Google Business Profile (GBP) — formerly Google My Business — is the panel that appears next to your business name on Google Search and pins your location on Google Maps. It’s Google’s official “listing” for your business, and it’s free.

For a live venue like Seminole Theatre, GBP does three critical things:

• Search visibility. Someone in Miami-Dade searches “theatres in Homestead” — your profile appears in the map pack at the top of results. Without a profile, you’re invisible in local search.
• Show discovery. With events posted to your profile, Google surfaces individual performances in the “Events” panel and the “Things to Do” carousel.
• Trust signals. Reviews, photos, hours, and Q&A all live on the profile. Visitors check these before they buy tickets.

1. Search on Google: “Business Name” + City (e.g. Seminole Theatre Homestead).
2. Look for a knowledge panel on the right side of results (desktop) or below the top results (mobile).
3. Also check Google Maps directly at google.com/maps — search the business name.

If a profile already exists:

• Look for a link that says “Own this business?” or “Claim this business”.
• Click through and Google walks you through the claim + verification process.
• Do NOT create a duplicate profile — Google penalizes duplicates and merging them takes weeks.

If no profile exists: proceed to Section 3.

Prerequisites

• A Google account (a Gmail address). Use a business Gmail if possible (e.g. info@seminoletheatre.org if that’s a Google Workspace address), not a personal one — otherwise ownership travels with the person, not the venue.
• Authority to represent the business — you’ll agree to Google’s terms as a representative.
• The business’s exact name, address, phone, website, and business category.

Steps

1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with the Google account that will own the profile.
2. Click Add your business to Google.
3. Enter the exact business name.
4. Pick a business category. For a theatre: Performing Arts Theater. You can add secondary categories later (Live Music Venue, Auditorium, etc.).
5. Confirm the business has a location visitors can visit. For a theatre: Yes.
6. Enter the street address exactly as it appears on official mail — Google matches this against USPS records.
7. Choose whether you also serve customers outside this location (for a venue: no).
8. Enter your phone number and website URL.
9. Click Finish. Google creates the profile in an unverified state.

After creating the profile, Google shows verification options. The most common are:

• Postcard — Google mails a postcard with a 5-digit code to the business address. Takes 5–14 days. You enter the code in the GBP dashboard. Works for every business type.
• Phone — Google calls or texts the business phone with a code. Instant, but not available to every business type.
• Email — Google emails a code to the address associated with the business’s website domain. Instant, but rarely offered.
• Video — For higher-risk categories, Google may require a short video showing the business, its signage, and equipment. Reviewed manually within 5 business days.

Business info

• Description — up to 750 characters. First 250 are what Google shows most often. Include: what the venue is, when it was established, what makes it distinctive, and one call-to-action.
• Hours — regular hours (box office). Add special hours for holidays and specific event days if performance start times differ from box office hours.
• Additional categories — up to 9 total. Add relevant ones: Concert Hall, Auditorium, Live Music Venue, Performing Arts Group.
• Attributes — parking availability, wheelchair accessibility, restrooms, WiFi. Fill everything applicable — these are ranking signals AND filter options for searchers.

Photos

• Logo — 250 × 250 minimum, square, PNG with transparent background if possible.
• Cover photo — 1080 × 608 minimum (16:9), the “hero” image on the profile. Use the venue exterior or a signature interior shot.
• Additional photos — venue interior, stage, lobby, marquee, past productions. Google recommends 10+ photos across categories.
• Ongoing — add photos regularly (monthly minimum). Fresh photos are a strong ranking signal.

Products / services

For a theatre, you can add ticket types or subscription packages as “products”. Include price if fixed. This surfaces in the profile as tappable cards.

Website + booking links

• Main website URL: your homepage.
• Appointment / booking URL: your event calendar or ticketing page.

Weekly

• Post an update — every 7 days. Even a short “This weekend at the theatre” post keeps the profile active in Google’s eyes. (Our site automates this — see Section 7.)
• Respond to reviews — every review, positive or negative, deserves a reply within 3 days. Google explicitly weights response rate as a ranking signal.

Monthly

• Add fresh photos — 3–5 new photos per month minimum. From productions, backstage, patron experiences, marquee updates.
• Review Q&A — visitors can ask questions on your profile. Answer them yourself before random strangers do (they will, sometimes wrongly).
• Check the insights tab — Google shows how many people found the profile, searched for you, asked for directions, called, or visited the website. Track trends.

Quarterly

• Audit business info — hours, phone, website URL. Fix any drift.
• Rotate the cover photo — pick a fresh signature image tied to the current season.

The site has a custom plugin connected to Seminole Theatre’s Google Business Profile via authorized API access. What’s automated:

• Reviews display — the star rating and recent reviews on the Contact Us page pull live from the Places API. No manual copy-paste.
• Business info push — hours, description, phone, and website can be edited in wp-admin → Settings → GBP Business Info, then pushed to Google with one click. Changes appear on the profile within a few minutes.
• Event auto-posts — every event has a “Post to Google Business Profile” checkbox. When ticked and the event is published, the site automatically creates an Event-type post on the profile with the image, dates, and Buy Tickets button.
• Weekly digest — every Monday at 9 AM, the site auto-posts a “This Week at the Seminole” summary listing the next 3–5 featured events.

• Duplicate profiles. Never create a second profile — always claim the existing one. Duplicates confuse Google’s ranking and take weeks to merge.
• Changing the business name to add keywords. “Seminole Theatre — Homestead’s Premier Live Music Venue” violates Google’s naming policy and can trigger suspension. Only the actual business name.
• Fake reviews from staff or family. Detected by Google. Removed, and repeated offenses can suspend the profile.
• Ignoring negative reviews. A calm, professional reply to a bad review often works better than the review itself did — future readers see that you take feedback seriously.
• Wrong hours during holidays. Set special hours for Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th — visitors who show up to a closed venue leave 1-star reviews.
• Letting the profile go dormant. Google explicitly ranks active profiles higher. A profile with no posts for 3+ months slips in results even if the business is thriving.

• GBP Help Center — support.google.com/business. Written docs are OK, but the community forum is better for weird issues.
• Support contact form — from inside the GBP dashboard, click the Help icon. Response time varies from hours to weeks.
• Google Business Profile Community — support.google.com/business/community. Search here BEFORE contacting support; most issues have already been answered.
• For our specific integration — contact Released Solutions (see footer). API-related issues are best resolved directly.