Is a Google Business Profile Free?

Yes. Creating, verifying and keeping a Google Business Profile costs nothing, in Australia and everywhere else Google offers it. Google also says you can't pay for a better spot in local results. The only things that cost money are Google Ads, which are optional and separate, and any help you choose to hire.

It comes up in almost every workshop I run, usually right after someone mentions the phone call they had last week from a very confident person saying their listing was about to be suspended. So here's the whole picture: what's free, what isn't, and how to tell the difference when someone rings.

What does a free Google Business Profile include?

More than most people use. At no cost, Google gives you:

• Your listing in Google Search and on Google Maps, with your hours, phone number, website and address or service area.
• Photos and a description of what makes the business yours.
• Reviews, and the ability to reply to every one of them.
• Posts for offers, events and news.
• Your services or products, with prices if you'd like them shown.
• Booking and quote-request buttons for the businesses that suit them.
• Insights: the searches people used to find you, plus calls, direction requests and website clicks.

For a lot of small businesses, this panel gets seen more often than the website. It's the first impression whether you've tended it or not.

What does Google charge for?

Advertising. Google Ads can put a sponsored result above or alongside the free listings in Search and Maps, and you pay when someone clicks or calls. It's a separate account, it's entirely optional, and switching it off doesn't touch your free profile.

That's the line to keep clear in your head. The profile is free and ads are paid, and nothing in between is something Google sells you.

Can you pay Google to rank higher on Maps?

No. Google's own help page puts it plainly: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Where you show up depends on how relevant your profile is to the search, how close you are to the person searching, and how well known your business is, which includes your reviews.

Anyone offering a guaranteed first-page spot on Maps for a fee is selling something Google doesn't sell.

Who is calling to say your listing will be suspended?

It isn't Google. A wave of calls, many of them robocalls, tells business owners their listing needs verifying, has been flagged, or will disappear unless they press one. Then a "Google partner" offers to sort it out, for a fee.

Google has said it isn't behind these calls, and it has taken at least one company to court for charging business owners for profiles that are free. When one comes through:

• Hang up. You don't owe a recorded voice a conversation.
• Go to business.google.com yourself and log in. Any real issue with your listing shows up there.
• Never hand over your login, a verification code or a card number to someone who rang you.
• Report it to Scamwatch, so the next business owner gets a warning.

Is it worth paying someone to manage it?

It depends on what you're paying for. The set-up thinking is worth getting right once: the primary category, how your services are described, the photos that represent you. You can do that yourself in a focused morning, or have someone do it with you.

The ongoing part is lighter than people expect. Fresh photos now and then, a steady trickle of reviews, a reply to each one, and the odd post. That's an hour a month, and it's yours to own. If you'd like to know which parts carry the most weight, I've ranked them here.