Google Business Profile guide for cleaners

Not every business is eligible, and Google makes the decision. KleanTouch is not part of Google and cannot create, verify, approve or rank a Google listing for you. Google's screens and rules change; if what you see differs from this guide, follow Google's on-screen instructions and its help pages, linked at the bottom.

1. Check you are eligible

Google lists real businesses that deal with customers in person, either at a place customers can visit or by travelling to customers. A cleaner who goes to customers' homes can qualify as a service-area business.
One profile per business. Do not make duplicates or extra profiles for each area you cover.
A virtual office, a rented mailing address or a PO box where you do not actually work is not accepted.
Use your real trading name. Do not add extra keywords or areas to the name.
If you are unsure, read Google's guidelines for representing your business first.

2. Before you start

A Google account you control and will keep (a business email is better than a personal one you might lose).
Your trading name exactly as customers know it, a phone number you answer, the days and hours you take work, and the list of services you really offer.
A few genuine photographs (see step 6) and, if you have one, your website.

3. Create or claim your profile

Search Google for your business name. If a profile already exists for you, choose the option to claim or manage it. Do not create a second one.
If it is already claimed by someone else, use Google's option to request access. Do not make a new profile.
If there is none, go to business.google.com, choose to add your business, and follow the steps.
Pick the category that matches what you mainly do (for example a house cleaning or cleaning service category; Google shows the current choices). Add secondary categories only for services you genuinely offer.

4. Home-based? Hide your home address

If you work from home and customers do not visit you there, you are a service-area business and your home address should not be shown. Google's guidelines say service-area businesses should hide their address.

During setup, say that you go to customers' locations and that customers do not visit you at your address.
Google will still ask for an address to confirm and verify the business. That is for Google, not the public.
In your profile, open the location or address settings and choose not to show your business address, then set your service areas (step 5). Once hidden, only the areas you serve are displayed.
Do not put your home address in the description, photos, posts or replies either.

5. Set accurate service areas

Choose the places you genuinely travel to: boroughs, towns or postcode areas. Google lets you name specific places rather than draw a circle.
Google's current guidance allows up to 20 service areas and says they should stay within roughly two hours' driving of your base. Check the current limit in Google's service-area help.
Keep it honest. Listing places you do not really serve can get a profile suspended and disappoints customers.
Use the same areas on your KleanTouch profile, and use KleanTouch's Confirm the areas you serve tool so both match.

6. Complete your business information

Name, phone, website and hours: use the same name and phone number as on your KleanTouch profile. Keep hours accurate and update them for holidays.
Description: in your own words, what you do, who for and where. Google limits its length (around 750 characters) and does not allow links in it. No offers, no claims you cannot prove.
Services: add each service you offer (for example regular domestic cleaning, end of tenancy, oven cleaning, office cleaning) with a short plain description. Add prices only if they are real and you will keep them up to date.
Photos: upload genuine pictures of your own work, team, van, equipment and logo, taken with permission. No stock images, no pictures that show a customer's face, house number or valuables, and none of your own home.

7. Add your KleanTouch link where Google supports it

Google has no special place for "directory" links, so be careful and honest:

The website field is meant for a page that represents your own business. If you have your own website, use that, and add your KleanTouch link to it. If you do not have a website, your KleanTouch profile is a page that represents your business, but Google may still change or reject what you enter. Check the help text next to the field.
Do not use a link that redirects somewhere else, and do not put links in the description.
The booking or appointment link is for booking pages. KleanTouch does not take bookings, so do not use it for your profile link.
Where Google offers social or other profile links, or lets you add a button to an update, you may use your KleanTouch link if the field is available to you.
In the other direction, you can put your Google Business Profile link in the website box on your KleanTouch profile.

8. Get verified

Google decides how you verify (for example a short video, a phone call, an email or a postcard) and the method cannot always be chosen. Follow the on-screen steps. Do not pay anyone who offers to "guarantee" verification or rankings.

9. Ask for genuine reviews

After a job, ask the customer if they would be willing to leave an honest review. Your profile has a way to get a review link and a QR code to share by message or print on a card. Customers need a Google account to post.
Ask everyone, not only people you expect to be happy.
Do not offer discounts, gifts or payment for a review, and do not write reviews yourself or ask friends, family or staff to. Google treats that as fake engagement and can remove reviews or penalise the profile.
Reply to reviews politely and briefly, using the customer's name if they gave it. For a complaint, acknowledge it, say what you can do, and offer to talk by phone or email. Never share a customer's private details in a reply.
If a review breaks Google's rules, use the report option rather than arguing in public.

10. Keep it up to date

Check your profile now and then: hours, phone, services, photos and service areas. Reply to messages and reviews. Report anything that has been changed wrongly.

How this fits with KleanTouch

KleanTouch is a directory with no commission and no bookings. Your Google profile and your KleanTouch profile can both help people find you; keep the name, phone and areas the same on both.
KleanTouch does not run, verify or influence your Google listing, and a Google listing does not change your KleanTouch profile or its verification.
No plan, free or paid, guarantees a Google ranking, traffic or enquiries.

Google's own help pages

Written in November 2026 from Google's public help pages. Google may change its rules and screens at any time.

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