How to Set Up a Google Business Profile (And Why It Could Be Great for Your Business)
If you run a small business in the Canary Islands — a restaurant, a holiday rental, a surf school, a tour operator, a local shop — and you don't have a Google Business Profile, you are invisible to a significant proportion of the people most likely to spend money with you.
When a tourist lands in the Canary Islands and wants to find somewhere for dinner, a boat trip, a yoga class, or a car hire, the first thing they do is pick up their phone and search. "Restaurants near me." "Things to do in Puerto del Carmen." "Boat trips Lanzarote." What appears in those results — the map, the star ratings, the photos, the opening hours — is Google Business Profile data. If your business isn't there, you don't exist in that moment.
The good news: setting up a Google Business Profile is free, takes less time than you might think, and can make a dramatic difference to your visibility almost immediately. This post will walk you through why it matters, how to set it up, and how to make it work as hard as possible for your business.
Why Google Business Profile matters so much for tourist-facing businesses
Before we get into the how, it's worth understanding what Google Business Profile actually is and why it's so powerful for businesses that serve visitors.
When someone searches for a type of business or service near them, Google often shows a "local pack" — a map with three highlighted businesses and their key details — before it shows any regular website results. Appearing in that local pack is enormously valuable. Research consistently shows that the majority of clicks on local search results go to the businesses featured there.
For tourist-facing businesses in the Canary Islands, this is particularly significant for a few reasons:
Tourists search differently to locals. A local resident might already know where to go for dinner or who to call for a jeep tour. A tourist doesn't. They're searching actively, often in the moment, often on a mobile phone, and often with the intention of making a decision quickly. Google Business Profile puts you in front of them at exactly that moment.
Reviews matter enormously to tourists. When you're visiting somewhere new, you rely on other people's experiences to make decisions. A business with strong, recent reviews will consistently win over one with none — regardless of which is actually better. Google Business Profile is where those reviews live and where they're most visible.
Multilingual visibility. Tourists arriving in the Canary Islands come from across Europe — the UK, Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Ireland. Google Business Profile works across all of these markets, and your listing will appear in searches regardless of which language the tourist uses, as long as you've set it up correctly.
Setting it up: a step-by-step guide
Step 1: Create or claim your profile
Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account. Search for your business name — if it already appears (Google sometimes creates basic listings automatically), you can claim it. If not, you'll create one from scratch.
Step 2: Choose your business type
You'll be asked whether you have a physical location customers can visit, or whether you serve customers at their location, or both.
A restaurant or shop with a fixed address: choose "I have a physical location"
A holiday rental, tour operator, or mobile service: choose "I deliver goods and services to my customers" — this allows you to set a service area without displaying your home address publicly
This distinction matters. If you're operating from home and don't want your address visible, the service area option keeps it hidden while still showing you in local search results.
Step 3: Select your business category
Choose the category that most accurately describes your primary service. This is one of the most important decisions you'll make, as it directly affects which searches you appear in. Be as specific as possible — "boat tour operator" will serve you better than "tour operator" if that's what you do. You can add secondary categories too, which broadens your visibility slightly.
For businesses in the Canary Islands, categories worth knowing include: restaurante, alquiler de coches, alojamiento turístico, excursiones en barco, escuela de surf, actividades acuáticas, and so on — though the interface will be in whatever language your Google account is set to.
Step 4: Add your location or service area
If you have a physical location, enter your address. If you're a service-area business, you'll be asked to define the area you cover — you can do this by region, island, or specific towns.
For most tourist-facing businesses in the Canary Islands, setting your service area to cover the whole island (or the specific area you operate in) makes the most sense. Don't be too restrictive — a boat trip operator based in Puerto Calero might serve tourists staying anywhere on the island.
Step 5: Verify your listing
Google needs to confirm that your business is real and that you're authorised to manage it. The most common method is a postcard sent to your address with a PIN code, though Google has been expanding phone and video verification options. This can take a few days — it's the most patience-testing part of the process, but it's essential. An unverified listing has significantly reduced visibility.
Step 6: Complete your profile
Once verified, fill in every section of your profile as completely as possible. Google rewards completeness — a fully filled-out profile ranks better than a partial one. This means:
Business name — exactly as it appears on your signage or website, no keyword stuffing
Address or service area — already done
Phone number — a local number if possible
Website URL — link directly to the most relevant page, not just your homepage
Opening hours — keep these accurate and update them for public holidays and seasonal changes
Business description — up to 750 characters; write this in clear, natural language that describes what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different. If you serve an international tourist market, write it in English as your primary description.
Photos — more on this below
Services or menu — depending on your business type, you can list specific services, prices, and descriptions
Making your profile work harder
Setting up the profile is the foundation. What you do with it afterwards determines how effective it actually is.
Photos: more than you think you need
Google's own data shows that businesses with photos receive significantly more clicks and direction requests than those without. For tourist-facing businesses, photos are even more critical — tourists are making decisions based on visual appeal before they've had any contact with you.
Upload a minimum of ten photos to start, and keep adding over time. Include:
Your location or premises (exterior and interior)
Your product or service in action — food being served, boats on the water, guests on a tour, a yoga class in progress
Your team, if you're comfortable with that — it adds a human dimension that builds trust
The view, the setting, the experience — tourists are buying a feeling as much as a service
Keep photos current and seasonal. A photo of your terrace on a sunny day in summer performs better than anything taken in poor light.
Reviews: your most powerful tool
For tourist businesses in the Canary Islands, Google reviews are arguably your single most valuable marketing asset. Tourists trust them. They read them. They make decisions based on them. There are a few things to know about managing reviews effectively:
Ask for them. Most satisfied customers don't leave reviews unless prompted. A simple, genuine ask at the end of a positive interaction — "It would mean a lot to us if you left us a review on Google" — dramatically increases the number you receive. Some businesses include a QR code linking directly to their review page on receipts or business cards.
Respond to every review. Google rewards businesses that engage with their reviews. Responding to positive reviews warmly and briefly shows you appreciate your customers. Responding to negative reviews calmly and constructively shows you take feedback seriously. Never respond defensively — future customers are reading your responses as much as the reviews themselves.
Recency matters. A business with fifty reviews from three years ago and nothing recent looks less active than one with twenty reviews in the last six months. Consistent, ongoing reviews signal a healthy, active business to both Google and potential customers.
Posts: keep your listing alive
Google Business Profile allows you to publish posts — short updates, offers, events, or news — that appear directly on your listing. These are worth using, even occasionally. A seasonal offer, a new service, an upcoming event — these posts signal to Google that your business is active and up to date, which supports your ranking. They also give visitors to your listing something current to engage with.
Questions and answers
The Q&A section of your listing allows anyone to ask questions publicly — and anyone to answer them. Check this section regularly. If questions go unanswered, other users (not you) may answer them, which can lead to inaccurate information appearing on your listing. You can also pre-populate the Q&A section yourself by asking and answering the questions your customers most commonly raise.
How your Google Business Profile and your website work together
Your Google Business Profile and your website are not separate things — they work together as a system, and each makes the other more effective.
When someone finds you on Google, clicks through to your website, and spends time there, that behaviour signals to Google that your business is relevant and trustworthy — which supports your ranking in future searches. A well-designed, fast, mobile-optimised website converts that initial Google discovery into an actual booking or enquiry. A poor website loses visitors the moment they arrive, regardless of how well your Google listing performs.
Equally, your website's SEO — the keywords it contains, the quality of its content, how well it's structured — supports your local Google ranking. A website that clearly and consistently talks about what you do and where you do it reinforces the signals your Google Business Profile is sending. The two are most powerful in combination. Neither replaces the other.
The short version
If you run a tourist-facing business in the Canary Islands and you take one action based on this post, make it this: go to business.google.com today and set up or claim your listing.
It's free. It's relatively straightforward. And in a market where tourists are making decisions based on what their phone tells them, it's one of the highest-value things you can do for your business's visibility — with no advertising budget required.
If you'd like help making sure your website is working as effectively alongside your Google listing as possible, I'd love to have a conversation. I offer a free 45-minute consultation for small businesses, and I'm based right here in Lanzarote.
Polly Taylor is a freelance web and UX designer based in Lanzarote, working with small businesses, freelancers and charities across the Canary Islands and beyond. Visit pollytaylor.com or contact Polly to find out more.