Search 'plumber near me' or 'restaurant GRA Port Harcourt' on Google, and the first results you see aren't websites. They're Google Business Profile listings — three businesses on a map, with their name, rating, address, and phone number, getting clicked far more than the organic results below them.
Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is the single most important free visibility tool for a local Nigerian business. Haven't claimed yours? You're invisible to a huge slice of local search traffic, and a chunk of the work in ranking locally is sitting unclaimed on the table.
Here's exactly how to set it up and optimise it properly.
Step 1: Check If Your Business Already Has a Listing
Before creating a new profile, search for your business name on Google Maps. Google sometimes auto-generates listings for businesses based on data from other sources. If a listing for your business already exists, you'll need to 'claim' it rather than create a new one — otherwise you'll end up with duplicate listings that confuse both Google and customers.
If no listing exists, proceed to create one fresh.
Step 2: Create or Claim Your Google Business Profile
- Go to business.google.com and sign in with your Google account (use your business Gmail, not a personal one)
- Click 'Manage now' and enter your business name
- If your business appears in the dropdown, select it and click 'Claim this business'
- If it doesn't appear, click 'Add your business to Google'
- Select your business category — be as specific as possible ('Web Design Company' not just 'Technology Company')
Step 3: Verify Your Business
Google requires verification to confirm you actually own the business. For most Nigerian businesses, verification options include:
- Postcard — Google sends a physical postcard with a verification code to your business address (takes 1–2 weeks to Nigeria)
- Phone call or SMS — available for some business categories
- Video call — Google may offer a video verification option
- Instant verification — available if your website is already connected to Google Search Console
The postcard method is most common in Nigeria. Request it as soon as you create your listing, then optimise the rest of your profile while you wait for it to arrive.
Step 4: Complete Every Section of Your Profile
An incomplete GBP profile ranks lower and converts fewer visitors. Fill in every field:
Business name
Use your exact legal or trading business name. Do not add keywords like 'Port Harcourt Web Design' to your business name — Google prohibits this and may suspend your listing.
Address
Enter your complete physical address. If you operate from home and don't want your home address publicly visible, you can hide the address and show only your service area. Choose 'I deliver goods and services to customers' and set your service area by city, state, or postal radius.
Phone number
Use a number that's consistently used across your website, social media, and directories. Inconsistent phone numbers confuse Google's local algorithm.
Website URL
Link to your website homepage. If you have a specific location landing page (like /web-design-port-harcourt), link to that instead — it signals to Google the geographic relevance of your listing.
Business hours
Set accurate opening hours including special hours for public holidays. Inaccurate hours generate negative reviews from customers who arrive when you're closed.
Business description
Write a 250–750 character description that includes your most important keywords naturally. Example: 'Brela Agency is a web design and digital marketing agency based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. We build WordPress websites, WooCommerce stores, and provide SEO services for businesses across Nigeria and internationally.'
Services
Add every service you offer. This helps Google match your listing to relevant searches even when the searcher doesn't use your business name.
Products
For product-based businesses, add your key products with photos and descriptions.
Step 5: Upload High-Quality Photos
Photos move the numbers. Listings with photos get 35% more website clicks and 42% more direction requests than listings without.
Upload at minimum:
- Your logo (square format)
- A cover photo (the main image shown on your listing — use your best exterior or team photo)
- Interior photos of your office or workspace
- Team photos
- Photos of your work, products, or deliverables
Name your photos descriptively before uploading — Google reads image filenames and this is an additional optimisation signal.
Step 6: Start Getting Google Reviews
Reviews are the single most impactful element of a GBP listing — for both Google rankings and customer conversion. Businesses with more positive reviews consistently outrank those with fewer, even when other factors are equal.
How to get more Google reviews from Nigerian customers:
- Create a direct review link (Google provides this in your GBP dashboard) and share it via WhatsApp with satisfied clients
- Add a QR code linking to your review page to your email signature, receipts, and business cards
- Ask verbally — 'If you're happy with the work, we'd really appreciate a Google review. I'll send you the link now'
- Follow up after project completion with a WhatsApp message and the review link
Do not offer incentives for reviews — this violates Google's guidelines and can result in listing suspension.
Step 7: Post Regularly
Google Business Profile allows you to publish posts — updates, offers, events, and new products — that appear directly on your listing. Businesses that post regularly signal to Google that they're active, which improves ranking.
Post at least twice per month. Good post topics: recent project completions, promotions, blog article links, industry tips, and local event participation.
Step 8: Answer Questions in the Q&A Section
GBP has a public Q&A section where anyone can ask questions — and anyone can answer them. Monitor this section and answer questions promptly. You can also pre-populate it with questions you're frequently asked, and answer them yourself — this is perfectly acceptable and a good way to control the information available to potential customers.
Common Mistakes Nigerian Businesses Make With Google Business Profile
- Keyword stuffing the business name — a quick path to listing suspension
- Using an inconsistent address (different from what's on the website) — confuses Google's local algorithm
- Never updating the listing after setup — stale listings rank lower
- Ignoring negative reviews instead of responding professionally
- Not specifying a service area for businesses without a fixed customer-facing location
How Long Until You See Results?
In low-competition local categories, a properly optimised listing can hit the local pack within 4–8 weeks of verification. Competitive categories — restaurants, clinics, law firms — in major cities take longer, but the payoff justifies the wait: a local pack listing converts far more enquiries per impression than an ordinary organic result. Pair this with the fundamentals in our guide to ranking on Google in Nigeria and you're covering both halves of local search.
Brela includes Google Business Profile setup and optimisation in our local SEO service. Want a specialist to handle it and get it right the first time? Get in touch for a free consultation.
