The Google Business Profile Checklist for Studios and Schools

You can’t fix a profile you can’t edit. Search for your studio while signed in to Google, and confirm you can manage it.

• Claim and verify the profile. Google requires a verified profile before your business can show on Search and Maps.
• Be the primary owner. A profile can have several owners but only one primary owner. That should be you, not a past employee or an old agency.
• Add helpers as managers. Managers can edit info, reply to reviews, and post, using their own Google accounts instead of your password.

Your profile belongs to your business. Anyone who helps with it, including us, should be a manager, not someone holding your login.

Business name

Use your real-world name, exactly as it appears on your sign and website. Google doesn’t allow extra words like your town, your classes, or a tagline. Adding them can get a profile suspended.

Categories

Google says categories affect your local ranking. Pick the most specific primary category that fits, the way Google suggests ‘Nail salon’ over ‘Salon.’

You can add up to 9 more, but use as few as you need. A good category finishes the sentence ‘This business IS a,’ not ‘This business HAS a.’

One warning: changing categories later may mean verifying your profile again.

Address or service area, and phone

Show your address if students come to you. If you don’t meet students at your address, hide it and set a service area instead.

Use a local phone number you control. Then keep your name, address or area, and phone identical everywhere, from your website to Facebook and Yelp.

If your studio is in California, see how we help California studios show up in nearby towns.

Wrong hours send a family to a locked door. Here’s how to keep yours right:

• List hours that match reality. Use the times someone can answer the phone or greet a walk-in, like front desk hours.
• Check that hours fit your setup. Google’s guidelines say businesses whose hours vary by schedule, like classes, shouldn’t list hours. If you keep set front desk hours, list those instead.
• Add special hours for holidays and short breaks. Use them for changes of up to 6 days in a row, like Thanksgiving or recital week. Google also suggests confirming official holidays, even when your hours stay the same.
• Mark the studio temporarily closed for longer breaks. Google’s guidance is 7 or more days in a row, like a two-week winter break.
• Switch to seasonal hours for summer. If your summer schedule differs, set it as your regular hours for the season, then switch back.

One catch: special hours only show if your main hours are on, a setting called ‘Open with main hours.’

Services

If Google offers the services editor for your category, use it to list what you teach, grouped by age, level, or style. A martial arts school might list kids karate, teen kickboxing, and adult jiu-jitsu.

Google rejects custom service names with prices or phone numbers, so put prices in the service details. Our page on marketing for martial arts schools shows how families search for classes like these.

Google’s product editor is built for stores that sell physical goods, so your classes belong in services.

Description

You get up to 750 characters in the ‘From the business’ section. Say what you teach, who it’s for, and what makes your studio different. Google allows no links, and the text shouldn’t focus on promotions, prices, or sales.

Booking link

If your category allows it, add a booking link so families can act right from your profile. Point it to your trial class or intro offer page, not your home page.

Want this handled for you? See how our Google Business Profile service sets up your profile and keeps it current.

Families want to see where their child will be and who will teach them. Photos answer that faster than words.

• Logo and cover photo. Add both, though Google may not always show your cover photo first.
• Your entrance. An outside photo helps families find the right door on their first visit.
• Real classes. Show students learning, teachers helping, and the lobby where parents wait.
• Real, not polished. Google wants photos in focus and well lit, without heavy filters or big edits.

Get a parent’s written permission before posting any photo of a child. Then add fresh photos each season, like a recital or a belt test.

Posts show up on your profile and tell families you’re open and active. Google offers three types:

• Updates for news, like a new class or a teacher spotlight, with an optional button to your booking page.
• Offers for your intro offer, with dates and an optional coupon code.
• Events for open houses, recitals, belt tests, and camp days, with start and end times.

Posts older than 6 months are archived unless you set a date range. You can also schedule a post ahead of time or set it to repeat.

Check for changes you didn’t make

Google may update your profile when sources like user reports say something is wrong. Edits Google made show in blue in the editor. If Google asks you to review a suggested edit, you have 4 days to accept or reject it.

Set a monthly reminder to check your hours, look for blue edits, and add a post.

Reviews help families decide, and Google recommends replying to them. Build both into your routine:

• Ask every student or family. On your profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy your link. The QR code can only be made from a computer.
• Never trade anything for a review. Google strictly prohibits offering incentives, like a free class or a discount, in exchange for reviews.
• Don’t pick and choose who you ask. Ask everyone, not just the families you expect to rave. Google notes that a mix of feedback often feels more trustworthy.
• Reply to every review. Keep replies short, personal, and free of sales pitches. For a tough review, stay calm, own any mistake, and offer to talk by phone.

Our review requests and referral invitations go to every customer, in your voice, so asking never depends on remembering.

Some features you may remember work differently now:

• The old chat button is gone. Google ended Business Profile chat, and call history with it, on July 31, 2024. In some regions, verified profiles can now add a text message or WhatsApp option instead.
• Questions and answers are fading out. Google’s help page now says Q&A is available only for select categories and regions, and that it may change. Don’t count on it.

Put the answers families need where you control them: your services, description, posts, and website.

A strong profile gets you found. The rest of the plan is in how to get more students for your studio.