You add photos to a Google Business Profile by signing in with an owner or manager account, opening your profile on Google Search or Google Maps, and choosing Add photo. You can upload from a computer or a phone, and set your logo and preferred cover photo from the same place.
This guide covers the upload steps on desktop and mobile, which photo types to add, Google's size and format requirements, the usual reasons photos get rejected or disappear, and an honest look at geotagging. If you only need the steps, start with the first two sections.
How to add photos from a desktop computer
- Step 1: Sign in to the Google account that owns or manages the profile.
- Step 2: Search Google for your exact business name, or search "my business". The management panel appears above the results.
- Step 3: Click Add photo. On some layouts it sits under a Photos button or inside Edit profile.
- Step 4: Drag files into the window or choose them from your computer. You can select several at once.
- Step 5: Where offered, choose whether the upload is a regular photo, video, logo or cover photo, then confirm.
- Step 6: Check back after a day or two. New photos can take time to appear while Google reviews them.
If you manage many locations, Business Profile Manager at business.google.com still provides a photo area for each location, which is faster for bulk work. Google rearranges these menus fairly often, so if Add photo is not where you expect it, look under Edit profile or the three-dot menu in the panel.
How to add photos from your phone
- Step 1: Open the Google Maps app signed in to the owner or manager account, tap your profile picture and choose Your Business Profiles (or open the Business tab if your account shows one).
- Step 2: Select the location, then tap the Add photos or Photos option.
- Step 3: Pick images from your gallery or take new ones, add them, and confirm.
- Alternative: in the Google app or a mobile browser, search your business name while signed in and tap Add photo in the management panel.
Phone uploads are the easiest way to keep a profile current: shoot on site, in daylight, and upload straight away. Turn off beauty filters and heavy HDR modes. Google's photo guidelines ask for images that represent the business as it really looks, and customers notice when the room is smaller than the photos suggested.
Which photo types to add
| Photo type | What to show | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | Square, simple logo that reads at small sizes | Clinic logo on a plain background |
| Cover | The single image that best represents the business | A Sydney café's counter and seating in morning light |
| Exterior | Entrance and signage from the street, ideally at different times of day | A Manchester plumber's unit sign and branded van |
| Interior | Waiting area, dining room, showroom or workspace | A Toronto dentist's reception and treatment room |
| Products and work | Real items or finished jobs, not catalog images | Before-and-after bathroom fit-outs |
| Team and at work | Staff doing the job, with their consent | A Pune salon stylist mid-cut |
| Video | Short walkthrough or demonstration | A 20-second tour of a gym floor |
Treat the cover photo as a preference, not a setting. Google may show a different image as the first photo depending on the search, and customer photos sometimes appear first. The logo shows beside your name in some views once the profile is complete. If an unflattering image keeps appearing first, the fix is usually to add better photos of the same subject rather than to fight the algorithm.
Google's photo requirements
- Format: JPG or PNG
- File size: between 10 KB and 5 MB
- Resolution: 720 x 720 pixels recommended, 250 x 250 pixels minimum
- Quality: in focus, well lit, no significant alterations or excessive filters
- Video: up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, 720p resolution or higher
What Google rejects or removes
Photos are checked against Google Maps' content policies, and some are rejected at upload while others vanish later. If an image shows as Not approved, or simply never appears publicly, the cause is usually one of these:
- Stock photos or images copied from another website
- Screenshots, flyers or graphics rather than photographs
- Text overlays, promotional banners, prices, phone numbers or URLs added to the image
- Photos not taken at or related to the business
- Identifiable people, especially children or patients, without consent
- Blurry, very dark or heavily filtered shots that misrepresent the place
Geotagging photos: myth and reality
A widespread tactic is to add GPS coordinates to a photo's EXIF data before uploading, on the theory that Google reads the location and boosts rankings. Google has never confirmed EXIF geotags as a ranking factor, and practitioners who have tested it publicly report that Google strips most metadata from images uploaded to Business Profiles. Paying for geotagging tools or services is not a good use of budget.
The same applies to keyword-stuffed filenames. Photos still matter for practical reasons: they help people recognize your building, set expectations about the space, and give customers a reason to pick you over a profile with three dated images. Our article on why GBP photos matter covers what photos can and cannot influence.
Upload cadence and how to check results
Google sets no required photo count. A practical rhythm is a solid initial set covering each type in the table, then a few new photos each month or whenever something changes, such as a renovation, a new menu or seasonal stock. Delete your own outdated images by opening the photo and choosing the trash icon, so last year's decor does not greet new customers.
Make the job someone's responsibility. Give one staff member a short shot list (exterior, a finished job, a new product, the team) and ten minutes at the start of each month. Photos attached to Google Business Profile posts are a separate feature, so use posts for offers and events and keep the photo gallery for evergreen images of the place, the work and the people.
To check how the profile looks, search your business name on a phone in a private browser window and note which photo appears first and how many customer photos show. The Performance report focuses on searches, calls, direction requests and website clicks, so read what GBP performance data really means before drawing conclusions about photos from it.
Next steps
Upload a logo, a cover photo and at least one exterior, interior and team photo this week, all shot on site. Set a monthly reminder to add fresh images and remove dated ones. Then work through the rest of the GBP optimization checklist, since categories, services and reviews do more for visibility than photos alone.