Google Business Profile Checklist for Valley Businesses

A complete Google Business Profile has your real business name, one specific primary category, accurate hours, a services list, a plain description, current photos, and either your address or your service area. This checklist goes field by field, using Google's own Business Profile Help pages.

Your profile is the part of your local presence that Google reads most directly, so it sits at the center of the SEO guide for McAllen and the Valley. Google changes fields over time, so treat this as a September 2026 snapshot and check the help pages when something looks different.

Name, address and service area: who are you and where?

Use the name on your sign and your paperwork. Google's guidelines say to avoid marketing taglines, store codes, phone numbers, URLs and all-caps words in the name. Say a company calls itself "Best Cheap AC Repair McAllen 24 Hours." That is the kind of name the guidelines rule out.

The address must be a real physical location where you operate. Google does not allow P.O. boxes or virtual offices. Then decide which kind of business you are.

• Storefront, where customers come to you: show your address and hours. A barbershop in Edinburg is one example.
• Service-area business, where you go to customers: if you do not serve customers at your address, remove it and list the areas you serve. Google allows up to 20 service areas, set by city or postal code rather than a radius, and suggests staying within about two hours of driving time. A residential address should stay hidden.
• Hybrid, where you do both: show the address and the service area.

Say an electrician works from a home shop in Weslaco. The address stays hidden, and the service area lists Weslaco, Mercedes, Donna and Pharr. Those are cities the electrician will drive to on a Tuesday, not every city in the county.

Categories: which one describes you best?

Choose one primary category and up to nine more. Google's test is to finish the sentence "this business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a," and it asks for the fewest, most specific categories that describe your core business. Using categories as keywords, or to describe features, goes against its guidance.

Type your main service into the category box and read the options Google offers. A plumbing company would pick "Plumber" first and add a second category only for a service that is a real part of the business. The primary category is the field to get right first, and the map pack guide explains why.

Hours, phone, website and booking links

Enter your regular customer-facing hours. If you have seasonal hours, Google lets you use them as your regular hours. For holidays, storms and one-day closures, use special hours, so a customer searching at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve does not drive to a dark door.

You can list up to three phone numbers, add your website, and add social media links. Google also supports links for booking an appointment, making a reservation, or placing a food or shopping order, with up to ten links in each group, plus a single link for a menu or a services list. Not every link type shows for every kind of business, so check which ones your profile offers.

Services, attributes and the Spanish question

If your category supports services, add each one with a short description and, where you can, a price. Google says custom service names cannot include prices or phone numbers, so put the price in the price field. Services can be grouped, and Google says a service may be highlighted when a local customer searches for it.

Attributes are details such as wheelchair access, outdoor seating, Wi-Fi or being veteran-owned. You can edit some yourself, others come from what customers report, and some appear only for certain categories or regions. Check what your profile offers.

Many Valley customers search, and decide, in Spanish. Write "Se habla español" in your description and on your website wherever it is true, and make sure the person who answers the phone can actually do it. A promise you cannot keep costs you the job.

Description and photos: what to write and what to upload

The description holds up to 750 characters and appears in the "From the business" section. Google asks you to describe the business itself and to leave out URLs, HTML, promotions, prices and sales. Say it plainly. Here is a hypothetical example: "Family-owned AC repair and installation serving Weslaco, Mercedes and Donna. Se habla español."

For photos, Google asks for JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB, recommends 720 by 720 pixels, and sets a minimum of 250 by 250. It wants photos in focus and well lit, without heavy filters or AI edits. Its tips ask for at least three exterior photos, three interior photos and three team photos, plus photos of your work, your products, or your food and drinks where they apply. Take them yourself. A real photo of your storefront helps a customer recognize the door.

Posts, questions and messages: what still works

Posts come in three types: updates, offers and events. Google archives posts older than six months unless they have a date range. Use them for holiday hours, a new service, a seasonal special or an event, not as a daily chore.

Two features have changed. Google removed chat and call history from Business Profiles on July 31, 2024, and points customers to your phone number and, for eligible accounts, text messages or WhatsApp. In late 2025 Google also began replacing the public Questions and Answers section in Maps with an Ask button that answers with AI, according to reports that quote a Google product specialist in the Business Profile help forum. Your profile may not show the old section.

Either way, put the answers to common questions in your services, description and website, because that is what a person or an AI answer can find. The guide to Google AI Overviews and local businesses explains what changes when Google summarizes local results, and the complete AEO guide covers the wider picture.

A monthly profile check

• Search your business name on your phone and compare what you see with what you meant to publish.
• Confirm your hours, including upcoming holidays, your phone number and your website link.
• Add fresh photos of your work, your team or your space.
• Read and reply to new reviews. The review routine takes five minutes a day.
• Add any service you now offer, and delete any you stopped.
• Check that your name, address and phone match your website and other listings.

The Growrank AI Visibility Dashboard tracks your Google map pack position weekly, so you can see whether these changes move you. Nobody can promise that they will, and the pricing page shows what the dashboard costs.

Frequently asked questions