Google Business Profile in Saudi Arabia: the complete guide

When someone searches for your shop's name, or for a business like yours nearby, your profile shows on Google Search and Google Maps. From the profile they decide: call, ask for directions, read the reviews, or keep looking elsewhere.

The profile is free, and you own it once it is verified. Google accepts it for any business with a location that customers visit, or one that serves customers where they are. If your shop has no profile yet, start with our guide to adding your business to Google Maps and come back here.

• The name as on your sign, and the primary category. Google allows up to 9 additional categories, but its guidelines ask for the fewest that describe your business
• The address or service area, opening hours, and special hours for holidays and seasons
• A phone number, with room for 2 more, and your website
• A business description of up to 750 characters, and your opening date
• Photos and videos, and a menu or services with prices where the feature is available
• Attributes such as outdoor seating or Wi-Fi
• Reviews and your replies, plus the updates you publish
• Social media links and chat by text message or WhatsApp, in the regions where Google offers them

1. 1On Google Search: sign in with the owner or manager account, open your profile and select Edit profile
2. 2In the Google Maps app: tap the Business tab at the bottom, then Edit profile
3. 3Make your changes, then save

Google reviews edits before they go live, so do not worry if a change does not show right away. Be careful though: changing the name after verification or moving to a new address can require verification again, and a phone number edit can need extra proof that Google reviews. Change only what you need, and avoid repeated edits to the name, address and category in a short time; that is one of the reasons profiles get suspended.

Reviews and your replies are visible to everyone who opens the profile, and only the profile's owners and managers can reply. The short rules for replying:

• Reply to every review, positive and negative, in the reviewer's language
• Thank the guest or apologize for the experience without promising a gift or discount in public
• Give management's number for contact instead of asking the guest to send a private message
• Sign with the location name so readers know who is replying

Read repeated complaints as a to-do list, not an attack: if waiting time or cleanliness comes up in several reviews, the problem sits in operations before it sits in the reply. Repma does not delete, buy or write fake reviews.

You can publish updates on your profile with a photo and a button such as Call or Book, about a new dish, Ramadan hours or a service you added. Real photos of the storefront, the interior and your products help customers recognize the shop before they arrive. Google does not show posts on unverified profiles.

Posts and photos support local visibility, but the order of results on the map is Google's decision, based on relevance, distance and prominence. No one can promise you a specific spot.

Google shows performance data for verified profiles only, under Performance on your profile. The numbers that matter most:

• Views: how many people viewed your profile on Search and Maps; one person counts once per day
• Searches: the terms people used to find you, updated at the start of each month
• Directions: how many people asked for directions to your shop
• Calls: how often someone tapped the call button on your profile; it needs a phone number on the profile
• Website clicks, message conversations and menu clicks for restaurants

Compare month to month rather than day to day, and tie each change to what you did on the profile: new photos, updated hours, or regular replies to reviews.

Repma is a Saudi platform that works on your existing profile once you connect the Google account that owns or manages it. It does not create or verify the profile, but it takes over the daily work:

• Badr replies to every new review automatically, in Saudi White Dialect for Arabic reviews and in English for the rest, with no promises of gifts or discounts
• Complaint analysis from the text of the last 30 days of reviews, sorted by area such as waiting time, staff and cleanliness
• Google posts in light Fusha with your shop photos, once or twice a week after your approval, for verified profiles with at least three photos
• A QR menu for restaurants and cafés, imported from your Google profile, a photo or a PDF; display only, with no ordering or payment
• One dashboard for reviews and profile numbers: views, calls, direction requests and website clicks
• Your Google profile page inside Repma: edit opening hours, special days, Ramadan hours, the description, links and photos, with checks before anything is sent and a wait between changes to the name, categories and phone. Badr also emails you weekly when Google changed something on your profile, or when an Eid or Ramadan is coming and its hours are not set

From 119 SAR per location per month with a 7-day trial. If your profile is suspended, recovery is a separate service at 599 SAR per location, charged only on success.