How to create and optimize a Google Business Profile in Morocco

Why is a Google Business Profile useful?

The Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is what makes your business appear in Google Maps and in Google’s local results, with your opening hours, phone number, reviews and a link to your website. In Morocco, where DataReportal counts 35.5 million internet users at the end of 2025, or 92.2% of the population, it is often the first contact between a customer and a local business.

It is also one more source of information about your business. A complete profile, identical to your website and other profiles, helps search engines and AI assistants identify you without ambiguity.

How do you create a profile, step by step?

1. Open business.google.com with the Google account that will manage the profile, and check that a profile does not already exist for your business.
2. Enter the business’s real name. According to Google’s guidelines, it must reflect your business’s real-world name as your customers know it, without a slogan, city, service or phone number.
3. Choose the most precise primary category (“Dental clinic” rather than “Doctor”). You can add secondary categories later.
4. Enter an address or a service area. If you receive customers, enter the address. If you travel to them or work remotely, Google asks you to hide the address and state a service area, generally limited to two hours of travel.
5. Add your phone number and website, exactly as they appear on your website.
6. Verify the profile. Google offers one or more methods depending on the case (video, phone, mail). Until the profile is verified, it does not appear publicly.

How does Google rank local profiles?

According to Google, local ranking relies on three factors:

• Relevance: does the profile match the search? A detailed profile helps Google show it for the right queries.
• Distance: how far the business is from the person searching.
• Prominence: how well known the business is. Links to your website and the number of reviews count.

Google also states that more reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’s local ranking.

How do you optimize the profile once verified?

• Fill in every section: description, services, service area, attributes. Google states that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear.
• Keep your hours up to date, including special hours for Eid, Ramadan and public holidays.
• Add real photos: storefront, team, premises, work.
• Ask satisfied customers for reviews, simply, after each job.
• Reply to every review, positive or negative, in the customer’s language.
• Publish updates (offers, events, news) to show the profile is active.

Which mistakes should you avoid?

• Adding keywords to the name (“Clinic X Best Dentist Casablanca”): this breaks Google’s guidelines and risks a suspension.
• Creating a profile for a virtual office where nobody works: Google forbids it.
• Creating duplicates for the same business.
• Leaving different information between the profile, your website, LinkedIn and directories: a phone number or address that varies blurs your identity for Google and for AI assistants alike.
• Believing that paying improves ranking: Google states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.