How much does a Google Business Profile setup cost?

The setup is free and takes about an hour, but two decisions in it are worth more than everything else you will do. The first is your primary category — a clinic listed as Doctor instead of Dentist simply will not appear for the search that matters, and changing it later resets some of your momentum. The second is whether you have an address customers visit or a service area. Get that wrong and you are either invisible or hiding your address from people who wanted to walk in.

Verification is where most people in Pakistan get stuck. Google increasingly asks for video verification: one unbroken clip showing the street, your signage, the inside of the premises, and something proving you work there — equipment, stock, a staff member, a utility bill with the address. No cuts, no still photos. Film it in daylight when the signboard is readable, and if the shop is inside a plaza in Blue Area or Saddar, start at the plaza entrance and walk in so the route is visible. Rejected videos usually failed on signage or on stopping the recording halfway.

What actually costs money is keeping it alive, and that is where the monthly fees come from. Weekly posts, fresh photos, hours updated for Ramadan timings and Eid closures, products and services filled in, and replies to every review. Reviews are the biggest lever and the hardest work: asking a customer in person while they are still standing at your counter converts far better than a WhatsApp link sent that evening. Ignore any phone call claiming to be from Google Pakistan offering to rank you first for a fee — Google does not sell map rankings, and those calls are a scam. Ours is included in the Business bundle from PKR 25,000 a month.