How to get your business on Google

by Harry Watts · Last reviewed 6 October 2026

There are four ways to show up on Google, and only one of them is bought. If customers come to you in person, or you go to them, start with a free Google Business Profile. It's what puts you in front of people searching nearby, and it costs nothing. The organic results and ads come after, in an order set by your budget and how soon you need enquiries.

I give this quick tour to every client who comes to me with no presence on Google at all, because "I just want to be on Google" can mean four different things, each with its own cost and timescale. Bing and ChatGPT follow the same pattern, on three layers: a free listing, the organic results and paid ads.

What being on Google actually means

Search for a plumber, a dentist or a pair of running shoes, and there are four different ways a business can appear on the page that comes back:

• The organic results (search and shopping). The ordinary listings Google ranks on its own judgement. You can't pay for a place here, and no one is charged when they're clicked. Shops can also list their products free in the Shopping tab.
• AI Overviews and AI Mode. The AI-written summary at the top of some results, and AI Mode, a separate tab on the results page. Both have been live in the UK since 2024 and 2025 respectively, and both link to pages Google has already indexed for its ordinary results.
• Paid ads. Google Ads search and shopping campaigns, plus Local Services Ads for some trades. These are the only places you buy your way in.
• A Google Business Profile. The panel with your opening hours, phone number, reviews and directions, which is also what puts you on Google Maps.

Most of the guides ranking for this question cover only the last one. It's a good place to start, but only for some businesses.

The one question that decides where to start

Do customers come to you in person? If you're a dentist, a dog groomer or a dry cleaner, a Business Profile is the obvious next step if you don't have one already, because it's what puts you in front of people searching locally. It matters for businesses that travel to their customers too, like a plumber or a mobile dog groomer, but for a shop customers walk into it is paramount.

Google's rule is specific. To qualify, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, either at a location they can visit or by travelling to them. A business with no shopfront that visits customers gets a service-area profile. Online-only businesses aren't eligible at all, and neither is a virtual office.

If you do qualify, it's free. Google verifies that the business is real before the profile goes live, by phone or text, email, a live video call, a recorded video or a postcard, depending on what it offers you. Its help pages say verification reviews take up to five business days, and that most postcards arrive within 14 days. Google's own add or claim your Business Profile page walks through the steps.

Getting seen in the UK: the whole picture

The top row is where most local businesses should start. The middle row is the slowest. The bottom row is the fastest, and on Google Ads you choose the keywords you bid on.

Google, layer by layer

The organic results, AI Overviews and AI Mode

The organic results are earned, not bought. Google ranks pages on how relevant and useful it judges them, which in practice starts with a website that has a page for each thing you do. It's free per click and slow to build. In Google's own video on hiring a search engine optimisation (SEO) specialist, on its Do you need an SEO? page, the figure given is four months to a year to make improvements and then see a potential benefit.

AI Overviews and AI Mode are not a separate thing to sign up for. Google says a page only needs to be indexed and eligible to show in its search results with a snippet, and that there are no additional requirements to appear in either. The work that gets you into the organic results is the same work that makes you eligible to be cited in the AI summary.

If you sell products, Google's free listings put them in the Shopping tab, on Maps and in Images at no cost, through a Merchant Center account. Free doesn't mean guaranteed: Google says plainly that a listing doesn't ensure your products are shown.

Paid ads

Done properly, ads are a huge accelerator. For a small independent local business, you could go from a handful of enquiries a month to 10–20 extra a month on less than £1,000 of ad spend, though how far the money goes depends on what a click costs in your market. One example: a security installation and maintenance business I work with (CCTV, alarms, access control) gets a consistent 5–15 leads a month from Google Ads, at around £55 a lead.

There's no fixed minimum budget, because the answer depends on what a click costs. £500 buys 250 clicks at £2, and 33 clicks at £15. What Google Ads costs in the UK has the figures by sector, and whether it's worth it is a sum you can do before spending anything. Traffic starts within hours, but give a new account 60–90 days before deciding whether it works, and check what needs to be in place first.

Local Services Ads are a separate product, for trades. You pay per lead rather than per click, and in the UK they cover a set list of home services: plumbers, electricians, roofers, cleaners, pest control and other listed home services. Lawyers and estate agents can use them in Greater London only. Google is moving them into Google Ads as a pay-per-lead campaign type, so where you manage them is changing, with no UK date announced yet.

Bing: the same three layers, smaller

Bing Places for Business is Bing's free listing, and it shows you in Bing's results and on Bing Maps. It can import your Google Business Profile, so once Google is done this is a short job, and a listing already verified on Google can usually skip Bing's verification.

Bing's organic results matter more than Bing's size suggests (see ChatGPT, below). Microsoft Advertising is the paid layer: one campaign serves Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, roughly 6% of UK searches, with clicks often around a third cheaper than Google's. Whether Microsoft Advertising is worth it depends mostly on how your customers buy.

ChatGPT: the answer and the ad

I explain this one through Google. On Google, organic results came first, then came paid ads. ChatGPT has followed suit: first the answer, now an ad beside it.

There's no listing to claim in ChatGPT. Being named in its answers is earned, like the organic results, and it starts with being findable: OpenAI says its search uses third-party search providers, and Bing is the one it names, which is one more reason to make sure Bing has indexed your website. How to get your business mentioned in ChatGPT's answers covers the rest.

The ad is bought. ChatGPT Ads have shown to UK users since 6 June 2026, and the self-serve Ads Manager takes a daily budget from £15. Whether they're worth testing yet is a separate question, and which of the three ad platforms to start with another.

Which to do first

When someone tells me they just want to be on Google, I go back to the quick tour of what being on Google actually means. Then, based on their type of business, we talk about what makes the most sense, depending on their budget for paid ads and how soon they need results, because paid works in hours and organic in months.

• Customers visit you, or you visit them. Business Profile first, then Bing Places. Both free. Google's verification reviews take up to five business days, and most postcards arrive within 14.
• Online only. No Business Profile for you. Start with a website that has a page for each thing you sell, then the organic results; product listings if you sell goods.
• You need enquiries this month. Ads, if there's a budget for them. The organic results won't arrive in time.
• Listed and found, but quiet. This is where ads earn their keep, on top of what's already working.
• No budget yet. Do the free listings, build the website, and come back to ads when the numbers allow. That's a good plan.

Quick answers

If you'd like a second opinion

If you're not sure which of the four fits your business, a free intro call is thirty minutes, and enough to settle where to start. If paid ads won't work for your business yet, I'll be transparent and tell you to revisit this.