Keywords in a Business Profile: what the fields do and do not accept

There is no keywords field in a Google Business Profile. There is a business name, which Google requires to match your real-world name; a category, which you pick from a list Google controls rather than write yourself; a description; and a services editor. Advice that tells you to add keywords means putting them in one of those four fields, and for the name Google publishes both the rule and the consequence.

The four fields, in Google’s words

Field	What Google’s editing page says goes in it
Business name	“Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your real world business signage, stationery, and other branding.”
Category	“Select the category that best matches what your business does.”
Description	“Enter a brief description of your business”
Services	“When adding services, you can choose from suggested options tailored to your business type.”

None of those is a box for search terms. Google’s ranking page names the mechanism instead, “Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for”, and the instruction under it is about completeness rather than phrasing: “To help Google better understand your business and match it to relevant searches, provide complete and detailed business info.”

The name rule, and the published consequence

This is the sentence a keyword in the name has to get past:

To help customers find your business online, accurately represent your business name. Your name should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.

The consequence follows it, and it is not a warning about diminishing returns: “Including unnecessary information in your business name isn’t permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.” A table of what unnecessary means comes next, introduced with “Refer to the specific examples below to determine what you can and can’t include in your business name.”

Three of its rows are exactly what a keyword would be. “Marketing taglines”, “Service or product information” and “Location information” are all listed among the things your name must not include, each with an unacceptable name and its acceptable version. The editing page adds the cost of a later change: “If you change your business name after it’s verified, you might need to verify your business again.”

The category is chosen, not written

Google’s category page states the purpose plainly:

Your business categories inform your customers about what your business does. It helps your business connect you with customers who search for your products or services.

You cannot invent one. “If the specific category you want isn’t available, select a general category that describes your business. You can’t create your own category.” The guidelines give the test for picking between what is available:

Select categories that complete the statement: “This business IS a” rather than “this business HAS a.” The goal is to describe your business holistically rather than a list of all the services it offers, products it sells, or amenities it features.

The keyword ban on categories is published twice, in two wordings. The guidelines say “Do not use categories solely as keywords or to describe attributes of your business.” The profile editing page words it “Do not use categories solely as keywords or to describe features of your business.”

What the category buys you is the expansion Google does on its own side:

For example, if your primary category is “Pizza restaurant,” we might show your business in someone’s local search result when they search for Restaurants, Italian Restaurants, or Pizza.

That is the closest thing in Google’s documentation to a keyword effect, and you get it by being specific rather than by adding more. There is a ceiling, “You can select up to 9 more categories.”, and a fallback when nothing fits, “If you have trouble choosing a category for your business, choose one that’s general.”

What the description is for

Google’s help page for the field states its purpose:

Your Business Profile description helps potential customers learn more about your business, such as what you do and what makes your business unique.

The guidelines are more specific: “Use the business description field to provide useful information on services and products offered, as well as the mission and history of your business.” The same section rules out padding: “Content that’s irrelevant to your business or has no clear association with it isn’t allowed.”

Google’s prompts read as an outline for a paragraph about a business, not a place to list search terms: “What you offer”, “What makes you special”, “How long you’ve been in business”, “Anything else that’s helpful for customers to know”. Three limits come with it: “Do not exceed 750 characters in the description field.”, “Do not include URLs or HTML code.” and “Focus primarily on details about your business instead of details about promotions, prices, or sales.”

Services is the field that takes your own text

The services editor is the one place Google invites free text. It suggests first, then allows your own: “You can also create and add custom services options.” Two rules apply: “Custom services that violate policy will be automatically rejected.” and “Avoid including profanity, gibberish, personal information, prices, or phone numbers in custom service names.”

So a plumber can list the jobs a plumber does, and Google says a listed service can surface: “When local customers search Google for an offering you provide, that service may be highlighted on your profile.” What it cannot be is a list of work you do not perform. Submitted text being refused is not unique to services: Google publishes its refusal reasons in full on the review reply side, in the documented rejection reasons.

The one keywords field Google has points the other way

There is a keywords endpoint in the Performance API, and it is read only. It “Returns the search keywords used to find a business in search or maps.”, and the response field is documented as “Search terms which have been used to find a business.” Google reports the terms customers already typed. It does not accept terms you would like them to type.

What we are not going to tell you

Google publishes three named factors and no weights: “Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity.” The same page closes the door on buying a position, “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”, and says why the detail is withheld: “We do our best to keep the search algorithm details confidential to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone.”

We have read ranking-factor weightings that put a share of local ranking on the business name field, and we are not repeating any of them. Google publishes no weights, and we have not tested that and we are not going to assert it on someone else’s account of their own client base. The one item there we can quote is reviews: “Positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.” What to write when the review is a bad one is here.

The short version

Put your real name in the name field and nothing else. Pick the most specific category that finishes Google’s sentence and let Google expand it. Write the description as a description, under the limit, with no links. Use services for work you actually perform. Then read the search keywords report: that is the only keyword field a profile owner gets, and it is a report rather than an input.