·Adiamo Studio
How to verify your restaurant on Google
Verify the Business Profile with the method Google offers, use a live video only when that option appears, and wait for the review before you treat the listing as yours.
Answer first
Sign in with a Google account, find the restaurant, and complete the verification method Google offers. You do not pick the method. Phone or text only works if someone can answer the business number — an automated switchboard will not receive the code. If video is offered, Google recommends it: one unedited recording of at least 30 seconds, filmed live on a phone, showing the street, the permanent sign with your name, and something only staff can open, such as the kitchen. Postcard, when it is offered, is a code in the post; Google says most arrive within 14 days. The review can take up to five business days. Until it succeeds, you do not control the listing.
The pin is on the map. The hours are last year’s. You cannot change them, because the profile is not verified, or it is verified on an account nobody at the restaurant can open. Guests are already using that pin.
This guide is how to get control of the one profile, which proof Google asks for, and what to do when the option you wanted is not on the screen. Choosing the category after you are in is in how to choose your restaurant’s Google category. The phone you publish, including the one that must receive a text, is in which phone number belongs on your site.
How verification differs from a website
A website proves you can publish a page. Verification proves Google will let you edit the listing guests see on Search and Maps. Google’s help says you need a verified profile before you can edit the name, the hours, and the rest, and before you can reply to reviews. Adding or claiming that profile is free. The steps start in Verify your business on Google, and the “free” line is in Add or claim your Business Profile.
| What Google is checking | What fails it | |
|---|---|---|
| Phone or text | Someone answers the business number | A recorded menu, or a mobile in a pocket on the line |
| You can open the message Google sends | An inbox nobody monitors | |
| Video | Live proof of the door, the sign, and staff-only access | A clip edited later, or a sign that does not match the profile name |
| Postcard | The address can receive a code | A virtual office, or a letterbox you do not check |
| After you submit | A review, up to five business days | Creating a duplicate profile while you wait |
Not every restaurant is eligible for a profile in the first place. Google’s eligibility rules say a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, with some exceptions. A seasonal business can qualify if it keeps permanent signage up all year. Delivery-only food brands are allowed only with extra conditions, which are on that same page: Business eligibility and ownership guidelines. A kitchen with no door and no sign is not automatically a storefront.
When to verify, and when to request access
Verify this profile
- The restaurant is on the map and nobody on your team controls it.
- You can reach the phone, the letterbox, or the kitchen Google will ask to see.
- The name on the sign matches the name on the profile.
- You will keep the Google account. A manager who leaves should not be the only login.
Do not start a second profile
- A verified profile already exists and someone else owns it. Request access.
- You are closed for the season and hoping a new pin will look open.
- The address is a mailbox you do not serve from.
- You want a second category, not a second listing. Categories are a label, not a new business.
How to get through it
Account
A Google login you will keep
Find
The existing profile, or add one
Method
Whatever the screen offers
Proof
Phone, post, or a live video
Wait
Up to five business days
- 1
Use an account the restaurant owns
A Google account can be Gmail or another email. Put it somewhere the next manager can open. If the only login is a designer who finished last year, you do not have a verified profile. You have a locked one.
- 2
Find the profile before you add a new one
Search the name and the city, or “my business”, while signed in. If it is not on Google, add it. If it is there and unclaimed, claim it. If someone else already verified it, request ownership from them. Who should hold that access afterwards is in who should own your restaurant’s Google profile. A second pin for the same room is a duplicate, and duplicates can be kept off Maps. That problem is described in Resolve duplicate profiles and ownership issues.
- 3
Take the method on the screen
Google says the options are chosen for you and cannot be changed. They depend on the business type, what is already public, the region, and the hours. You may be asked for more than one method. Phone or text requires a person who can answer; an automated phone menu will not collect the code. Email requires the inbox. If a live video call is offered, Google says those calls run only during your stated business hours, and not every business gets one.
- 4
If video is offered, record it live
Google recommends video when you are eligible. The recording rules are in Verify your business with a video recording. One take, unedited, at least 30 seconds, filmed and uploaded from the phone inside the profile. No break you stitch in later. No bank details, tax numbers, or identity documents. No other people’s faces. For a dining room, show the street so the pin makes sense, the permanent sign with the name that matches the profile, and proof you work there: open the kitchen, the pass, a till, or the storage room. A dine-in room that also delivers is treated as a hybrid. Plan the walk before you press record. If it is rejected, Google says you can record another and will tell you what was missing.
- 5
If the code comes by post, check the address first
Postcard verification appears only when Google offers it. Confirm the mailing address, then request the code. Google says most codes arrive within 14 days. A virtual office or a box you never empty will not finish this.
- 6
Wait, then edit the facts guests use
After you submit, Google reviews what you sent. That review takes up to five business days, and sometimes longer. Some profiles verify immediately, including when the website is verified in Search Console or when a chain uses bulk verification. A single dining room should not invent a bulk upload to skip the queue. When you are in, set the hours, the phone, and the category. If you later move the restaurant, you have to verify again; that sits with the address change in which phone number belongs on your site.
What each method is for
| Method | You need | You do not need |
|---|---|---|
| Phone or SMS | The business line answered by a person | A personal mobile you never publish |
| Access to the inbox Google writes to | A forwarder that strips the message | |
| Video | Street, matching permanent sign, staff-only room | Guests’ faces, an edited reel, a PDF of the lease |
| Postcard | A real address that receives post | A PO box used as the restaurant |
| Already verified by someone else | An ownership request | A brand-new profile with a slightly different name |
Verification gets you the listing. The page guests open next is still yours to publish, with the same name and the same door. The card below is a live restaurant site: it does not replace the video or the postcard. It is what you link once the profile is actually yours.
When verification fails
- The sign and the profile name differ. The video shows “Le Comptoir”. The listing says “Le Comptoir – best pizza”. Google asked for a match.
- The phone is an automated menu. The code is never heard. Put a person on the business number for the hour you request it.
- You filmed guests. Other people’s faces are not allowed in the video. Film the room, not the table that is eating.
- You uploaded a clip from the camera roll. Google wants the recording made in the verification flow, not a file you shot last month.
- A second profile, because the first is pending. You now have two pins and no verified one.
- The only login belongs to an agency. When the contract ends, so does your ability to change Tuesday’s hours.
What verification does not do
It does not write your hours, your menu, or your category. It does not move the pin closer to the guest, and it does not buy a local rank. What Google says actually affects those results is in what restaurant SEO actually changes. It does not make a delivery-only brand into a dining room. It does not keep a seasonal restaurant eligible without the permanent sign Google asks for. And a verified listing is still not a website: guests who want the menu and a way to book need the page, which is the point of why your Google Maps listing is not enough.
Frequently asked questions
Can I choose postcard instead of video?
No. Google assigns the methods and says they cannot be changed. If video is offered and you are eligible, Google recommends you use it. Complete the options on the screen.
How long does verification take?
Google says the review takes up to five business days, and on rare occasions longer. Postcard codes, when that method is used, mostly arrive within 14 days. Some profiles verify immediately. Do not open a second listing while you wait.
What has to be in the video?
For a restaurant with a door: the surroundings so the address makes sense, permanent signage whose name matches the profile, and proof you manage the place, such as the kitchen or the till. At least 30 seconds, unedited, filmed live on the phone. No other people’s faces and no identity documents.
Someone else already verified us. What now?
Request ownership of that profile. Do not create another one with a slightly different name. Two profiles for one dining room confuse guests and can be treated as duplicates.
We only deliver. Can we still verify?
Maybe. Delivery-only food services are allowed under extra conditions, and a business with no in-person service is not automatically eligible as a storefront. Read the eligibility rules before you film a kitchen that has no sign and no guests.
Does Adiamo verify the listing?
No. You verify on Google, with the method Google offers. After the profile is yours, put the published page URL in the website field so the listing and the site are the same restaurant.