How to Set Up Google Business Profile for Lodges and Local Businesses

A Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business information, photos, reviews and contact details when potential customers search Google or open Google Maps, so more customers find the correct business.

This step by step guide shows a lodge, hotel or other local business how to set up Google Business Profile and keep it right, using Google’s own help pages for every instruction.

It extends our local SEO checklist, which covers the whole job in ten steps. Here we go deep on the profile itself, because for a lodge it is often the first page a guest sees.

You need a Google account, about an hour, and a person who owns the monthly check. Where Google’s rules differ for lodging, such as opening hours, this article says so.

A Google Business Profile helps local customers find a lodge before they find its website

Potential customers rarely start on your website. They type a lodge name into the search bar, search for a lodge near a park or town, or tap your pin in Google Maps. What appears is your Business Profile, built from what you tell Google plus what Google collects from other sources.

Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, so a profile is not the same thing as Google Ads, the paid product. Our guide to SEO vs PPC explains the difference.

Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot change distance, so the work is to give accurate information, be complete, and earn reviews. Source: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.

Set up a Google Business Profile for a lodge in ten steps

The steps follow the order Google’s help pages use, with the lodging rules added where they apply. A lodge with a physical location guests visit is eligible. Each Google Business Profile step below ends when the profile can do one more job.

1. Create a Google account the business owns

You need a Google account to sign up for a Business Profile. Google says you can create a new Google Account with a Gmail address or your preferred email address, or use an existing Google Account with any email address.

Use an account the business controls, such as a shared bookings address, not one staff member’s personal Gmail account.

2. Search for your lodge on Google Maps for an existing profile

Many lodges already have an existing profile that Google or a visitor created. Type your lodge’s name and place in the Google Maps search bar first.

Google’s guidelines say there should be only one profile per business, because duplicates cause problems with how your information displays on Maps and Search.

If the profile shows “Claim this business”, you claim it. If it is already verified by someone else, you request ownership instead. Google’s verification guide points to a separate page on how to request access.

3. Add your business to Google or claim it

If no profile exists, go to business.google.com/add, choose Add your business to Google, follow the on-screen instructions and select a verification option.

To claim an unverified profile, open Google Maps on a computer, search for your business name and city, select Claim this business, then Manage now, and follow the steps. Google documents both routes in Add or claim your Business Profile.

4. Enter your real business name and an address guests can reach

Your business name should reflect your real-world name, as used on your signage, website and stationery. Google’s guidelines say unnecessary information in the name is not permitted and can lead to suspension.

Google says to leave out taglines, phone numbers, web addresses and location information. Name your lodge “Acacia Ridge Lodge”, not “Acacia Ridge Lodge Best Safari Luxury Okavango Cheap Rates”.

For the business address, Google wants a precise, accurate real-world location. If your lodge has no street number, or the system cannot find it, you can pin the business location directly on the map.

Put road access and landmarks in the description or on your website, not in the address lines. Google says not to put information in address lines that does not pertain to the physical location, like URLs or keywords.

5. Choose a business type: the most specific primary category

Google calls this your business category. The primary category tells Google what kind of business you are, and Google says the categories you select affect your local ranking. Choose a specific category from the list. Google’s example is choosing “Nail salon” instead of “Salon”.

You can add up to 9 more categories after the primary one.

Google’s rule for additional categories is to use as few as possible, and to select categories that complete the statement “This business IS a” rather than “this business HAS a”. A lodge with a pool is a lodge, not a swimming pool.

Google’s own example: choosing “Golf Resort” implicitly includes “Resort Hotel”, “Hotel” and “Golf Course”. So type words like lodge, camp and resort into the category box, see what Google offers, and pick the most specific one that is true. You cannot create your own category.

6. Choose a verification method and verify your business

Verification tells Google you are the official business owner or manager, so the profile is more likely to show in search results. Google’s local ranking tips list it first. Photos and videos show only after verification, and you cannot reply to reviews until then. You cannot skip verification if you want to edit the profile.

Google determines which verification methods you see, and you cannot change them. The available methods can include phone verification by call or text, email verification, a live video call, or mail. The verification process takes up to 5 business days. Source: Verify your business on Google.

Some profiles get instant verification. Google says it can verify a profile instantly when you verify your business website with Google Search Console. Our guide to Search Console and AI search tracking walks through that, and the Library entry on Search Console explains the tool.

7. Add business details, hotel attributes and a description

Once verified, select Edit profile on your Business Profile. Google lists what you can set: address and pin, service area (cities, zip codes or other places), contact details, a business website link, social media accounts in some regions, attributes, photos and videos, description and opening date.

Hotels get an extra layer. Google says hotels can add check-in and check-out times, and a “Hotel details” section lets a verified hotel edit its services and amenities. If your lodge is not set up as a hotel in Google’s system, you may not see every hotel field. Source: Manage your hotel’s details.

Attributes are the facts guests look for, such as free Wi-Fi or accessibility features. You can edit certain factual attributes; others come from the opinions of people who visited. Source: Manage your business attributes.

For the business description, Google allows up to 750 characters. Say what your business offers, what makes it special and how long you have been trading. Do not include URLs or HTML, and do not focus on promotions, prices or sales.

Write it for a guest, in plain words, and name the park, town or region where you are, because guests search by place.

8. Do not force opening hours onto a lodge

Google’s guidelines list indoor lodging, such as hotels and motels, among businesses that shouldn’t provide hours. Google’s hotel guide adds that hotels cannot edit their business hours because they are open 24 hours to their guests.

So do not invent reception hours. Put check-in and check-out times in the hotel fields, and desk times on your website if guests need them.

If a restaurant, spa or shop on the property can be visited independently, hours do apply to that separate profile. Google sets the way hours work in Edit your business hours, and special hours for holidays or events can cover up to 6 days in a row in How to set Special hours.

9. Post photos and a short video

Upload photos as JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, recommended at 720 by 720 pixels with a minimum of 250 by 250. Videos can run up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, at 720p or higher.

Google asks for high quality photos that are in focus, well lit, and show reality, with no significant alterations or excessive filters. That suits lodges: show the actual room, the actual deck, the actual view. Add a logo and a cover photo too.

New media can take 24 to 48 hours to appear. Source: Manage your Business Profile photos & videos.

10. Ask guests to leave reviews the allowed way, then reply

Google says reviews must reflect a genuine experience. Offering incentives, such as free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for reviews is strictly prohibited. So do not offer a discount for a five-star review.

Google also says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local search rankings.

What you can do is make it easy to leave reviews. Go to your Business Profile, select Read Reviews, then Get more reviews to copy a review link or download a QR code.

Google suggests a follow up email, a thank-you note or a receipt. Customers must be signed in to a Google account. Source: Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews.

To reply, select Read reviews, then Reply beside the review. Replies are checked, then posted publicly as the business. Be polite, keep replies short, and avoid copy-paste thank-yous. For negative reviews, protect privacy and apologize where it is fair. Sources: Manage customer reviews and Tips to get more reviews.

Restaurants, spas and shops on the property can need their own profile

Google’s hotel guide says businesses inside your hotel can have their own Business Profiles if they can be accessed independently, for example a restaurant, lounge, store or spa that customers can visit without being a hotel guest.

The illustration below is generic, not a client: a 14-room lodge near a national park with a public bar, a curio shop and a transfer service.

Your website, citations and knowledge panel must repeat the same facts

Search engines and AI assistants compare your profile with your website and with other places that list your business. A citation is any mention of your business name, address and phone number on another site, such as a directory or tourism board page. If they disagree, trust drops.

Check that the name, address, phone number and check-in times match on the profile and the website’s contact page. Mark up the same facts with structured data, which Google documents in its LocalBusiness structured data guide. Then check your tourism directory listings.

Consistency also feeds how Google understands you as an entity. Our Library entries on brand entity, the knowledge graph and the knowledge panel explain why. Our guide to AI search for tourism businesses covers the AI side.

Check the profile once a month so it stays accurate

Verified profiles get a Performance view of views, clicks and other customer interactions. Go to your Business Profile, click Performance, choose a period and click Apply. Source: Understand your Business Profile performance & insights.

Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. The table is the monthly routine we suggest.

Put one named person next to this table. Profiles decay when nobody owns them.

Google also lets you post updates, offers and events from your profile with Posts, then Add post, and you can schedule them. Fresh posts and regular updates keep the information customers see current. Source: Create & manage posts on your Business Profile.

A profile is the local layer of your wider search work

Our guide to SEO covers the general method, and the SEO examples article shows what brands that rank do differently. In the Khwai Expeditions Camp case study, twelve months of brand, website and content work took a camp in the Okavango from 37 ranking keywords to 1,700.

If you want help deciding what your lodge should say and where, the free Brand Strategy Blueprint ebook helps you set the facts and the story before you publish them anywhere. One short email a week on these decisions is in Ground Truth, every Wednesday.

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