Most wedding photographers should set up their Google Business Profile as a service-area business: address hidden, the real business name with nothing added, and a service area no wider than about two hours' drive from where they are based. None of that is a tip. It is Google's own Business Profile guidelines, and the last rule matters most, because it means the map listing cannot reach couples in cities you do not live near. Plan the profile for your home market and reach everyone else through your website.
The reason is in how Google says local results are ranked, and it is worth reading before spending an afternoon on the profile.
Can a wedding photographer have a Google Business Profile?
Yes. Google's Business Profile guidelines open with the eligibility test: "If your business either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are, you can create a Business Profile on Google." A wedding photographer travels to the customer by definition, which makes most of this industry what Google calls a service-area business.
Should a wedding photographer show their address?
Not unless couples actually come to it. The guidelines are direct: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." The example Google gives could have been written for photographers: "if you're a plumber and run your business from your residential address, clear the address from your Business Profile." Swap the trade and it describes a home office where no couple ever visits.
A real studio is different. An address is appropriate where the location is staffed and receives customers during the hours you post. If couples come to you for consultations at set times, you can show it. If they do not, hide it.
Three shortcuts are ruled out explicitly. A virtual office: "If your business rents a physical mailing address but doesn't operate out of that location, also known as a virtual office, that location isn't eligible for a Business Profile." A mailbox: "P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren't acceptable." And a coworking desk, unless the office "maintains clear signage, receives customers at the location during business hours, and is staffed during business hours by your business staff." Renting an address in a bigger city in order to appear there is exactly what the virtual office rule excludes.
How far can your service area reach?
This is the rule that decides the most. Google's guidelines say: "The boundaries of your profile's overall service area shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based."
Two hours is a real limit for this industry. A photographer based in Chicago can list Milwaukee, roughly ninety minutes away, but not Detroit, which is closer to four and a half hours. A profile that claims a whole state, a region several hours across or "available worldwide" is drawing a service area the guidelines do not allow.
Why the map is a home-market channel
Google's local ranking help page names the factors: "Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity." It defines the second plainly: "Distance refers to how far each business is from the customer who's searching." And it closes a door: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."
Put the two pages together and the conclusion follows. A couple more than two hours away is outside the area your profile is allowed to claim. A couple nearer another photographer than to you starts behind on one of the three factors Google names. No profile setting changes either, and no amount of money does.
What can your business name include?
Your name, and nothing else. The guidelines: "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 is stated, not implied: "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile." Google's examples of unnecessary information include taglines, service information and location details.
"Jane Doe Photography" is a name. "Jane Doe Photography | Denver Wedding and Elopement Photographer" is a name with a service and a location attached, which is the pattern the guideline lists. What you shoot and where belongs in your categories and service area, not in the name.
The test Google gives is consistency, not the absence of keywords. A name that genuinely appears on your website, contracts and invoices is your name, even if it contains the word wedding. A name that exists only on the profile is not.
Where reviews come in
The third factor is the one you have most control over. Google says that "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking", which makes the rules on how you ask for them worth knowing before you send the next request. Several common habits are against Google's policy even where they are legal, covered in what the FTC allows and Google still bans on reviews.
The profile, set up to the rules
- Set up as a service-area business, with the address hidden unless couples actually visit a staffed studio during posted hours.
- Use the business name exactly as it appears on your website, contracts and invoices, with no city or service added.
- Draw the service area within about two hours' drive of where you are based.
- No virtual office, no remote mailbox, and no coworking desk without signage, staff and visitors.
- Send one review request to every couple, with no reward and no suggested wording.
- Reach destination and second-market couples through pages on your website, not through the profile.
Two other decisions hang on where you are based. In some states it decides which sales tax rules apply to what you deliver, covered in wedding photography sales tax by state. And the photos you post to the profile are public marketing, so if they show guests, the questions in model releases for wedding guests apply there too.
Common questions
- Should a wedding photographer show their address on Google?
- Usually not. Google's Business Profile guidelines say a service-area business should hide its address, and give the example of a plumber who runs the business from a residential address. A wedding photographer who works from home and meets couples elsewhere is in the same position. A studio that is staffed and receives clients during its posted hours is the exception.
- How far can a Google Business Profile service area reach?
- About two hours of driving. Google's guidelines say the boundaries of a profile's overall service area "shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based." A photographer based in Chicago can list Milwaukee but not Detroit.
- Can I use a virtual office to show up in another city on Google Maps?
- No. Google's guidelines say a rented mailing address the business does not operate from, which it calls a virtual office, is not eligible for a Business Profile, and that P.O. boxes or mailboxes at remote locations are not acceptable. A coworking office qualifies only with clear signage, staff during business hours and customers received there.
- Can I put "wedding photographer" and my city in my Google business name?
- Only if that is genuinely your business's name. Google's guidelines say the name should reflect the real-world name used consistently on your storefront, website and stationery, and that including unnecessary information such as services or locations is not permitted and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.
- Why does my Google Business Profile not show up in nearby cities?
- Because distance is one of the three factors Google names. Its local ranking help page says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and defines distance as how far each business is from the customer who is searching. Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
