Create or claim the profile
Search for your business on Google Maps. If it already appears, open the listing and choose to claim it. If it does not, create a profile from business.google.com. Google then asks for verification, usually a short video showing the premises, the signage and that you can access them. Verification can take a few days. Until it is done, the profile does not appear fully.
Business name
Use the name on your sign, invoices and website, nothing more. "Clinique Dentaire Atlas" is correct. "Clinique Dentaire Atlas Meilleur Dentiste Casablanca" breaks Google's guidelines and is a common reason for suspension.
Primary and secondary categories
The primary category tells Google what you are and weighs heavily in local ranking. Choose the most specific one that fits: "Dentist" rather than "Medical clinic" if dentistry is what you do. Search your main service in your city and look at what the top three businesses use. Add secondary categories only for other things you really do.
Address or service area
If customers come to you, enter the address and check the pin. In Morocco, decide once how to write the address, residence, lotissement, district, city, postal code, and use exactly that everywhere online. If you go to customers instead, a plumber, a home service, set a service area by city or district and hide the address. Google does not allow virtual offices or addresses where you do not work.
Hours, including special hours
Set normal hours, then add special hours before each holiday: Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, national holidays. A profile showing "Open" while the door is closed earns bad reviews.
Phone, website and WhatsApp
Give a phone number that is answered during the hours shown. Link the website field to the page that matches the profile: the home page for a single location, the branch page for a business with several. Google ended its built-in Business Profile chat on 31 July 2024, so make sure the linked page has a visible WhatsApp button if customers prefer to write.
Description, services and products
The description allows up to 750 characters. Say what you do, for whom and where, in plain words. No links, no prices, no promotions. Then list each service or product separately, using the words customers search.
Photos
Add a logo, a cover photo, the front of the premises so people recognise it, the inside, the team and examples of the work. Add new photos every few months. Photos taken by customers will appear too, which is another reason to keep the place looking as it does on the profile.
Posts and updates
Posts let you announce news, offers or events on the profile. They are not a strong ranking factor on their own, but an active profile reassures people deciding between you and the business next door.
Who owns the profile
The profile should belong to the business, under an account the owner controls. Agencies and employees should be added as managers, not owners. If someone who has left the company is the only owner, recovering the profile can take weeks.
After setup
A complete profile is the start. What moves it up the map afterwards is relevance and prominence: reviews, consistent details across the web and a site that ranks. Our guide How to rank on Google Maps in Morocco covers that part.
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