How to Create a Google Business Profile for an Author or Book Publishing Business

If you are an author, independent publisher, book printer, or publishing business, a Google Business Profile can help people find your business when they search Google Search or Google Maps. But there is an important step many people skip: check whether your author or publishing business is actually eligible before creating the profile.

Google Business Profile is designed for businesses that have in-person contact with customers. That means a publishing company with a real office where customers meet the business, a bookshop, a book-printing business that receives customers, or a publishing service that visits customers may qualify. An author who only sells books through Amazon, a website, or social media and never meets customers in person does not qualify simply because the author has a website or sells books online.

One thing I have learned over the years is that being visible on Google is not the same as putting every Google feature on a business. The profile has to represent a real business accurately. If you are eligible, setting it up properly can give people another way to discover your publishing business, see what you do, visit your website, read reviews and contact you.

What Is a Google Business Profile?

A Google Business Profile is the business listing that can appear when people search for a business on Google Search or Google Maps.

It can display information such as:

• business name
• category
• location
• opening hours
• telephone number
• website
• photos
• services
• customer reviews
• service area, where applicable

Google describes the Business Profile as a way for eligible businesses to manage how their business appears on Search and Maps.

For a book publishing business, this can be useful because someone searching for a local publishing service may encounter your business profile before they ever reach your website.

But there is a difference between using Google Business Profile for a real publishing business and trying to create a profile simply because you are an author.

That distinction should come first.

Does an Author Qualify for Google Business Profile?

Not automatically.

This is the first thing I would check before doing anything else.

Google currently requires an eligible business to make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours. Google specifically lists brands, organizations, artists and other online-only businesses among examples that are not eligible.

So consider these two situations.

Situation 1: You are an online-only author

You write books and sell them through:

• Amazon
• your author website
• Selar
• social media
• ebook platforms

You do not receive readers or customers at a business location and do not provide in-person services.

A Google Business Profile is not the appropriate Google product for that business model.

Your better strategy is to build your author website, make your books discoverable in Google Search, maintain consistent author information online and use legitimate book-retailing platforms.

I have written separately about why an author website matters because your website gives you a central place to showcase your books, biography, articles and reader resources rather than depending entirely on another platform. Why Every Author Needs a Professional Website

Situation 2: You run an actual publishing business

Now the situation is different.

Suppose you operate a publishing company that:

• meets authors in person;
• receives publishing clients at an eligible business location;
• provides book printing;
• offers publishing consultations;
• serves customers at a physical location;
• or legitimately travels to customers to provide services.

That business may be eligible, depending on how it operates and whether it satisfies Google’s requirements.

Google allows eligible businesses with physical locations and qualifying service-area businesses to have a Business Profile.

This is the model I would focus on for a publishing website.

Why Would a Publishing Business Need a Google Business Profile?

The purpose is not simply to have another link on the internet.

The useful part is local discovery.

Imagine someone searches:

book publishing company near me

or:

book printing services in Lagos

or:

book publisher in Lagos

or:

book printing company near me

An eligible publishing business may appear in Google’s local results alongside other businesses.

The profile can then give the searcher basic information about the business and a route to the website, phone number, location or other available actions.

For a publishing business, this can be particularly useful because book-related services are often local at some stage.

An author may need to:

• discuss a manuscript;
• meet a publisher;
• inspect a printed proof;
• collect books;
• discuss book production;
• order printed copies;
• arrange a book launch;
• discuss a publishing project.

Those are different from simply selling an ebook online.

Step 1: Decide What Business You Are Actually Listing

This is where I would start.

Do not begin by thinking:

“What keywords do I want to rank for?”

Start with:

“What real business am I representing?”

For example, your business might genuinely be:

Creativity Publications

and its services may include book writing, publishing, printing and web design.

Your Google Business Profile should represent the real business rather than being created as a keyword page for phrases such as:

Best Book Publisher in Lagos – Cheap Book Printing – Self Publishing Company

That is not how I would approach it.

Google’s guidelines require the business name to reflect the real-world business name. Adding unnecessary keywords to the business name is not permitted and can create problems with the profile.

This is one of those areas where trying to make a profile look “SEO optimized” can actually make it less trustworthy.

Use the real business name.

Step 2: Check Your Physical Location

If your publishing business has a location where customers actually meet you, use the genuine business location.

Google says businesses showing an address should use a precise, accurate address and maintain permanent signage showing the business name at that location. Virtual offices that the business does not actually operate from are not eligible simply because they provide a convenient address.

This is particularly important for authors and small publishers.

Do not rent a virtual office simply because you think a Lagos address will make your publishing business rank better in Lagos.

The address should represent where the business genuinely operates.

Step 3: Decide Whether You Are a Storefront or Service-Area Business

This is another decision that should be made before filling out the profile.

There are two relevant models.

Storefront business

Customers actually come to your business location.

For example:

An author visits your publishing office to discuss a new book.

A client comes to your office to discuss book printing.

A customer comes to collect printed books.

If your business genuinely operates this way, you may be able to display the eligible physical location.

Service-area business

You provide the service at the customer’s location rather than receiving customers at your own business address.

Google allows qualifying service-area businesses to specify the areas they serve.

For example, if your publishing service genuinely travels to customers for consultations or other qualifying in-person services, you may need to configure the profile as a service-area business.

Do not choose a service area simply because you want to appear in every nearby city.

The service area should reflect where you actually serve customers.

Step 4: Choose the Main Business Category Carefully

Your category tells Google what your business primarily does.

This is an area where I would avoid trying to turn the category field into a keyword list.

Google specifically advises businesses to choose the fewest categories needed to describe their core business and not to use categories merely as keywords.

For a publishing business, the appropriate category depends on the actual business.

A company primarily involved in publishing should select the most accurate available publishing-related category.

A business primarily providing book printing may need a different category.

The important thing is to describe the actual core business, not every service you have ever offered.

For example, if your main business is publishing but you also design websites, that does not necessarily mean your primary category should be web design.

Your category should reflect the business people are actually dealing with.

Step 5: Write the Business Description for a Publishing Customer

The business description is one of the places where I would bring your publishing experience into the profile.

Do not write a generic paragraph filled with phrases such as:

“We are the leading world-class innovative solution provider…”

That type of wording says very little.

A publishing customer wants to know:

• What do you do?
• Who do you help?
• What type of books do you handle?
• Do you publish print books?
• Do you help with ebooks?
• Do you print books?
• Where do you operate?
• What makes the business relevant to the customer?

Google says the description should provide useful information about the services and products offered and the business’s mission and history. It also says the description should be relevant and useful rather than promotional or stuffed with distracting content.

For example, a publishing business could describe itself around its actual work with authors:

Creativity Publications helps authors turn manuscripts and book ideas into professionally prepared publications. Our services include book writing, publishing preparation, book printing and author website development. We work with authors, pastors, ministries, businesses and organizations preparing books for print and digital distribution.

That tells a potential customer what the company actually does.

It does not need ten repetitions of “book publishing company in Lagos.”

Step 6: Keep Your Business Name Consistent

This is one lesson I learned from working on websites and online business profiles: consistency makes the business easier to understand.

Your business name should not be:

Creativity Publications

on the website,

Creativity Publications Nigeria Best Book Publisher

on Google,

and

Creativity Publications & Printing Services

on social media.

If those are different names for the same business, you create unnecessary confusion.

Google’s guidelines state that a business name should reflect the real-world name as consistently represented on the business’s storefront, website, stationery and other branding.

Use the actual business name.

Let the services and description explain what the company does.

Step 7: Add Your Author and Publishing Website

Your website should be the authoritative website for the business.

This is where having a properly built website becomes important.

A Google Business Profile should not replace your publishing website.

It should help people discover it.

For example, someone may find your profile while searching for a publishing service, then click through to your website and discover:

• your publishing services;
• book printing;
• author resources;
• previous projects;
• contact information;
• publishing articles;
• information about your company.

That is much more useful than sending the visitor to a generic homepage that does not explain what the business does.

If your website needs work, I have documented my practical approach to building an author website that gives readers a central place to discover your books.

Step 8: Add the Services You Actually Provide

A publishing company may offer several services.

For example:

Book publishing

Helping authors prepare and publish books in print and digital formats.

Book printing

Producing physical copies of books according to the author’s specifications.

Book writing

Helping a client develop an idea or manuscript into a complete book.

Author website design

Creating a website where an author can present books, biography, articles and contact information.

These should be presented as genuine services.

Your own services page already separates book writing, publishing, printing and web design rather than presenting everything as one vague service. That same clarity is useful when structuring your Google presence.

If someone arrives from Google looking for book printing, they should be able to understand immediately that you actually provide book printing.

Your book printing service can then provide the detailed information that does not belong inside the Business Profile.

Step 9: Add Real Photos

For a publishing business, I would not fill the profile with generic stock photographs of books.

Use photographs that show the actual business where appropriate.

For example:

• printed books;
• book covers;
• your office, if eligible;
• printing or production work;
• books prepared for clients;
• publishing projects;
• branded materials;
• legitimate team photographs;
• book-launch activity.

The objective is not to make the profile look busy.

The objective is to help someone understand that there is a real business behind the listing.

If you print books, photographs of your actual printed books can be much more meaningful to a prospective author than a stock image of someone reading beside a coffee cup.

Step 10: Ask Genuine Publishing Clients for Reviews

Reviews can be valuable because a prospective author may want to know whether other people have actually worked with the business.

But I would approach this carefully.

Do not create fake reviews.

Do not ask friends to pretend they were publishing customers.

Do not create several accounts and review yourself.

Instead, after completing a genuine publishing, printing or web project, ask the actual client whether they would be willing to leave an honest review.

The strongest review for a publishing company is not necessarily:

“Excellent service!”

A more useful genuine review might explain what the person actually hired you to do.

For example:

“Creativity Publications helped me prepare and print my first book. They guided me through the production process and delivered the printed copies.”

That gives another author something concrete to understand.

Step 11: Connect the Profile to the Right Publishing Pages

This is where your website and Google profile should work together.

If the profile introduces someone to your publishing company, the website should continue the conversation.

For example:

Google search → Business Profile → Publishing service → Contact

or:

Google search → Business Profile → Book printing → Request quotation

This is more useful than sending every visitor to the same generic page.

Your existing book publishing services page can provide the broader explanation of what you do, while specific service pages can handle individual customer questions.

Step 12: Use Your Website to Support Your Local Presence

This is where my website-building experience influences how I would approach local visibility.

I would not create dozens of nearly identical pages such as:

• Book Publishing Lagos
• Book Publishing Ikeja
• Book Publishing Surulere
• Book Publishing Lekki
• Book Publishing Yaba
• Book Publishing Victoria Island

simply because I want to capture different searches.

If the business does not genuinely operate separate locations, those pages can become repetitive.

Instead, I would build useful service pages around real customer needs.

For example:

Book Publishing Services

Book Printing Services

Author Website Design

Self-Publishing Guidance

Then explain what you actually provide and where you genuinely serve customers.

That creates a clearer website structure and avoids turning the site into a collection of pages written mainly for search engines.

Step 13: Link Your Google Presence to Your Author Brand Carefully

There is a difference between your personal author identity and your publishing business.

Suppose you are:

Olayinka Joseph — Author

and you operate:

Creativity Publications — Publishing Business

Those are related, but they are not necessarily the same entity.

I would not create a Business Profile for “Olayinka Joseph Author” simply because you want your author name to appear prominently in Google Maps.

If you are an online-only author, Google says that type of business is not eligible for a Business Profile.

Instead, build the author’s online identity through:

• your author website;
• book pages;
• author biography;
• Google Search;
• legitimate retailer profiles;
• articles;
• interviews;
• social profiles;
• publishing platforms.

Your publishing company can have its own eligible business presence if it genuinely qualifies.

Step 14: Keep the Google Profile and Website Consistent

Once your profile is live, periodically compare it with your website.

Check:

Business name

Is it the same?

Phone

Is it current?

Website

Does it still point to the correct business website?

Address

Is it accurate?

Hours

Are they still correct?

Services

Are they still offered?

Photos

Are they still representative?

Google recommends keeping business information accurate and representing the business consistently across the real world and online.

This sounds simple, but small businesses often set up a profile once and forget about it.

That is not how I would manage it.

Your business changes.

Your profile should change when the real business changes.

What If You Do Not Have a Physical Publishing Office?

This is where authors and small publishers need to be particularly careful.

If you work from home and do not receive customers there, do not simply publish your home address because you think a visible location will help rankings.

Google provides a service-area model for eligible businesses that travel to customers, and service-area businesses that do not serve customers at their address should remove the address and use their genuine service area instead.

But the business must actually qualify as a service-area business.

Simply saying:

“I serve Lagos”

does not make an online-only author eligible.

There still needs to be qualifying in-person customer contact.

Can an Online Book Publisher Have a Google Business Profile?

Not merely because it sells books online.

This is one of the most important distinctions in this article.

If your publishing business operates entirely online and does not make in-person contact with customers, Google says it is not eligible for a Business Profile.

So if your business model is:

Website → online payment → ebook delivery

and there is no eligible physical or in-person service component, do not try to manufacture a local listing.

Build your organic search presence instead.

That means investing in:

• a useful author website;
• book pages;
• publishing resources;
• genuine expertise;
• structured content;
• internal linking;
• Search Console;
• legitimate backlinks;
• author information;
• book retailer profiles.

Your first-time author publishing checklist is an example of the kind of useful resource that can support an author-focused website without pretending that the author is a local storefront.n.

Common Google Business Profile Mistakes I Would Avoid

Adding keywords to the business name

Do not turn your company name into a list of search terms.

Use the actual business name.

Creating a profile for an online-only author

If you do not qualify, do not create one simply for SEO.

Using a virtual office as your location

A rented address that you do not genuinely operate from is not a substitute for a real business location.

Creating multiple profiles for one business location

Google’s guidelines generally allow one profile per business location.

Creating fake reviews

Reviews should come from real customers who actually interacted with the business.

Uploading only stock photographs

Show the real business where appropriate.

Making the description a keyword paragraph

Explain the business.

Do not write for a search engine at the expense of the person reading the profile.

Listing services you do not provide

Your Google profile should accurately represent the business.

My Practical Approach to Google Visibility for a Publishing Business

After years of working with websites, I have become less interested in adding every possible SEO feature and more interested in making the pieces agree with each other.

For a publishing business, I would rather have:

One accurate Google Business Profile

plus

one strong publishing website

plus

useful service pages

plus

real publishing projects

plus

genuine customer reviews

than create several weak profiles and dozens of thin location pages.

The same principle applies to the website.

If I say that a publishing company provides book printing, the website should explain the printing service.

If I say that it helps authors publish books, the publishing page should explain the process.

If I say that the company has worked on book projects, there should be evidence of real work where permission exists to show it.

That is where experience becomes more useful than simply adding keywords.

As an author, you may want your name to appear everywhere people search for books.

That is understandable.

But a Google Business Profile is not simply another place to put your author name.

It is a representation of a real local or service-area business.

If you run an eligible publishing company, book-printing business or other qualifying in-person service, set the profile up around the business you actually operate.

If you are an online-only author, focus on building your author website and organic search presence instead.

That distinction matters.

From my experience building websites and working around publishing, I have found that the strongest online presence is usually not created by trying to make one platform do everything.

Your Google profile can help people discover the business.

Your website can explain the business.

Your publishing pages can explain the services.

Your books demonstrate what you do.

And your real customer experiences provide the evidence.

That is a much stronger foundation than simply trying to rank for the phrase “book publisher near me.”

By Olayinka Joseph

Writer, publisher and web designer

Founder, Creativity Publications