How to make a bulk upload spreadsheet for Business Profiles

Important: A business code is required for each business included in your spreadsheet.

Business codes are unique IDs for each of your businesses that ensure changes to your account are correct. These codes aren’t publicly available on Google, but are available to your location’s profile users.

Business codes must:

• Be unique to a specific business
• Be no longer than 64 characters
• Not contain any leading or trailing spaces
• Not contain special characters (like "<" or ">") or contain a URL

Create memorable codes

To avoid confusion between spreadsheets, you can include your brand name in your business codes. You can generate business codes with a brand identifier and a number.

Examples:

• G1, G2, G3
• Goog101, Goog102, Goog103
• GClaremont, GMainStreet, GDowntown

Tips:

• Before you can import a new spreadsheet, make sure all business locations have a unique code. Learn more about missing and duplicate business codes.
• If one of your businesses moves to a new location, replace the old code with a new one.

Important: A business name is required for each location.

Your business name is what appears on Google, and it should represent your business exactly as it's represented offline.

Your business name can:

• Be no longer than 100 characters
• Include an acronym of up to 4 letters
• Be in title case
  • Words shouldn’t be in all caps.

If your business is located inside a mall or another store, don’t include this information in the title. Only include your business name.

To enter your business addresses, follow the address format for bulk upload.

Important: Latitude and longitude aren’t required, but you can include them when you create a new business. If we can’t validate the listed address, we require latitude and longitude.

To help us place your new business on the map, you can provide its latitude and longitude. Latitude and longitude are only used when a business is first created in your profile and meets other criteria. They aren’t considered if they’re included in subsequent spreadsheet uploads for existing businesses.

Provide coordinates for a new business

Your business’s latitude and longitude should be based on the center of your location.

Your coordinates should include:

• A latitude between -90 and 90
• A longitude between -180 and 180
• Latitude and longitude values that include at least 6 digits after the decimal point
  • For example, a latitude value of 37.421998 and longitude value of -122.084059 would accurately place the Googleplex.

To provide latitude and longitude for new businesses:

1. Add latitude and longitude columns to your spreadsheet wherever you choose.
2. Name your column headers based on your language.
   • English: Use “Latitude” and “Longitude” as column headers.
   • Languages other than English: Download the template spreadsheet for your language and use those column headers.
     • Tip: You can use “Latitude” and “Longitude” in English as your column headers for any dashboard language.
3. Add the latitude and longitude in the row for each location.

Tip: In Japan, the only accepted latitude and longitude format is WGS84.

Important: A primary phone number or website is required for each business.

Your primary phone number is the best number for customers to reach your business. You can choose a number for a mobile device or landline.

Your primary phone number should connect to your business as directly as possible. For example, an individual business phone number is more direct than a call center. Phone numbers must be valid in the country or region where your business is located.

Tips:

• If you enter a website for a business, the “Primary phone” field isn't required.
• If you have a vanity number, enter it numerically.

Important: Additional phone numbers are optional.

You can add up to 2 mobile or landline phone numbers for your business in addition to your primary phone number.

Important: A website or primary phone number is required for each business.

You can provide customers with the website associated with your business.

To share your website:

• Enter the complete URL, including the "http://" or "https://". Up to 256 characters are displayed.
• Make sure Googlebot isn't blocked on your site.
• To check for possible penalties to your site, go to Search Console.

Important: A primary category is required for each business.

You can choose the category that best represents your business. The category you choose should be consistent across all your businesses. If you have multiple types of businesses or operations, like retail, distribution centers, and offices, this rule applies within these sub-groups. For more info on categories, check our guidelines.

To select a category:

• Pick a category that describes what your business is, not what it has.
• Describe your business as a whole, not the list of its services, products, or amenities.
  • For example, if your business is a hotel that has an ATM, don’t include the category "ATM".
• If more than one category describes your business, you can add additional categories.

To add a primary category:

1. In your Business Profile Manager, go to the Add your business page.
2. In the menu that drops down, select your country or region.
3. In the “Category” section, start to enter the category that best describes your business. Auto-complete suggests supported categories.
4. Copy your chosen category.
5. In the “Primary category” column of your spreadsheet, paste the category name.
   • The Google Maps icon displayed for your business is determined by the category you set.

Tip: If your desired category doesn’t show as an option, select the next best option. You can request to add a business category you think is missing. Select Menu Support Send feedback.

Important: Additional categories are optional. You can add them to help describe your business.

You can add up to 9 additional categories that represent your business. When you add additional categories, pick categories that describe what your business is, not what it has.

To add an additional category:

1. In your Business Profile Manager, select Add a business.
2. Start to enter the country or region where your businesses are located, and select a supported country or region.
3. In the “Category” section, start to enter the category that best describes your business. Auto-complete suggests supported categories.
4. Copy your chosen category.
5. In the “Additional categories” column of your spreadsheet, paste the supported category name. Separate each category with a comma.

Important: Business hours aren’t required, but they’re strongly encouraged to let customers know when they can visit your business.

You can add your business’s hours of operation.

To enter your business hours:

• In each day’s column, add the hours for that day.
• Choose the format for your hours:
  • 24-hour format: HH:MM-HH:MM
  • AM/PM format: HH:MMAM-HH:MMPM

Examples of business hours:

Standard hours

• 09:00AM-05:00PM
• 09:00-17:00

Closes at midnight

• 09:00AM-12:00AM
• 09:00-00:00

Open 24 hours

• 12:00AM-12:00AM
• 00:00-00:00 (or 00:00-24:00)

Closed all day

• X
• Leave the spreadsheet cell empty

Open past midnight. Include these hours in the column for the day when the set begins.

• 06:00PM-02:00AM
• 18:00-02:00

Open for two sets of hours in one day.

• 11:30AM-02:00PM, 05:00PM-10:00PM
• 11:30-14:00, 17:00-22:00

Tips:

• When your hours of operation change for a brief period of time, you can add special hours.
• 00:00 and 24:00 are the same time. They’re both acceptable end times for an hours range.

Important: A description of your business is optional.

You can enter a brief description of your business. You can include details like what you offer, what sets you apart, your history, or other helpful info.

Your business description should:

• Include details about your business
• Avoid details about promotions, prices, or sales
• Not include URLs or HTML code
• Not exceed 750 characters in the description field

To learn more about how to represent your business online, read our business description guidelines.

Important: An opening date is optional.

You can enter the date your business opened or will open at its current location. If your business has multiple locations, each location can have its own opening date.

You can enter a date of up to one year in the future, but it won't show on Google until 90 days before the date. Only the year and month of your opening date are required.

Use one of these formats:

• YYYY-MM-DD
• YYYY-MM

Important: Photos are optional. Your profile may show photos of your business on Maps and Search, even if you don’t add them yourself.

You can add photos that show your business. Your business photos on Google come from you and other sources. Learn how Google sources info in Business Profile. All photos you add should meet our guidelines.

To add photos to a verified location:

1. Choose a photo for the "Logo," "Cover," or "Other Photos" category.
2. In that category’s column of your spreadsheet, add your photo’s URL.
3. If you add multiple photos in the "Other Photos" column, use commas to separate the URLs.
   • If a location’s status is “Not published,” photo URLs for that location are ignored. Learn more about photo types.

Tip: If you previously added photos to an unverified account, the photo URLs won’t appear in your spreadsheet if you download it from your Business Profile. To add those photos, request bulk verification Then, follow the instructions above.

You have the option to use labels to organize your businesses into groups. On your dashboard, you can search for businesses by label. You can use labels to filter location assets in Google Ads. Learn about location assets.

When you search for a label in the search box, the results include:

• All businesses that contain that label
• Businesses that contain your search text in a different field
  • For example: If business one has the label "West coast," and business two has the label "East Coast" and the address line "123 West Ave.," the search term “west” shows both locations as results.

To use labels:

• Assign up to 10 unique labels to each location.
• Labels can be up to 50 characters long and shouldn’t include invalid characters, like < or >.
  • Tip: To include commas in the label name, use the string "%2c" in your spreadsheet. For example, “1%2c000+ Daily Visitors” would create the label “1,000+ Daily Visitors.”

Important: A Google Ads phone number is optional. Google Ads doesn't allow numbers for which a user must pay additional charges, like 1-900 numbers in the US or 871 numbers in the UK.

You can add the phone number used in your location asset ads through Google Ads. Your location asset ads can show different phone numbers from those you show in Google Maps, like a toll-free phone or call-center number.

If you don’t enter a Google Ads phone number, Google Ads uses your primary phone number. Your primary number shows in local search results. One number can be used for multiple businesses.

The number you add must comply with requirements. Learn more about call ad requirements.

Important:

• Attributes are optional but strongly encouraged. They let customers know what amenities your business offers. You can't update hotel attributes through the spreadsheet upload.
• To update hotel attributes, use the API and dashboard. Learn more about Business Profile API.

Your business's attributes include its amenities, like Wi-Fi or outdoor seating. You can edit certain factual attributes, but subjective attributes, like your business’s popularity with locals, rely on the opinions of Google users who visited your business.

To add business attributes:

• On your downloaded spreadsheet, there's one column for each attribute that’s applicable to at least one of your locations.
• Some attributes don’t apply to your business based on its category or country/region. If an attribute has a column but doesn’t apply to a location, you find “[NOT APPLICABLE]” in the cell. You don’t need to remove this value before you re-upload your spreadsheet.

If you don’t find attribute columns in your spreadsheet, download your profile from your account. Your new spreadsheet includes attribute columns.

Types of attributes

Your business attributes come in three types: yes/no, URL, or selection.

• Yes/no attributes:
  • Some attributes require either “Yes” or “No” in your spreadsheet.
  • To edit a yes/no attribute for a location, in the attribute column, enter either “Yes” or “No.”
  • If you enter “No” for some location attributes, the data helps Google show the most accurate info about your business.
• URL attributes:
  • URL attributes require a URL in your spreadsheet. For example, your business’s online menu web address is a URL attribute. Learn how to show your business menu on Google.
  • To edit a URL for a location, enter the URL in the attribute column.
• Selection attributes:
  • Some attributes, such as "Outdoor seating," require the selection of one of several predefined choices. For example, "Kosher food" is a selection attribute with choices "No Kosher food," "Some kosher food," or "Strictly kosher food."
  • To find all possible choices for each selection attribute, download the attributes reference spreadsheet.

Find the list of all possible attributes and their types

1. Sign in to Business Profile Manager.
2. In the menu on the left, select Manage locations.
3. Select Add profile Import profile Download attributes reference spreadsheet.

Before you import your spreadsheet into your Business Profile, remove the columns for obsolete fields.

Fields no longer supported in the bulk upload tool include:

• Ad Icon URL.
• Ad Landing Page URL.
• Alt Phone. Alt phone is now "Additional phones."
• Categories. This field has been replaced by "Primary category" and “Additional categories.”
• City. City is now "Locality."
• Description. Use "From the business" to describe your business to customers.
• District. District is now "Sub-locality."
• Email.
• Fax.
• Hours. Each day of the week now has its own column for opening hours.
• Main phone. Main phone is now "Primary phone."
• Mobile phone. If a mobile phone number is the best number for your business, add it as the "Primary phone." Otherwise, add it to the new "Additional phones" field. Any numbers previously specified as mobile have been automatically re-listed in the "Additional phones" field.
• Payment Types. Payment types is now "Payments."
• Preferred photo.
• Profile photo.
• State. State is now "Administrative area."

To add your social media links, follow the format for social media links.