Is Google Business Profile free?

Google Business Profile is free to set up and free to keep. You need a Google account to manage it, and that account can use any email address, including your business one. There is no subscription, no listing fee and no charge for verification.

Google also says there is no way to pay for a better position in the free local results. What decides who shows up is how relevant your profile is to the search, how far you are from the person searching, and how well known your business is, which includes your reviews. Ads can appear above the free listings, but they are a separate, paid product and are labelled as such.

Be wary of calls claiming to be from Google and asking for payment to keep your listing live, verify it or stop it being removed. Google does not charge for any of that. If a caller wants card details to 'protect' your profile, hang up and check the profile yourself.

Where money can sensibly come in is time. A profile that is set up once and left alone tends to drift: hours go out of date, photos stop being added, reviews go unanswered. Some owners do the upkeep themselves in ten minutes a week, others pay an agency to handle it. Both are fine. The listing itself stays free either way.