How much does a Google Business Profile cost?

Is a Google Business Profile free?

Yes — it costs £0, and it stays £0. Google's help page on adding or claiming a profile says it directly: “You can add or claim your business at no charge.” That was the wording on Google's UK help centre when it was checked on 15 September 2026.

There is no trial that quietly starts charging, no premium tier, no per-user fee and no annual renewal. Accurate local listings make Search and Maps more useful, so Google gives the tool away.

What is included at no cost is more than most local businesses ever use: your business name, address or service area, phone number, website link, opening hours including bank holiday hours, a description, categories, a list of services, photos and videos, posts and offers, the questions-and-answers section, messaging, review replies, and the performance figures showing how many people called or asked for directions.

What is free and what is not

Every part of the profile itself is free. The costs below are all optional and all charged by someone other than Google.

How much do UK agencies charge to set up or manage a Google Business Profile?

On four UK agency price pages checked on 15 September 2026, setup runs £99 to £225 as a one-off and ongoing management runs £50 to £349 a month. These are published prices from named firms, not an average or an estimate — there is no UK-wide survey of this market that could be cited, and the figures below should be read as four real data points rather than a market rate.

Two things to notice. The same word covers very different work: “management” at £50 a month is usually somebody updating your hours and adding a photo now and then, while £250 to £349 a month bundles the profile in with review chasing, posting, directory listings and website work. And several of these prices exclude VAT, with at least one minimum term. Ask for the price with VAT and ask how long you are tied in.

Is paying someone to manage your profile worth it?

For most small local businesses, no — at £50 a month you are spending £600 a year on work that takes perhaps twenty minutes a month once the profile is set up properly. There is nothing in a standard management package that is locked behind a professional account. The tools an agency uses are the same free ones you can open on your phone.

It is worth paying for in three situations. If you have several locations and the profiles keep drifting out of sync, someone doing that consistently earns their money. If you have tried to get a suspension lifted twice and failed, the fee is buying experience of Google's appeals process rather than access to anything special. And if you genuinely will not do it — if the honest answer is that the profile has sat untouched for two years — then paying someone beats leaving it dead, because an abandoned profile with the wrong hours actively costs you jobs.

What is not worth paying for is “optimisation” sold as a secret. Choosing the right primary category, writing your services out in the words customers use, adding real photos and gathering reviews is the whole of it, and it is all covered in our step-by-step guide to setting up a Google Business Profile. If a quote will not tell you specifically what will be done each month, it is not a plan, it is a subscription.

Why am I getting calls asking me to pay for my Google listing?

Because it is one of the most common business scams in the UK, and it works by charging you for something that costs £0. The script changes — “your Google listing needs verifying”, “you must renew or you will be removed”, “we can guarantee you the top spot” — but the ask is always the same: card details, for a free product.

Google's own guidance on fraudulent calls and texts is unambiguous. Google says its callers “will never ask you for payment information over the phone or guarantee you a special spot in our products”, and that during a genuine verification call “you won't be asked to sign up for a service, pay money or give personal info”. It also warns that the people behind these calls “might say they work ‘with Google’ or ‘for Google’ to sell different schemes and online marketing services”.

This is not a fringe problem. In March 2025 Google sued an alleged network of scammers and said it had removed more than 10,000 fraudulent business listings from Google Maps, including profiles sold on to businesses and fake positive reviews sold to bury real ones.

Do I have to pay to appear on Google Maps?

No. Appearing on Google Maps costs nothing — it comes from having a verified profile, and verification is free. There is no paid tier that puts you on the map, and no fee that keeps you there.

Where the map is concerned, position is earned rather than bought. Google's local results weigh how relevant your profile is to the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how prominent your business is — which is why a complete profile with the right category and a steady trickle of reviews outranks a half-empty one two streets closer. If you are not showing up at all, that is usually a verification, category or address problem rather than a spending problem, and our guide on why your business is not showing on Google works through the usual causes.

What Local Services Ads and the Google Verified badge cost in the UK

Local Services Ads are a genuine paid Google product that sits above the map results, and they are available in the UK — you pay per lead, at a weekly budget you set, not per click. Google's UK help centre lists the eligible categories, which include electricians, plumbers, roofers, carpenters, cleaning and carpet-cleaning services, appliance repair, fencing, worktops and tree services, with legal categories currently limited to Greater London.

One naming point worth getting right: the badge you may have read about as “Google Guaranteed” is the United States version. In the UK, Google's help centre calls it the Google Verified badge, awarded after Google's screening checks, and it is currently unavailable for automotive, beauty and dining categories. If a UK agency is selling you “Google Guaranteed” by name, they are reading an American page.

What a UK lead actually costs cannot be established from a primary source. Google publishes no UK price list for Local Services Ads — the cost per lead varies by trade, town and competition, and Google's own documentation only says you set your budget. Any single figure you see quoted for a UK lead is somebody's own account data, not a published rate, so treat it accordingly. One of the price pages above lists £149 as an agency fee to get you set up on Local Services Ads, which is the agency's charge and separate from anything you spend with Google.

Google Ads is a different thing from your profile

Google Ads costs whatever daily budget you choose — Google's own bidding guidance says “bidding amounts are ultimately up to you” — and it is a separate product from your Business Profile, not an upgrade to it.

The confusion is understandable, because ads appear in the same results and a salesperson can blur the two. But spending on Google Ads does not improve where your profile ranks in the map pack, and refusing to spend does not harm it. For the wider picture, see our guide on how much it costs to get on Google, and on whether that spend is worth it at all in is SEO worth it for a small business.

What a suspended profile costs you

Appealing a suspension costs £0 — Google's page on suspended profiles explains that if you believe your profile should be reinstated you can submit an appeal, and the appeal form carries no fee. What it costs is time and, while you are suspended, the calls you are not getting.

Suspensions usually come from something ordinary: a change of address, a virtual office or a residential address used as a shopfront, a business name padded with keywords, a category that does not match what you do, or several profiles for one business. Google's guidelines ask you to represent the business as it is recognised in the real world, use an accurate address or service area, choose the fewest categories that describe your core business, and keep to one profile per business.

Two of the price pages above charge £199 to £295 to handle an appeal for you. That is a reasonable thing to buy if you have already appealed and been refused, because a rejected appeal is hard to reopen. It is not worth buying before you have tried once yourself with the evidence Google asks for — usually a utility bill, a business rates bill or photographs of signage at the address.

What to do first, at no cost, in about an hour

Since the profile costs nothing, all the value is in filling it in properly, and an hour of your own time beats the first month of most management fees. Work down this list in order.

• Claim and verify the profile so you control it. Google decides which verification methods you are offered and recommends video verification where your business is eligible for it — the postcard is no longer the default it once was.
• Set the primary category precisely. It has more effect on which searches you appear in than anything else on the profile, and “builder” and “bricklayer” are not interchangeable.
• List your services and the areas you cover in the words a customer would use, not the words your trade body uses.
• Set your opening hours properly, including bank holidays, so you are not shown as closed when you are working.
• Add your own photographs of real jobs, your van and your team. Google does not publish a figure for what photos do to clicks, so treat any percentage you see quoted with suspicion — but an empty profile plainly reads worse than a full one.
• Ask recent customers for reviews and reply to every one, good or bad. This is free and it is the part most competitors do not keep up.
• Check the website link actually works, and is not an old business.site address.
• Put the same name, address and phone number everywhere else you are listed. Our guide to getting listed in online directories covers which of those are worth the effort, and what Checkatrade costs covers the paid directory most trades ask about next.

Common questions

How much does it cost to set up a Google Business Profile?

Setting one up yourself costs nothing, and it stays free with no renewal. Google's help page says you can add or claim your business at no charge. If you would rather someone else did it, four UK agency price pages checked in September 2026 charge between £99 and £225 as a one-off for setup and optimisation. That fee buys their time, not access to Google.

Is Google My Business free?

Yes. Google My Business was renamed Google Business Profile and it is the same free tool, now managed straight from Google Search and Google Maps rather than a separate app. Nothing about the rename introduced a fee. If a caller uses the old Google My Business name to sell you a listing or a renewal, the old name does not make the charge official.

Do I have to pay to be on Google Maps?

No. Being on Google Maps follows from having a verified Business Profile, and both the profile and the verification are free. Google sells Local Services Ads and Google Ads which can place you above the map results, but that is advertising rather than the cost of being listed. Your pin on the map, your reviews and your directions link all cost nothing.

What does Google Business Profile management cost per month in the UK?

On four published UK price pages checked on 15 September 2026, monthly management ranged from £50 to £349. The cheap end is usually occasional updates and photos; the expensive end bundles the profile with review chasing, posting and website work. Several quotes exclude VAT and at least one has a six-month minimum term, so ask for the VAT-inclusive price and the notice period.

Does verifying my Google Business Profile cost anything?

No, verification is free whichever method Google offers you, which may be phone, text, email, a video recording or a postcard. Google chooses the methods available to you and recommends video verification where the business qualifies. Anyone asking for a card payment to verify, register or renew a listing is not Google, and Google states its callers will never ask for payment information over the phone.

Is Google Guaranteed available in the UK?

Not under that name. Google Guaranteed is the United States badge. In the UK, Google's help centre calls the equivalent the Google Verified badge, earned through Local Services Ads after Google's screening checks, and it is currently unavailable for automotive, beauty and dining categories. Local Services Ads themselves are available in the UK for trades including electricians, plumbers, roofers and carpenters, with legal categories limited to Greater London.

My profile is suspended. Does it cost anything to get it back?

Appealing costs nothing. Google's own appeal form is free and is the only route to reinstatement. Suspensions usually follow an address change, a keyword-stuffed business name, a mismatched category or duplicate profiles, so fix the underlying breach before appealing. UK agencies charge £199 to £295 to run an appeal for you, which is worth considering only after your own first appeal has been refused.

I already paid someone to set my profile up. Was that a waste of money?

Not necessarily. Paying for someone's time to do a job you did not want to do yourself is legitimate, provided you agreed the price and know what was done. What is not legitimate is anyone telling you Google charged the fee, that a payment was required to stay listed, or that they hold a special partnership giving them ranking powers. If it felt like a con, check who currently owns the profile in your Google account.

Sources, all checked 15 September 2026. Google Business Profile Help, “Add or claim your Business Profile” (the “at no charge” wording). Google Business Profile Help, “Verify your business on Google” (verification methods; video verification recommended where eligible). Google Business Profile Help, “Guidelines for representing your business on Google” (one profile per business, fewest categories, accurate address). Google Business Profile Help, “Help protect against fraudulent calls and texts” (Google never asks for payment information over the phone). Google Local Services Help, “Getting started with Local Services Ads — United Kingdom” (UK categories; Google Verified badge; London-only legal categories). Google Ads UK bidding guidance (“bidding amounts are ultimately up to you”). CBS News, 19 March 2025, on Google removing more than 10,000 fake Maps listings and suing the alleged network behind them. Search Engine Land, on business.site websites being removed from profiles in March 2024 and redirects ending on 10 June 2024. UK prices are taken from four published price pages: virens.co.uk, gbpmanager.co.uk, shineondigital.co.uk and onebluepixel.co.uk. Where a figure could not be established it is said so on the page: there is no published UK cost per lead for Local Services Ads, no published UK average for profile management, and no Google-published figure for the effect of photographs on clicks. Questions and headings were drawn from 683 Google UK autocomplete phrases validated in September 2026.