public. If you're a service-area business running from home, hide your address and set a service area instead. Displaying a home or virtual-office address publicly is a suspension trigger.
• Creating duplicates. One profile per physical location. A second profile for the same place gets suspended.
• Editing your details while a postcard is in transit. It voids the code. Wait.
• Letting the profile go stale. A quiet profile won't get you suspended, but it quietly drops you in local results - no new photos, posts, or review responses for a month signals neglect. Real suspensions come from policy violations: keyword-stuffed names, prohibited content, or address-guideline breaches.

Service-area businesses in Barbados have one more consideration: set your service area to cover the island or the regions you actually serve (you get up to 20 areas, roughly a 2-hour drive boundary), and remember it's one profile for your whole area - not one per parish.

Show up where your customers are already looking

Most of your customers aren't going to type your company name into Google. They're going to type "flower delivery in Bridgetown" or "best fish cutter near me," and Google is going to show them a shortlist. Being on that shortlist is the difference between a full schedule and a quiet one.

If you'd rather spend your time running the business than wrangling your profile - or if you want someone to handle the whole thing properly, from verification to photos to a steady review strategy - that's exactly what we do at GMH. We're a boutique agency in Barbados, and local SEO is part of our everyday work.

Reach out at gittensmarketingholding.com/brief and let's talk about getting you found.