Adding a business to Google happens in two separate tools. Google Business Profile puts the company into search and on the map, with address, phone number and reviews. Google Search Console submits the website itself so that the pages get indexed. Both are free, and you can have one without the other.
Most people looking for this want the first one. Take it in that order.
Two different things that are both called "adding to Google"
There is no button called "add my site to Google", which is why the question is confusing.
Google Business Profile is about the company. It is the box that appears on the right when someone searches for your name, and the pin shown on the map. Requires no website.
Google Search Console is about the website. It is where you tell Google which pages you have and ask it to read them. Requires that you own a domain.
If you run a business with customers in a geographic area, the business profile gives the fastest effect. Search Console matters more in the long run if you invest in content.
Add the company in Google Business Profile
Count on twenty minutes, plus a postcard in the letterbox.
1. Go to google.com/business and sign in. Use a Google account you will actually still have access to in five years. The most common problem with old business profiles is that nobody remembers which account they sit on.
2. Search for the company name before you create anything new. Google sometimes creates profiles automatically from map and registry data. If yours already exists you should claim it rather than adding a duplicate.
3. Choose a category. Be as specific as you can. "Electrician" rather than "Contractor". The category governs which searches you can appear in at all, and you can change it later, but the primary category carries the most weight.
4. Enter an address or a service area. If you travel to customers and do not receive visitors, choose a service area instead of an address. That hides your home address, which most sole traders want.
5. Verify. Usually with a postcard containing a code sent to the business address, sometimes by phone or video. The postcard takes five to fourteen days. The profile is not publicly visible until verification is complete.
6. Fill in everything else. Opening hours, phone, website if you have one, services, description. Upload photos of actual jobs you have done — profiles with photos get considerably more clicks than those without, and stock images are recognised instantly.
7. Ask for reviews. Send the link to customers you have just finished with. Reviews affect both your placement in the map results and whether people call you or the next one on the list.
Submit the website to Google Search Console
Only do this if you have your own website.
1. Go to search.google.com/search-console. Choose "Domain" if you have access to the domain's DNS settings, otherwise "URL prefix", which is simpler.
2. Verify ownership. With URL prefix you can upload an HTML file, paste a meta tag into the page head, or verify via Google Analytics if you already have it. If you build in Webflow, WordPress or similar, the field for the verification code is built into the settings.
3. Submit your sitemap. It is almost always at `yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml`. Go to Sitemaps in the menu, paste the address and submit. That is how Google gets a list of all your pages in one go.
4. Request indexing of the home page. Paste the address into the search bar at the top, wait for the analysis and click "Request indexing". Do the same with the three or four most important subpages. No more than that is needed, the sitemap handles the rest.
5. Check back after a week. Under "Pages" you see what has been indexed and what has not, with reasons. It is the only place where Google says outright what is wrong.
How long does it take before you show up?
The business profile appears as soon as verification has gone through, so usually within one to two weeks depending on how fast the postcard arrives.
The website is normally indexed within 3 to 14 days after you request indexing. Being indexed only means the page is in Google's register though — starting to rank for search terms that bring customers takes considerably longer, often two to three months for local terms.
A quick test at any time: search `site:yourwebsite.com` in Google. The results you get are exactly the pages that are in the index.
Common problems
Someone else has already added my business. Common, and rarely malicious — Google generates profiles from open registries. Click "Claim this business" and verify. If someone else has verified it, a dispute process starts where you have to prove that you own the business.
The verification code never arrived. You can request a new postcard after fourteen days. Check the address first, especially if you have a c/o address or a PO box.
The page is not indexed even though I requested it. Check for a `noindex` tag in the page code and that robots.txt is not blocking. Search Console gives the reason under "Pages", and it is almost always one of those two.
I find my page when I search for the company name, but never otherwise. That is normal and does not mean anything is broken. Ranking for your own name is easy. Ranking for "carpenter Nacka" is a completely different job.
If you do not have a website
Some of this gets cumbersome quickly if you do not already have a site. Building one, keeping it updated and then optimising it so it shows up on Google is a project in itself, and for many sole traders that is not where the time is best spent.
Marketit solves the same thing from the other direction: you get a profile on a platform that is already visible, instead of building visibility from zero. See how it works, answer jobs customers post, check pricing, and compare it with what a lead costs in other channels.
No website of your own needed. The profile works as your public page with services, photos, area and reviews. Indexing, load time and technical structure sit with us.
You show up in the AI chats. More and more people ask ChatGPT or Google's AI answers who to hire, instead of comparing ten blue links. Marketit's pages are built to be readable and quotable by that kind of assistant.
You can quote on jobs. Customers post jobs, you answer the ones that fit. The person has already decided to buy, which is a different starting point from waiting for someone to happen to find your page. We do not resell the same lead to five competitors — the matching is based on visibility.
A complete CRM is included. Requests, quotes, customers and follow-up in one place.
We advertise for you. Marketit runs Google and Meta advertising to bring customers to the platform, so you avoid both ad accounts and your own budget.
Get a Google Business Profile anyway. It is free, takes twenty minutes and complements everything else you do.