Guide
How to ask customers for Google reviews within Google’s rules
For owners asking customers to review them on Google
Bahamas Digital Readiness Index
Your Google Business Profile probably exists.
A Google Business Profile answers people already searching for your name or kind of business, so claim it, build it out and see where it sends customers.
National Reading
Share of 2,600 businesses with this door open
60.5%
1,574 businesses
The 2026 index
Found: Google Business Profile
On a Google Business Profile, a customer decides to call or visit.
47%
of US consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.
A customer who does not know you yet judges the business by what the listing shows.
Google’s own example is a salon that shows up for “salons near me” and “salons open now” because its address and hours are on the profile. A diner searching for restaurants sees the same kind of listing, then taps to call, get directions or see the menu and photos.
The profile waits for the customer. Posts on it show on Search and Maps only to people who find the profile.
Once the number on your listing opens a WhatsApp chat, it sends a customer to where you talk. The website link on your listing sends them on to your website, the place you own.
Claimed listings
Most Google listings the index found are claimed.
If yours is not, your door is already open, and claiming it is the next step.
981
Anyone can add a business to Google Maps, and the listing shows publicly once it is added. Until someone at the business claims it, nobody there chose its hours, number or photos, and a customer still reads it as the business speaking.
Owners with a WhatsApp number customers can find have claimed their listing more often than owners without one.
To check yours, search the business name on Google. A panel that says Own this business or Claim this business is Google’s sign that nobody has claimed it.
1,026
of the 2,600 businesses in the 2026 index had no Google listing found.
See whether a customer finds your Google Business Profile, and your other three doors, open.
Check your score
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Claim status of found Google listings · the 2026 index Claim your listing, the first step once it is open
How the counts were made
The index found a Google listing for 1,574 of the 2,600 businesses. For 1,571 of those it could read whether the listing was claimed, and 981 were. The 3 listings it could not read are left out of the count.
Of the listings whose claim status could be read, 82.9% were claimed where the business publishes a WhatsApp number a customer can find, against 55.9% where it does not.
How to open it, and what comes next
How to open a Google Business Profile, then build it out
Not found means no Google listing turned up in public sources, which is not proof there is none.
Open it: Open means Google shows a listing, claimed or not.
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Search Maps for the business Short, on a phone Look under every name you use.
Search Google Maps for the business name and any other name it goes by. If a listing turns up, the door is already open: go to claiming it.
Claim a listing that already exists
How a customer would search
Search the way a customer would: by the name on the sign, by any older name, and by the kind of business in your area.
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Add the business to Google Short to add, then Google’s wait Free, from an account you keep.
If no listing turns up, add the business on Google Maps or at business.google.com, signed in with a Google account the business will keep, because that account becomes the owner. A profile made at business.google.com shows on Search and Maps once Google verifies it, as the verification step below explains.
What to enter when you add it
Use the name customers see on the sign, the category that fits best, the address or the area you serve, the phone number customers call, and your website if you have one.
Open. Past this line, the door counts as open.
Build it out: What a Google Business Profile needs once it is open
Steps three to five set up what your score reads: a claimed listing, a star rating and a review from the past year.
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Claim a listing that already exists Short to start, then Google’s wait Is a listing I never made mine?
It is yours to claim, even if someone else added it to Google Maps. Search the business name on Google, tap Own this business or Claim this business, then Manage now, and sign in with an account the business will keep. Google then checks the business.
If someone else holds the listing
If someone else holds the listing, such as a former owner or an agency, request ownership from the listing. Google asks the current owner, who has three days to respond. Not sure whether yours is claimed? The panel that says Own this business or Claim this business is Google’s sign that nobody has.
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Pass Google’s verification Days to a week or more, Google’s wait How is my business verified?
After you claim or add a listing, Google checks the business by a method it picks, and you cannot change the method. Its review can take up to five business days, and a code by post usually arrives within two weeks. If Google cannot verify the business from a video, the option to verify appears again and you can record a new one.
Video checks, and when photos show
For a video, Google asks for a live, unedited recording of at least thirty seconds, and a business that serves customers at their address shows its tools and proof it runs the business. Photos and videos show on the listing only after verification.
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Ask for reviews, and reply Short to send, then ongoing Ask everyone, by link or QR code.
Ask the customers you already serve, using the review link or QR code in the profile, and reply to each review in the business’s name. Never offer anything for a review.
Google’s rules on asking for reviews
Google’s rules forbid asking only happy customers or pressing people on the premises. Only a verified business can reply, and Google checks a reply before it shows. Newest review date not read on your score? Open your reviews and look.
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Set hours, and holiday hours An evening, with the hours to hand Why are my old hours stuck?
Usually because nobody at the business has claimed the listing, or someone else holds it. Claim it first, in step three, then set the hours day by day, and set holiday hours ahead of time.
Closures, holidays and the website’s hours
Special hours cover a closure of six days or fewer. For longer, mark the business temporarily closed. Google reminds owners to set holiday hours before the Bahamian holidays on its list, and the list leaves out Boxing Day when it is observed on a Monday. If the website shows the wrong hours, correct it first, because Google reads it. Hours not read on your score? Open your listing on a phone and look.
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Add real photos and videos An evening, once the photos are taken Outside, inside and the work.
Upload photos of the outside, so people recognise it from the street, the inside, and the work or the stock.
Photo checks, logo and cover image
Google reviews new photos, which can take a day or two. Add a few more whenever something changes, and set the logo and cover image while you are there. Photos not read on your score? Open your listing on a phone and look.
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List what you sell An evening or more, with the list ready Services, a menu or products.
Add services with descriptions and prices where Google offers a services list for your category, a menu if you serve food or drink, or products if you sell goods from a shop.
Where services and a menu show
Customers see services under Services in the Maps app. Google may take a restaurant’s menu from its website, so keep the menu there current too.
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Add booking and order links Short, once the webpage exists Outside help can pay off Where your category offers them.
Where Google offers them for your category, add links for bookings, reservations or orders that point to the webpage or booking tool where the customer completes the booking or order.
Several links, and a preferred one
Google allows several links for each kind and lets you mark one as preferred.
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Post updates, offers and events Short each time, then ongoing Schedule ahead, or set to repeat.
Post what is new. Posts show on Search and Maps to people who find the profile, and they can be scheduled and set to repeat.
Google checks each post first
Google reviews each post before it goes live. Keep to a rhythm you can hold.
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Make the number open WhatsApp Short, once the number is on WhatsApp Can customers chat on Google?
Not through Google’s own chat, which ended on 31 July 2024. Make sure the phone number on your listing is the one registered on WhatsApp, so a customer who finds you can message as well as call.
The WhatsApp or text option
In select countries and regions, an eligible profile can add a WhatsApp or text option, which Google has not confirmed for The Bahamas. If both options are added, only the text option shows.
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Read the Performance report Views, calls, directions and clicks.
Google’s report on a verified profile counts views, calls, direction requests and website clicks, so you can see which changes bring customers.
Recommendations inside the report
Google says some recommendations inside the report may not be available to every business.
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Keep it in the business’s hands Can staff run it without owning it?
Yes: add staff or an agency as managers, never by sharing a password. A manager can edit the information, answer reviews and post, but cannot add or remove people or delete the profile, so ownership stays with the business.
When Google contacts the listed number
Google may call, text or message the listed number to confirm details, and the owner can turn that off.
Keep it open
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Keep it right as things change Ongoing, worth a check every few months Hours, reviews, number and link.
Change the hours when they change, answer new reviews as they arrive, and check the phone number and website link on the listing every few months.
Some of these steps go faster with a professional’s help. Get a free professional reading of your Four Digital Doors, and the steps we can help with
In a typical Bahamian sale, as the index’s report sets it out, a customer finds the business on Google and then sends a message.
Is your Google Business Profile door open?
Type the business name and see how a customer finds this door and your other three.
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Send this to another business owner
A Business Profile can already be on Google for a Bahamian business that never made one. This webpage shows how to see whether one is claimed, and how to claim it.