Google Business Profile
Worth submitting to. If you have a physical location or a service area, this is not optional — it is the listing every other local citation exists to corroborate.
Free · live in Days to weeks, depending on verification.
Who actually reads it
Everyone searching for a business like yours near where they are. There is no meaningful traffic figure to quote because the audience is Google Search and Maps themselves rather than a website you can measure; the business.google.com portal is only where you manage the record.
What a strong listing looks like
Verification completed first — nothing shows in Search or Maps until it is. Then: exact category, precise hours including holidays, real photos added regularly, services and attributes filled in, and every review answered. Categories and review velocity are the two levers that move map-pack position most.
See all directories we've reviewed
Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
Yes. Creating, claiming and verifying a Business Profile costs nothing.
Is there an API?
Yes — the Business Profile APIs support creating and updating locations (accounts.locations.create) over OAuth. Access has to be approved by Google first, and the create quota is limited, so it suits managing many locations rather than one.
How long does it take to appear?
Verification is the gate, not the submission. Depending on the method it can be minutes or a couple of weeks, and nothing is visible in Search or Maps until it completes.