Setting up your Google Business Profile

StellaQuin works with Google reviews, and Google reviews live on a Google Business Profile: the listing that appears when someone searches for your business or finds it on Google Maps, with your hours, photos, rating and reviews. If your business already has one that you manage, skip to Getting started. If not, this page takes you from nothing to a verified profile that StellaQuin can connect to. Everything here happens on Google's own pages; Google doesn't charge for any of it.

What you need

A Google account: the sign-in you'll use to manage the profile. A free Gmail account works. If your business uses Google Workspace, a work account such as [email protected] is better, because it stays with the business if a person leaves.
Your business's name, address, phone number and category, exactly as you want customers to see them.
A way to receive Google's verification: usually a video of your premises, sometimes a phone call, a text, an email, or a postcard to the address.

Step 1: Create a Google account (if you don't have one)

Go to accounts.google.com and choose Create account, then For work or my business.
Enter your first and last name, then choose a sign-in: a new Gmail address, or Use your existing email to sign in with an address you already have.
Choose a strong password. Google asks for a phone number for recovery; give one you control, because it's how you get back in if you ever forget the password.
Finish the steps Google shows. You now have a Google account.

Tip: use an address the business controls, not a personal one, and keep its recovery phone and email up to date. Whoever holds this account holds the business's profile.

Step 2: Create or claim the Business Profile

Signed in with that Google account, go to business.google.com and choose Manage now (or Add your business).
Type your business name. If Google suggests an existing listing with your name and address, choose it: that listing already exists (customers may have been reviewing it for years) and you're claiming it. If nothing matches, choose Create a business with this name.
Choose your business category: the one thing you mainly do ("Bakery", "Dental clinic", "Plumber"). You can add more categories later.
Say whether customers visit your location. If yes, enter the street address. If you serve customers at their place (a plumber, a cleaner), say so and enter the area you serve instead.
Enter your phone number and website if you have one.
Google now asks you to verify the business (next step). You can also fill in hours, photos and a description now or later from the profile's menu.

If your business has several locations, add each one the same way, from the Businesses list at business.google.com (Add business). Each location gets its own profile, its own reviews, and its own verification. When you have ten or more, Google offers to import them from a spreadsheet.

Step 3: Verify the business

Google won't show your profile, let you reply to reviews, or let StellaQuin post replies until it's verified: Google has to be sure the business is real and that you're entitled to manage it. Google chooses the methods it offers each business; the common ones are:

Video: you record a short video on your phone, walking from a street sign or the storefront into the premises and showing something that proves you run it (a sign with the name, equipment, a till, the back office). Google reviews it, usually within a few days.
Phone or text: Google calls or texts the business number with a code you type in.
Email: a code to an address on the business's own domain.
Postcard: a card with a code mailed to the address, which takes up to two weeks. Enter the code at business.google.com when it arrives.
Live video call: a short call with a Google representative.

Until verification finishes, the profile shows Pending in your Google list, and in StellaQuin the location shows an amber light with "Google hasn't verified this location yet, so replies can't be posted." You can still read its reviews.

If Google refuses or asks for more, follow the instructions it gives; the usual reasons are a name that doesn't match the signage, an address that isn't a staffed premises, or a category that doesn't fit.

Step 4: Give the right people access

The Google account that creates the profile is its primary owner. Other people can be added without sharing a password:

At business.google.com, open the business, then its menu (three dots) and choose Business Profile settings, then People and access.
Choose Add, enter the person's Google account email, and pick a role: Owner (can do everything, including adding others) or Manager (can edit the profile and reply to reviews, but not remove owners).
They get an email and accept.

For StellaQuin, the Google account you'll connect must be an owner or manager of every location you want in StellaQuin. One Google account can manage many businesses and locations.

Step 5: Keep the profile healthy

Keep hours, phone and address correct; Google may suspend profiles that look wrong or duplicated.
Follow Google's review policies: never offer anything in return for a review, never ask only happy customers, and never post reviews of your own business.
A suspended profile shows a red or amber light in StellaQuin with Google's reason and what to do; fix it on Google and StellaQuin picks it up at the next check.

How long it all takes

Creating the account and the profile takes about fifteen minutes. Verification takes anywhere from minutes (phone, email) to two weeks (postcard). You can connect StellaQuin before verification finishes and read reviews while you wait; replies become possible the moment Google marks the location verified.

Moving from another tool

If another product manages your reviews today, nothing about it changes when you connect StellaQuin: both read the same Google profile. Replies you post from either appear on Google. When you're ready to stop the other product, disconnect it there; your profile, reviews and replies stay on Google, and StellaQuin keeps working.