Google Business Profile for Luxembourg businesses

Why it matters

Your Google Business Profile is the box about your business that people see on Google Search and Google Maps: name, category, address or area, hours, phone, website, photos and reviews. It is one of the few places where Google takes your facts straight from you.

Google's own advice for appearing in its AI features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, includes keeping your Business Profile information up to date. Google also says that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. A complete profile does not guarantee any answer, but it puts your correct facts where Google looks first.

Guide 07 set up your main listings in one go. This guide goes through the Google profile field by field, including the parts that cause most problems in Luxembourg: the right category, a hidden address for businesses that travel to clients, and public holiday hours.

Illustration with a fictional business.

Reference

Words Google uses

Before you start

Have these ready

• Your fact sheet from Guide 04: exact business name, address, phone, website, opening hours, services and languages spoken. Every field in this guide should be copied from it.
• A Google account that belongs to the company, for example office@yourcompany.lu, not a staff member's personal account.
• Access to the business phone line, the business email and the mail at your address. Google sends verification codes there, and an automated phone menu cannot receive them.
• The Luxembourg public holidays for the next twelve months, and the days you will be closed or open differently.
• Recent photos taken in daylight: outside, inside, your work or products, and your team.

Steps

Set up your profile, field by field

1. Decide what kind of business you are on Google

   Google gives a profile to a business that has a place customers can visit, or that travels to customers where they are. Which one you are decides whether your address is shown.

   Customers come to you

   A café, a shop, a fiduciary office with a reception. Show your address. Example: Café Ribeiro.

   You go to customers

   A cleaner, an electrician, a consultant who works at clients' offices. Hide your address and set a service area. Example: Kastell Conseil, run from home.

   Both

   A garage that also repairs on site. Show your address and add a service area.

   • No virtual offices. Google's guidelines say an address where you only rent a mailbox and do not work is not eligible. A co-working space counts only if you have clear signage, are staffed there and receive customers during business hours.
   • One profile per business, per location. Lawyers, doctors and other practitioners who deal with the public may have their own profile, but support staff may not.

   Google: guidelines for representing your business

2. Find, claim or add your profile

   A profile may already exist, created by a customer or by Google. Search for your business name and town on Google Maps first.

   • It exists and nobody manages it: select it, then Claim this business and Manage now. In the Google Maps app, tap About first.
   • It does not exist: go to business.google.com/add, select Add your business to Google and follow the steps.
   • Someone else already manages it (a former employee, an old agency): at business.google.com/add, enter your name and address, pick the profile, select Request Access and fill in the form. The current owner has 3 days to respond. If they do not, the confirmation email may let you claim it with View request, then Verify. Google says this option is not always available.

   Once you are in, add a second person so the profile never depends on one login: More → Business Profile settings → People and access → Add, enter the email, choose Owner or Manager, and select Invite. Managers can edit almost everything, but cannot add or remove people.

   Google: add or claim · request ownership · owners and managers

3. Get verified

   On your profile, select Get verified and choose a method. Google decides which methods you are offered, based on your type of business, public information, region and hours. You cannot change that list, and some businesses need more than one method.

   Method	What happens	Timing Google gives
   Phone or SMS	A code by call or text. An automated phone menu cannot receive it.	Not stated
   Email	Follow the steps in the email sent to the address shown.	Not stated
   Video recording	You film your location and proof that you run it. Google recommends it if you are offered it.	Not stated
   Live video call	A Google representative guides you through a call at your location.	Only during your business hours
   Postcard	A 5-digit code by mail.	Most arrive within 14 days; the code expires after 30 days

   After you complete a method, Google's review takes up to 5 business days, sometimes longer, and you get a confirmation email. If Get verified appears again, it did not work: try another method you are offered.

   While you wait for a postcard

   Do not change your business name, address or category, and do not request a new code. Google says either can stop the mailed code from working.

   Google: verify your business

4. Get the name and categories right

   Name. Use your real-world name, as on your door, website and invoices. Google does not allow taglines, places, phone numbers, website addresses or service descriptions in the name. "Café Ribeiro" is right; "Café Ribeiro, best pastéis de nata Luxembourg" is not.

   Categories. Go to business.google.com, select Edit profile, and next to "Business category" select Edit. Type in the "Primary category" box and pick from the list. Use Add another category for the rest, then Save.

   • Choose the most specific primary category Google offers. Google's own example is "Nail salon" rather than "Salon". You cannot create your own.
   • Google's test: a category should finish the sentence "This business is a...", not "This business has a...". A hotel with a restaurant is a hotel.
   • Use as few categories as possible. Do not add one for every service, or for a separate business that shares your building.
   • Your category decides which features you get: restaurants can add menus and reservation links, health and beauty businesses can add a booking button and services. Google says categories also affect your local ranking.

   Changing the name or a category can make Google ask you to verify again. Do it once, carefully.

   Google: manage your business category

5. Show your address, or hide it and set a service area

   Showing an address: select Edit profile → Location, and next to "Business location" select Edit. Enter the address exactly as on your fact sheet. If Google cannot find it, select Adjust and place the pin on the map. Google does not accept post office boxes.

   Hiding it, for businesses that go to customers: in the same "Business location" screen, turn off Show business address to customers and select Save. Your profile then shows only your service area. Google says to do this only if you are a service-area business.

   Setting the service area: Edit profile → Location, then next to "Service area" select Edit, choose a suggestion or type your own, and Save.

   • Up to 20 areas. Use towns, communes or postcodes; Google does not allow a radius around your address.
   • Keep the whole area within about 2 hours' drive of your base. For most Luxembourg businesses, that covers the country; list the towns you really serve, not every place you could reach.
   • If you hide your address but set no service area, Google chooses a local area for you.
   • Service area changes can take up to 48 hours to appear.

   Google: manage your business address · manage your service areas

6. Set regular hours, then holiday hours

   Regular hours: Edit profile → Hours. Next to "Hours", select the pencil icon and choose Open with main hours. Tick each day you are open, set the times and Save. For a lunch break, select Add hours to give the same day two time slots, for example 7:30 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 18:00.

   Special hours (public holidays and one-off days): Edit profile → Hours, then next to "Special hours" select Edit.

   • Google may suggest upcoming dates: select Review to set each one. For any other date, select Add a date.
   • Closed all day: keep the Closed box ticked. Open: untick it and enter the hours. Then Save.
   • Google advises confirming your hours for official holidays even when they are the same as usual.
   • Closed for 7 days or more in a row, for example for annual leave? Mark the business temporarily closed instead of adding special hours.

   Hours only work if they are your real customer-facing hours. Google's guidelines say businesses that work only by appointment, and those with varying schedules such as event venues, should not list hours.

   Google: edit your business hours · set special hours

7. Add a description, services and attributes that match your fact sheet

   Description. Under Edit profile, write up to 750 characters on what you offer, what makes you different and how long you have been open. Google does not allow links or HTML, and asks you not to focus on prices, promotions or sales. Take the wording from your fact sheet so Google, your website and your other listings say the same thing. This is also the place to say which languages you speak.

   Example description, Café Ribeiro (fictional)Copy

   Café Ribeiro is a family-run café in Luxembourg City, open since 2014. We bake Portuguese pastries on site every morning and serve breakfast, sandwiches and soups until 18:00. Coffee comes from a Luxembourg roaster. Our team speaks Portuguese, French, English and Luxembourgish. Seating for 30 inside, a small terrace from April to October, and a step-free entrance. Open Monday to Saturday, closed on Sundays.

   Services. If your category offers it, select Edit services, tick the suggested services you offer, and use Add more services → Add custom service for anything missing, then Save. You can open a service to add a description and price. Google rejects custom service names that contain prices or phone numbers.

   Attributes. Select Edit profile → More, then Edit next to a group such as "Amenities" or "Payments", answer Yes or No, and Save. Answer the factual ones you can confirm: wheelchair-accessible entrance, outdoor seating, payment types. Google says some attributes are only offered in certain countries or categories, so the list you see depends on your business. If you do not see one for languages spoken, the description is where to say it.

   Phone and website. Use a local number that you control directly, not a call centre or premium-rate number. The website link must go to your own website, not a social media page or a redirect.

   Google: edit your Business Profile · manage your services · manage your attributes

8. Add photos, logo and cover

   On Google Search or Maps, find your business, select Photos, then Add photos. Use Add a logo and Add a cover photo for those two. Photos only show once you are verified.

   • JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels. In focus, well lit, without heavy filters, edits or AI changes.
   • Google suggests at least three of each type that applies: outside (from each direction customers arrive), inside, products or food, your team at work, and the team.
   • Videos: up to 30 seconds, 75 MB, at least 720p.

   Google: manage photos and videos · tips for photos

9. Keep it right: check Google's changes and answer reviews

   Google can change your profile from other sources, such as suggestions by users. In the profile editor, information Google has changed is shown in blue, and a notice appears at the top. When a user's suggestion needs your review, you have 4 days to accept or reject it; after that, Google may publish it if other public information, such as your website, supports it. Under Edit profile → Collected info you can see what Google has gathered about you and where it came from.

   When something changes in your business, change it on your fact sheet, your website and your profile on the same day. If you change your name you may need to verify again; if you move, you must. Edit the existing profile; never create a second one.

   Reviews. Select Read reviews, then the reply icon next to a review, write your answer and select Reply. Replies appear under your business name after Google checks them, usually within 10 minutes. Google says helpful replies show customers that you value their feedback; keep them short, polite and factual. How to ask for reviews within Google's rules is in Guide 30.

   Google: understand Google updates · manage customer reviews

Check it worked

Confirm what people now see

Google reviews your edits before they go live. Google's help page on editing your profile links to Check your edit status; changes usually show within minutes, and Google says some can take up to 30 days. Then, in a private browser window, search for your business name on google.lu and open it in Google Maps. Compare every field with your fact sheet, line by line.

Common mistakes

What usually goes wrong

• Showing a home address. A consultant or tradesperson who works at clients' premises should hide the address and set a service area.
• Using a domiciliation address. Google's guidelines say an address where you only receive mail, and do not work, is not eligible for a profile.
• A broad primary category. "Consultant" or "Restaurant" when a more specific category exists makes it harder for Google to match you to the right questions.
• Editing during verification. Changing the name, address or category while a postcard is on its way can make the code stop working.
• Ignoring Google's suggested edits. If you do not answer within 4 days, a stranger's suggestion about your hours can go live.
• Different wording everywhere. A description that says "open since 2014" while your website says 2016 gives AI two versions of you. Copy from the fact sheet.