How to get your restaurant on Google Maps
To get your restaurant on Google Maps, create or claim its free Google Business Profile at business.google.com, enter its name, category, address and hours, and verify that you run it. Google offers phone, text, email, video or a mailed postcard to verify, and its review takes up to 5 business days [1] [2]. Once verified, your restaurant shows on Maps and Search with the hours, menu, photos and order button you add.
Below: how to check whether you're already on the map, the setup step by step, every way to verify and how long each takes, what a restaurant should fill in, why a listing doesn't show up and the fix for each cause, and what Google says decides who appears first.
1. Check whether your restaurant is already on Google Maps
Many restaurants are on Maps before the owner ever signs up: Google builds listings from public information and from diners who add a place. Before you create anything:
- Search your restaurant's name and town on Google Maps, on your phone and on a computer.
- If it shows up and you see "Own this business?" or "Claim this business", tap it. That's your listing; claiming it is the same as creating it, minus the typing.
- If someone else has already verified it (a former owner, a past manager, a marketing company), Google lets you request ownership from the same link [1]. The current owner is asked to respond, and the request explains your next step if they don't.
- If two listings show for your restaurant, keep the one with the most reviews and report the other as a duplicate. Google allows only one profile per location [5].
- If nothing shows, create a new profile (next section).
2. How to add your restaurant to Google Maps, step by step
- Sign in with a Google Account. Any email works [1]. Use one the business will keep: if a manager or agency creates it under their own account and leaves, you'll be requesting ownership of your own restaurant.
- Go to business.google.com and choose "Add your business". Or search your restaurant's name and use the claim link from section 1.
- Enter the name exactly as it's on your sign. No town, no "best pizza", no phone number. Extra words in the name are against Google's rules and can get the profile suspended [5].
- Pick the most specific category. "Pizza restaurant", "Mexican restaurant", "Bakery", "Coffee shop" rather than plain "Restaurant". You can add a few more later ("Takeout restaurant", "Caterer").
- Choose that customers visit your location and enter the street address. Drag the pin onto your front door. A P.O. box isn't accepted [5].
- Add your phone number and website. The website should be your own page with your menu, not a delivery app.
- Verify with the method Google offers you (section 3).
- Add hours, including holiday hours as each holiday comes.
- Add your menu and an order link (section 4).
- Add photos: the outside so people find the door, the counter or dining room, and five to ten of your best-selling dishes.
The profile costs nothing, and there is no paid version of the listing. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking [3].
3. Verifying your restaurant: every method and how long it takes
Google picks which methods you see; you can't choose one it doesn't offer [2].
| Method | How it works | How long | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone or text | A code to the business number | Minutes to get the code | A phone menu system (press 1 for…) won't receive the code: answer it in person [2] |
| A link or code to the email shown | Minutes to get it | Make sure you can open that inbox before you pick it | |
| Live video call | A Google staffer watches you show the place on camera | Booked during your business hours | Only offered during your hours [2]; have the sign, the kitchen and proof you run it ready |
| Video recording | You film the outside, the inside and proof you manage it, and upload it | Then the review below | Google recommends it when offered [2]; one continuous take, the sign and street visible |
| Postcard | A 5-digit code by mail to the address | Most arrive within 14 days; codes expire after 30 [2] | Don't change the name, address or category while you wait, and don't request a new code: that cancels the one in the mail [2] |
After any method, Google's review takes up to 5 business days, sometimes longer [2]. If the "Get verified" button comes back, the attempt didn't pass: try again, or use another method if one is offered [2].
What a video should show for a restaurant: the street and your sign in one shot, walking in the door, the kitchen or counter, and something only the person in charge has: keys to the back door, the register opened, a business document with the restaurant's name.
4. What to fill in so diners choose you
Being on the map gets you seen. What's on the listing decides whether a hungry person taps Directions or scrolls to the next place.
| Field | What to put | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | Every day, plus holiday and special hours | "Open now" filters hide you if hours are missing; wrong hours earn one-star reviews |
| Menu | Items and prices in the profile's menu editor (Info, then Menu), or a link to your menu page [6] | Diners check prices before they come; a text menu on your site helps Google too (how Google reads your menu) |
| Order link | Your own pickup ordering page under Food ordering, set as preferred [4] | Otherwise the button may send your regulars to a delivery app that takes a commission |
| Website | Your own site | One of the few links you fully control on the listing |
| Photos | Storefront, inside, top dishes, real and recent | Diners decide by the food they see |
| Attributes | Dine-in, takeout, delivery, outdoor seating, accessible entrance, payments | They answer questions before the phone rings |
| Description | Two plain sentences: what you serve and what you're known for | Helps Google match you to what people search [3] |
About the order button: delivery apps often add their own links to your profile. Google lets you mark your preferred link for pickup and delivery, remove a provider (providers must take their links down within 5 business days of your request), or turn ordering off [4]. If you don't have your own ordering page yet, the fees and options are in commission-free online ordering for restaurants. The whole Order button, step by step, is in Google online ordering for restaurants.
5. Why isn't my restaurant showing on Google Maps?
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not found at all | Not verified yet, or still in review | Check the profile for "Get verified"; reviews take up to 5 business days [2] |
| Found by name, not for "pizza near me" | Distance or a broad category | Search from near the restaurant; make your main category specific |
| Shows for your name but far down for your food | Few reviews, few links (prominence) [3] | Ask happy regulars for reviews; get listed on local sites (section 6) |
| Two listings, split reviews | A duplicate | Keep one, report the other; only one profile per location is allowed [5] |
| "Permanently closed" or "Temporarily closed" | Someone suggested an edit, or an old status | Fix the status in your profile and check it again in a few days |
| Wrong pin on the map | Address read from the street, not your door | Move the pin in your profile; expect it to be reviewed |
| Profile suspended | Often extra words in the name, a wrong address, or a duplicate [5] | Fix the cause, then appeal from the profile |
| Postcard never came | Mail, or a code requested twice | Wait the 14 days, don't edit or re-request; then try another method [2] |
| Edits not showing | Changes are reviewed | Give it a few days; edits to name, address or category can trigger a new verification |
6. How to rank higher on Google Maps
Google says local results are "mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity" [3]:
- Relevance, "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for" [3]. A complete profile with the right categories, a real menu and a description helps.
- Distance, "how far each business is from the customer who's searching" [3]. You can't change this; it's why a diner across town sees other places first.
- Prominence, "how well-known a business is". Google considers how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have [3].
What that means in practice for a restaurant:
- Fill in everything in section 4, and keep hours true. Google says complete, accurate profiles are more likely to show up [3].
- Ask for reviews in person. A small card at the register or on the receipt with a QR code to your review link. Never pay for reviews or offer a discount for them.
- Reply to reviews, good and bad, briefly and by name. Google says replies show you value feedback [3].
- Get linked from local sites: your town's food blog, the local paper's dining section, the chamber of commerce, the farmers market where your truck parks.
- Have a real website with your menu as text, address and hours on every page, and link it from the profile.
- Post updates when something changes: a new special, a holiday menu, new hours.
7. Food trucks, home bakers and delivery-only kitchens
Google lists businesses that either have a place customers visit or that travel to customers [5].
- A restaurant, café or bakery with a counter: a normal profile with your address.
- Delivery-only or virtual brands: Google's rules say to set a service area and hide the address [5].
- Food trucks: Google's guidelines don't name them. Trucks that park at one regular spot often list that spot with its hours; trucks that move around set a service area and post each day's location on their own site and social pages. See what a food truck website needs for today's spot at the top of the page.
- Home bakers who take pickups at home: a service area with the address hidden keeps your home address private.
8. Don't stop at Google: Apple Maps and Bing
Diners on iPhones often search Apple Maps, and Bing powers other search and map tools.
- Apple Maps: claim your place card free with Apple Business Connect, using an Apple Account. You can edit photos, hours, the website and add action buttons such as ordering or reservations [7].
- Bing Places: free, and it can import your verified Google Business Profile so you don't type everything twice; check the imported listing for missing fields [8].
Use the same name, address, phone and hours everywhere. Different hours on different maps cost you trust and visits.
Common mistakes
- Letting an agency or manager own the profile under their own account.
- Keywords in the name ("Tony's Pizza Best Pizza Downtown"). It can get the profile suspended [5].
- Editing during postcard verification, which can reset it [2].
- No holiday hours, then a line of people at a locked door on Thanksgiving.
- Sending the Order button to a delivery app when you have your own ordering.
- A menu photo instead of a menu: hard to read on a phone and invisible to search.
Questions
Is it free to put my restaurant on Google Maps?
Yes. A Google Business Profile is free, and Google says no one can pay for a better local ranking [3]. Ads on Maps are a separate, paid product.
How long does it take to get on Google Maps?
Phone, text or email verification takes minutes, then Google's review takes up to 5 business days. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days [2].
Can I add my restaurant to Google Maps without verifying?
Anyone can suggest a missing place on Google Maps, but only a verified owner can manage the profile, reply to reviews and change details on Maps and Search [1].
Why does my restaurant show the wrong hours?
Someone suggested an edit, or holiday hours were never set. Update the hours in your profile, set holiday hours ahead of each holiday, and check the listing again a few days later.
Can I add a menu to my Google listing?
Yes: in your profile go to Info, then Menu, and add items, or link your menu page [6]. A text menu on your own site also helps; see how Google reads your menu.
Do I need a website to be on Google Maps?
No, but the profile has a website field and diners use it to see the menu and order. A website you own is also one of the links that count toward prominence [3].
Your listing needs somewhere to send people: build your menu site free from a photo of your menu, with pickup ordering you can set as the Order button on your Google profile. More answers for restaurant owners are in all our guides, including how to set up your Google Business Profile for a restaurant once you're verified, SEO for a restaurant website, and what a restaurant website costs.
Sources
- Add or claim your Business Profile on Google, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.
- Verify your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.
- Manage online ordering options, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.
- Google Business Profile for restaurants, Google, read Nov 1, 2026 (as listed in search).
- Apple Business Connect, Apple, read Nov 1, 2026 (as listed in search).
- Introducing the new Bing Places for Business, Microsoft Bing Blog, Oct 2025 (as listed in search).