How to verify your Google Business Profile in 2026: every method, where the code goes, and what to do when it fails

To verify your Google Business Profile, sign in to the Google account that manages it, open the profile, select Get verified, and complete the method Google offers you. In 2026 that is a phone call or text code, an email, a video recording made on your phone, a live video call with Google support, or, less often, a postcard. Google chooses which of these you see and you cannot swap one for another. Codes usually work within minutes. A video goes into review, which Google says takes up to five business days. This guide covers each method, where the code goes, and what to do when it does not work.

Start here: the five steps

1. Sign in to the Google account that should own the profile. Use an account you will keep, not a personal account of an employee who may leave.
2. Find the profile. Search your business name and city on Google while signed in, or go to business.google.com. A new business is added at business.google.com/add. An existing listing you have never managed shows Claim this business on Google Maps.
3. Check the profile before you press anything. The name should match your sign, the address should be one Google accepts, and a business that visits customers should hide its address and list service areas instead.
4. Select Get verified. Google shows the methods it will accept for this profile.
5. Pick one and finish it in one sitting. If you start a video or a postcard and then edit the name, address, or category, you are likely to be asked to verify again.

Every verification method Google offers in 2026

Phone call or text message

Choose Phone or SMS, answer the call or open the text, and type the code into the profile. The call goes to the business phone number listed on the profile, so that number has to be one you can pick up. Google is clear that an automated phone menu will not get the code. If your main line runs through a menu or an answering service, forward it to a mobile while you request the code and pick up the call yourself.

Email

When offered, Google shows a partly hidden email address and sends the steps there. You cannot type in a different address. If that inbox belongs to a former web designer, ask them to forward the email or pick another method.

Video recording

Many profiles, especially service-area businesses and profiles with a history of edits, are offered only video, and it is the method with the most ways to go wrong. You record on your phone, inside Google’s own flow, in one continuous take of at least 30 seconds, showing three things: where you are, that the business exists there, and that you run it. You cannot record offline and upload later, and you cannot edit the clip. A service-area business with no storefront has its own shot list, which we cover step by step in our guide to video verification for a service-area business.

Live video call

Choose Live video call, pick a language, and start. It opens a text chat with a Google representative who then brings you into a video call, where you show the location, the business or its equipment, and proof that you manage it. Be at the business before you start. The option only appears during the business hours set on your profile, so a profile with wrong hours can hide it.

Postcard

Postcards are still offered to some profiles, though far less often than they once were. If you get one, confirm the mailing address, request the card, and then leave the profile alone. Google says most cards arrive within 14 days and every code expires after 30 days. Editing the name, address, or category while you wait breaks the code, and requesting a second card cancels the first one already in the mail.

Instant and bulk verification

Some profiles are verified the moment they are created. Google may do this when the same Google account has already verified the business’s website in Search Console. Businesses with 10 or more locations under one brand can request bulk verification from Business Profile Manager, under Verifications, then Chain. Google’s rules for bulk are strict: agencies managing different businesses in one account cannot use it, service-area businesses cannot use it, and duplicate or suspended profiles do not count toward the 10.

For a postcard, the card tells you to go to google.com/verifymybusiness. That address simply forwards to the verification screen at business.google.com, where you pick the profile, type the 5-digit code into the Code field, and select Submit.

Two things make a correct code fail. First, you are signed in to a different Google account from the one that requested it. Check the profile picture in the corner. Second, the code is from an older request. Only the newest code works, and a postcard code is dead after 30 days.

Why your verification code did not arrive

• The phone number on the profile goes to a menu, a call center, or a voicemail tree. The automated call cannot get through.
• You chose text but the number is a landline. Choose the call option, or put a mobile number on the profile first.
• You asked for several codes in a row. Each request replaces the last one, and rapid repeats can hold up sending. Request once, then wait.
• The email went to spam, or to an inbox nobody checks any more.
• The postcard went to an address with no mail slot for your business, such as a shared building with no suite number. Fix the address line on the profile, then wait the full 14 days before asking again.
• The profile was edited after you asked. A change to the name, address, or category can void a code that is already on its way.

Every edit gives the reviewer a moving target, and a second upload does not move you up the queue.

If it has been more than a week, open Google’s Check your verification status tool, sign in with the same account, and work through it. At the end it offers a Contact us option for verification problems, which is the right door for a review that is plainly stuck.

• Review issues: your video was not accepted. Select it to see what Google says was missing, then record a new video that includes everything from the first one plus the missing part. Do not upload the same footage again.
• Get verified appears again on a profile you thought was done: Google could not fully verify it. Try again, and if more than one method is listed, try a different one.
• A request for more information: this usually follows recent changes to your details. Select Get verified and go through it again.
• No more ways to verify: Google has run out of methods it will offer, often after a failed video. Go through the verification status tool to its Contact us option and ask for a live video verification. People who get this message report that support can take several business days to answer, and that resubmitting the form once after a week of silence sometimes helps.

Often the problem is not the footage. Google compares what it sees to the name, address, and category on the profile, and the same problems that cause suspensions block verification: extra keywords in the name, a virtual office or mailbox address, a service-area business showing a street address, or a category that does not match the work. Our list of the nine reasons Google suspends profiles is also a good checklist for a verification that keeps failing.

When it happens, the profile shows Get verified again and edits may sit unpublished until you finish.

• Make big changes one at a time, a few days apart, and only when they are true. A new name on the profile should already be on your sign.
• Never edit the name, address, or category while a postcard or a video review is pending.
• Keep the phone number on the profile answered. Since March 2026 Google has been emailing owners that it may confirm details with automated calls, texts, or WhatsApp messages to that number, and answers you give can be added to the profile.
• If an agency or a tool manages the profile, ask what it changes and when. A burst of edits in one afternoon is the classic trigger.

Questions people ask

Can I verify my Google Business Profile without a postcard?

Usually, yes. A postcard is now one option among several, and many profiles are offered a phone or text code, email, video, or a live video call instead. You cannot ask for a postcard or opt out of one; Google shows the methods it will accept for your profile.

How long does Google Business Profile verification take?

Codes by phone, text, or email work within minutes. A video recording is reviewed in up to five business days. A postcard usually arrives within 14 days. Bulk verification for 10 or more locations can take longer while Google reviews the account.

Can I verify on a computer?

Codes, email, and postcards can be completed on a computer. A video recording has to be made on a phone, inside the Business Profile on that phone, because Google needs a live recording with location access.

Someone else already verified my business. What now?

Google will show that the profile is managed by someone else and offer to request ownership. The current owner gets your request and can approve or decline it. If an agency set it up, ask them to add you as an owner from People and access; our guide to giving an agency access to your profile covers the roles.

Can a business with no address get verified?

A service-area business can, as long as it serves customers in person. Google still asks for a base address to run verification against and keeps it hidden from customers. Online-only businesses are not eligible for a Business Profile.