Someone asked me to pay for a Google Business Profile — is this service actually paid?

They've been scaring small business owners with the exact same story for years. Google has no sub-contractors in Turkey calling shop owners on their cell phones to collect cash. You are the sole owner of your profile, don't share your password with anyone.

they call our shop number twice a week too. oh your time is up oh its gonna get shut down bla bla bla. i just tell them go ahead and delete it then and they hang up on me dont panic its completely free.

Last year, we paid an agency a one-time fee of 2,500 TL purely for local SEO optimization. We had set up our profile ourselves; they just came in, took professional 360 shots, and cleaned up our category and service descriptions. Our visibility on Maps searches roughly doubled in 2 months. If you're going to pay for a service, put that money toward content creation and photography, not setting up the profile.

Log into your Google account right now with your business email and search for your business name. If you see the "Manage your business" button on your dashboard, you're already in full control. Don't send money to anyone.

even Google doesn't hold the deed to the map, yet these guys are out here trying to collect rent on it like it's annual property tax... good thing you didn't buy it and wire money to their IBAN.

The barber next door panicked and lost 2,000 TL to these callers last winter. A week later, another number called saying "the other team left the job unfinished, we need another 1,500 TL," and only then did he realize what was going on. He filed a complaint at the police station, but of course he never got the money back. Do not pay them.

What shows up right now when you search for your bakery on Maps? If it says "Own this business?" right under the business name, the profile is unclaimed; just click it and claim it yourself right away.

To safeguard your corporate identity, it is recommended that you claim the listing using your corporate email address and enable two-step verification. For your security, simply blocking the numbers from such calls through official reporting channels will be sufficient.

I have a question. Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

Hope this helps.

let me share what happened to me; it might be useful then if it's your first time start small; scaling coes later.

correct me if I'm wrong.

The answer above hits the nail on the head. Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late.

Processes without records never improve, because you don't know what to fix.

The cheap-looking path usually ends up costing more later. If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

Hope this helps.

I agree.

This approach has a cost, which isn't discussed. Everyone rushing into is Google Business Profile paid gets stuck at the same point.

saved.

I've been down this road let me tell you. Hasty decisions become decisions you have to fix six months later.

You're right, I've been down that road too. The answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule.

I'll try it.