RunCabin Blog · Getting found

Google wants a video to verify my business. What do I film?

November 8, 2026 · 8 min read

Short answer: plan a 30-to-90-second walk-through before you hit record, then film it in one continuous take from your phone, inside the Business Profile app or page. In that one take, show where you work (a street sign or landmark near your business address), that the business is real (your tools, equipment, truck, business cards or uniform), and that you are the one running it (unlocking the work truck, starting a job, or a license, invoice or utility bill with the same business name as the profile). Most rejected videos are missing one of those three, not all of them.

If you run a painting, cleaning, landscaping, handyman or contracting business, you probably do not have a storefront with a lit sign over the door. That is exactly the kind of business that gets stuck on this screen, because most of the advice online was written for restaurants and shops. Here is what to film when your "location" is a truck, a garage and whatever job you are on this week.

Why Google is asking you for a video

Google has to decide whether a business on its map is real before it lets that listing show up in Maps and local search. For a lot of new profiles, the video is the verification option Google offers, sometimes the only one. Owners also hit it on existing profiles after a big change - a new address, a new business name, a new phone number - or when Google wants to check a listing again. If you moved your business to a new town or changed your business name, expect it.

Until you pass, the profile does not show to customers the way a verified one does. So it is worth doing right the first time instead of firing off a quick clip of your driveway and waiting a week to hear it failed.

The rules that sink most videos

These come straight from Google's own help page for verification videos. Break any one and the video can be rejected no matter how good the rest is:

• Record it live, inside the Business Profile. You record on your phone through the verification screen. You cannot film it on your camera app earlier and upload the file later.
• One continuous take, no edits. No cuts, no music, no text added, no stitching two clips together. If you stumble, start over - the app lets you review the video and try again before you submit.
• At least 30 seconds. Most owners need a minute or so to show everything without rushing. Go slow enough that a stranger could read the street sign.
• No sensitive information or faces. Google asks you not to show bank, tax or ID numbers, private information, or other people's faces. Cover the account numbers on a bill with your thumb and film the business name and address.

What to film when you don't have a storefront

Google's help center splits the video into three things for a service-area business. Think of them as three short scenes you film in one walk.

1. Where you operate

Show the street sign or a landmark near the address you used for the business. If you work from home, Google says you can film signs and landmarks in your neighborhood - the corner street sign, then walk or pan to your house number or mailbox. Avoid empty land or roads with nothing to identify them; a video of trees and a gravel shoulder proves nothing. Showing your home address to Google for verification is fine. Showing it to the public is a different decision, and for a service-area business Google's rules say to hide it on the profile - see should I put my home address on my business website.

2. That the business exists

This is where a trade business has it easier than it thinks. Google lists professional tools, equipment, products, a workspace, business cards or branded clothing. For a painter that is the trailer with sprayers, ladders and drop cloths. For a landscaper, the mowers and the trailer. For a cleaner, the supply caddies, the vacuum and the branded shirts. For a handyman, the truck bed, the tool chest and a stack of business cards with the business name on them.

Lettering on the truck helps, because it ties the equipment to the name. One Google product expert, writing in Search Engine Journal, put it bluntly: "A video showing a plain white van will not be acceptable." That does not mean you must letter your truck before you can verify - it means a plain vehicle on its own is not proof, so pair it with things that carry your business name.

3. That you are the one running it

Google wants to see you doing something only the business can do. Its examples: performing a service, or opening a business-only asset like a branded van. Unlock the truck and open the toolbox. Open the shop or the storage unit with your key. If you can film part of a real job without showing the customer or their face, that counts too. Google also lists a business permit, invoice or utility bill that matches the profile name - hold your contractor license or a recent invoice up to the camera long enough to read the business name.

A 60-second shot list you can copy

Here is one walk that covers all three, for an owner who works out of a home and a truck. Rehearse it once without recording, then record it straight through:

1. Start at the corner. Film the street sign for 3 to 5 seconds.
2. Walk toward your place and show the house number or mailbox.
3. Walk to the truck. Show the lettering or the magnet sign with the business name.
4. Unlock the truck with your key or fob. Open the toolbox or the back and pan slowly across the equipment.
5. Pull a business card or a branded shirt from the cab and hold it to the camera.
6. Hold up your license, a recent invoice or a utility bill in the business name. Business name and address in frame, numbers covered.
7. Stop recording, watch it back, and submit only if every one of those is readable.

If you rent a shop or a storage unit, film that instead of the house: the street sign, the building number, unlocking the door, the equipment inside.

Make the name match everywhere first

The video checks the business name against your profile. If the truck says "Dave's Painting", the invoice says "D. Martinez Home Services LLC" and the profile says "Dave's Painting - Interior Exterior Cabinet Painting Near Me", you have given the reviewer three different businesses. Before you record:

• Strip extra keywords out of the profile name. The name field should be your real business name, the one on your sign and paperwork. More on that in should I put keywords in my Google Business Profile name.
• Pick one name and use it on the documents you film. If you operate under a DBA, have the paper that links it to your LLC. See should my website use my LLC name or my DBA.
• Check the phone number and service area. The same number on the truck, the cards, the profile and your website. It is not in the video rules, but it is the kind of mismatch that makes a listing look less like one real business.

If the video gets rejected

Google says reviews take up to 5 business days. If yours is not accepted, you get the reasons and can record a new video. Google's own advice is to include everything from the first video plus whatever was missing - so do not reshoot from scratch with a different plan; fix the gap.

• Don't create a second profile. It feels like starting fresh. It isn't. One business gets one profile, and a duplicate tangles your case up instead of solving it. The same rule applies if your profile ever gets suspended.
• Don't delete the video before you hear back. Wait for the result.
• If you keep failing, contact Business Profile support from the help center and have your license, a utility bill and a few photos of your truck and equipment ready to send.
• Ignore anyone selling "guaranteed verification". Staged videos and borrowed storefronts are exactly what the review is built to catch, and getting caught is how a business ends up suspended instead of just unverified. Film your real operation.

What keeps working while you wait

Verification can take a week, and a rejection or two can stretch it to a month. During that time your profile is not doing much for you on Maps. The pieces of your business that live outside Google keep working: the number on your truck, your yard signs, past customers who text you, and your own website, which shows up in regular search and keeps taking quote requests whether your profile is verified or not.

A website does not verify you - the video does that. But owners who go through verification tend to notice the same thing owners notice during a suspension: your Google profile gets you noticed, and your website is what gets you chosen. The profile belongs to Google, and Google decides when it shows. Your website is yours. Once you are verified, put that website address in the profile's website field so the two point at each other, with the same name and phone number on both.

Where RunCabin fits

If you are getting your Google profile set up because the business is new, the website is usually the other half of the same project. RunCabin builds websites for local businesses with AI, and a web developer finishes every page - your business name exactly as it is on your paperwork, your services, the towns you serve, and your real job photos. You answer a short planner and send your photos, and you see a first version within 24 hours. Starting at $499 to build, then $39.99 a month for hosting (or $479.88 a year), on your own domain, with a quote form that emails you. Optional tools are priced in the questionnaire, and you see the total before you pay. No lead fees, and you can cancel the hosting anytime.

Go record the video first. It is the one thing only you can do. Then make sure the name a customer sees on Google matches the one they land on when they tap through to your site.

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Related reading: my Google Business Profile got suspended. Now what? · is a Google Business Profile enough, or do you need a website? · how do I get my business to show up on Google near me?

Google Business Profile, Maps and Search are products of Google LLC. RunCabin is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google. Google's verification steps change from time to time; if a step here doesn't match what you see, Google's own Business Profile Help center has the current version.