You set up your Google Business Profile weeks ago. You picked the category, wrote the description, put your mobile on it, and Google said it was sending a card in the post with a code on it. That was a month back. You have checked the letterbox every evening since, gone through the pile of takeaway menus on the hall table twice, and there is nothing. Meanwhile the bloke two streets over is sitting at the top of the map for your postcode and you are nowhere.
This is a common place to get stuck, and it is worth knowing that the postcard is no longer the only way in. For a lot of trades it is not even the best way. Here is why the card goes missing, what to check before you ask for another one, and how to get verified by video instead.
Why the postcard never turns up
Nine times out of ten it is something dull rather than something sinister. The address on the profile is missing the unit number or the flat number, so it went to the main building. The postcode was typed from memory and is a digit out. The card arrived, it is plain white, it has no branding anyone recognises, and someone in the house binned it with the pizza leaflets. You are on an industrial unit and the post goes to a shared reception where nobody knows your trading name.
There is one trap worth knowing about. If you edit your business name, address or primary category while a card is in transit, the code on that card stops working. Plenty of people request a card, then spend the wait tidying up their listing, and quietly kill the thing they are waiting for.
Check these before you request another card
- Open the profile and read the address out loud exactly as it is written. Unit number, flat number, building name, the lot.
- Put the postcode into Royal Mail's own postcode finder and confirm it returns your address, not the one next door.
- Check the contact name on the request. Put the name that actually gets post at that address, not a trading name nobody there recognises.
- Confirm you have not edited the name, address or category since you requested the card.
- Ask everyone else at the address — partner, housemate, the unit next door, the reception, the landlord. Ask them to check the recycling if it is recent.
- If you have a Royal Mail redirect running from an old address, check it covers business post.
- Look at the status message on the profile itself. Sometimes it says the request failed and nobody ever went back to look.
The other ways in
Google offers more than one route, and which ones you are shown depends on your business type and what it already knows about you. If the postcard route has failed twice, stop repeating it.
| Method | What you need | Suits you if |
|---|---|---|
| Postcard | Post that reliably reaches you at the exact address | Shop, salon, garage or unit with a proper letterbox |
| Phone or text | The number on the listing, answered by you | Offered occasionally — take it if you see it |
| Recorded video | One unedited video of your location, kit and paperwork | Mobile trades, home-based sole traders |
| Live video call | A booked slot and the same evidence to hand | You want a human who can ask and answer questions |
What to film, and exactly what to say
Video verification is one continuous take. No cuts, no pausing, no editing afterwards. You are proving three things in order: that the place is real, that the business is real, and that it is yours.
Before you press record, have out on the bench or the van floor: your branded invoice pad or letterhead, a recent utility or business rates bill for the address, your trade card (Gas Safe, a Part P competent person card, MCS certificate, whatever applies), your insurance schedule, and your keys. Cover up anything you do not want a stranger reading — account numbers, National Insurance number, customer names and addresses on paperwork. It cannot be blurred afterwards.
Words you can use as you film:
"This is [business name], [full address]. I'm [your name] and I own it. Here's the street sign on the corner, here's the number on the door, and here's my van with the name and number on the side. Inside the van — these are my tools, this is my stock. On the bench here is my invoice book with the business name and address on it, my public liability certificate, and my Gas Safe card with my registration number. This is a rates bill for this address in the business name. These are the keys to the unit — I'll unlock it now so you can see inside."
Say it slowly, keep the camera steady, and film in daylight if you can.
If someone else takes your post, send them this:
"You'll get a plain white postcard addressed to [business name] in the next fortnight. It's from Google and it looks exactly like junk mail. Please don't bin it — take a photo of the five-digit code and text it to me. It's the only way I can get on Google Maps."
And if you have had two failed cards and want to speak to a person, the wording that gets you somewhere is factual, not annoyed:
"I've requested a verification postcard twice, on [date] and [date], and neither arrived. The address on the profile matches Royal Mail's postcode finder exactly, including the unit number, and I've made no edits since requesting. I can provide a business rates bill, insurance schedule and trade registration for this address. Please can I verify by video instead?"
When this will not work, and when to get proper advice
Video verification will not rescue you if the underlying setup breaks Google's rules. A virtual office or a mailbox address you do not actually work from will fail, and repeated attempts can get the listing suspended. Two listings for the same address, or a listing at your accountant's address because that is your registered office, will cause the same trouble. Your registered office and your trading address are different things, and if you are unsure which one belongs on your listing, ask your accountant — do not guess your way through it on a Sunday night.
If your profile was suspended rather than simply unverified, that is a different process altogether and verification attempts will not touch it. Look for the reinstatement route instead.
If someone else has already claimed a listing for your business — a previous owner, a franchise, a directory that created it on your behalf — you are into a claim request rather than a verification, and it can take weeks. If it involves a business you bought, or a fallout with a former partner, get a solicitor to look at what you actually own before you start firing off forms. Everything above is how the process generally works, not advice about your particular situation.
