How to Verify Your Business on Google (NI Tradesman Guide)

Short answer: to verify your business on Google you claim your Google Business Profile, then prove the business is yours, usually by video, phone, email or a posted postcode. Until it’s verified, your business won’t show properly on Google Maps or in the local results, no matter how good your work is.

If you’re a plumber, gas man or oil boiler engineer in Belfast and your business isn’t showing up on Google, this is almost always the first thing that’s wrong. Here’s the no-jargon version.

Why isn’t my business showing on Google Maps?

The usual reason is that your Google Business Profile is either not claimed or not verified. Google won’t put an unverified business in the map results, because it can’t confirm you’re real and where you say you are.

Other common reasons NI trades don’t show:

• The profile was never created, so there’s nothing to show.
• It’s claimed but the service area isn’t set, so Google thinks you only cover one postcode, or none.
• There are two listings (a duplicate), splitting your reviews and confusing Google.
• The category is wrong, it says “contractor” instead of “plumber” or “heating contractor”.

How do I verify my business on Google?

You claim the profile at google.com/business, then Google asks you to verify ownership, increasingly by recording a short video of your van, tools and work area, or by phone, email or a posted postcard. Video verification is now the most common method for trades, Google’s own guidance walks through what the video must show.

The steps:

1. Search your business name on Google. If a listing exists, click “Claim this business”. If not, create one.
2. Choose the right primary category, for most NI heating firms that’s Plumber or Heating contractor, with secondary categories for gas, drainage and emergency work.
3. Complete the verification Google asks for. For a van-based trade with no shopfront, this is usually a video showing your tools, branded van and the area you work.
4. Set your service areas to the real BT postcodes you cover, Belfast BT1–BT17, plus Lisburn, Bangor, Newtownabbey, wherever you travel.

What do I do when the Google postcode/postcard never comes?

If you requested postcard verification and it never arrived, common for van-based NI trades with no fixed shopfront, switch to video or phone verification instead, or request a new code. Postcards are unreliable for businesses without a customer-facing address, which is most plumbers.

If you’re stuck, Google’s verification can be re-requested, and for service-area businesses video is usually the cleaner route. This is exactly the kind of fiddly, time-eating job we sort out for clients in an afternoon.

After verification, the bit most trades miss

Verifying gets you into the map. It doesn’t get you to the top of it. To actually rank in the Belfast map pack you need recent reviews, complete service areas, the right categories and regular activity on the profile. We cover that in Google Business Profile for plumbers and the wider SEO for plumbers in Belfast.

If you’d rather not wrestle with verification yourself, book a free 10-minute audit, we’ll check your listing live and tell you exactly why you’re not showing.