Google Business Profile and reviews
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the panel of information about your business that shows up on the right side of Google search results or on Google Maps — with your address, opening hours, photos, and customer reviews. It's a completely different place from your website, but just as important, especially for businesses clients visit in person: a practice, a law firm, or a studio where you run classes.
Why it matters
When someone searches Google for something like "divorce lawyer Krakow" or "dentist near me," it's your Business Profile that decides whether your business shows up on the map and in the so-called local pack — before anyone even reaches your website. A well-maintained profile, with current hours and replies to reviews, has a real effect on how many calls or messages you get.
Reviews on your profile vs. reviews on your site
It's easy to mix these up, so it's worth separating them clearly. Reviews on your Google Business Profile are public reviews collected directly by Google — visible in search and on Maps, outside your website. That's different from the client testimonials shown directly on your own website. The editable testimonials section comes with the packages that include the content panel (Professional and Expert): you add entries there yourself, and they can come from any source, not just Google — see How do I add a client testimonial to the site?.
One doesn't replace the other — it's worth collecting reviews in both places, since they reach different audiences at different stages of searching.
Your Google rating on your site
You can also bring the two together. "Google rating" is a badge in the testimonials section of your site: it shows your business's average Google rating, for example "4.8 ★ on Google Maps · see all reviews", and links to your profile on Google Maps. Neither the number of reviews nor individual reviews are pulled onto the site. The testimonial cards below the badge still come from the panel, so you still decide which ones appear there — and if the panel has no testimonials at all, the section still shows its heading with just the badge. The rating refreshes whenever the site rebuilds, which is at least once a day, so a fresh Google review shows up in the average with a short delay.
The badge is off by default. We switch it on and configure it separately for each site, because it needs some setup on the Google side. Whether it's available to you depends on your package and chosen add-ons — the current terms are in the price list.
Who runs the profile
Your Business Profile is your Google account, so you set it up and manage it — or a marketing agency does, if you work with one. Local SEO, meaning the work of getting your profile to show up higher on the map, is a typical job for an agency rather than for us. You can read more about that split in Working with an SEO or marketing agency.