Google Business Profile Photos: What to Add and How Often

Add a logo, a cover photo, and at least three photos of each kind that fits your business: the outside, the inside, your team at work, and the things you sell or build. Use real photos taken at your business or on your jobs, in focus and well lit, with no heavy filters and no AI edits. Then add a few new ones from recent work every month or so. Google doesn't set a schedule for that, but a profile with last month's jobs on it looks like a business that is open and busy.

Below is what Google's own help pages say about each kind of photo, how many to add, and the rules for size and quality, plus what we'd add from building sites for local businesses.

Start with the logo and the cover photo

Google's help page on adding photos to your Business Profile lists three kinds: your logo, a cover photo, and business photos.

Logo. Google says it helps customers recognize your business. Use the same logo as on your sign and your website, on a plain background, so it still reads at a small size.
Cover photo. Google describes it as the photo that best represents your business. For a shop or a restaurant, that's usually the front as people see it from the street. For a contractor, it might be a finished job you're proud of, or the crew next to the truck.

One catch: setting a cover photo doesn't guarantee it shows first. Google says that if the cover photo is low quality, or other sources suggest it isn't the best representation, a photo submitted by a customer may be picked instead. A sharp, bright cover photo makes that less likely.

The kinds of photos Google suggests

Google's tips for business-specific photos give a minimum for each kind, and most kinds get "at least three." Pick the kinds that fit your business and skip the rest.

Outside

Google suggests at least three exterior photos, taken from each direction customers might approach, and at different times of day. The point is that someone pulling in can match the building to the photo. Get the sign, the entrance and, for an auto shop, the bay doors as a driver sees them.

If customers never come to you, skip this kind. A plumber who runs the business from home doesn't need a photo of the house, and shouldn't post one if the address is hidden on the profile. Our article on Google Maps for service-area businesses explains how hiding the address works.

Inside

At least three, and Google asks for photos that "truthfully show what it's like to stand inside your business as a customer." For a salon, the chairs and the front desk. For a restaurant, the dining room with the lights the way they are at dinner. For a repair shop, the counter and the waiting area.

At work and team photos

Google suggests at least three photos of your team providing different types of service, and at least three team photos that are "a little less formal to humanize your business." For trades, this is where most of your photos belong: a crew tearing off a roof, a tech at a furnace, a groomer with a dog on the table. Faces help people feel they know who will knock on the door. Ask your staff before you post photos of them.

Products, food and finished work

At least three of each, showing what is most popular, evenly lit. For a restaurant, the dishes people order most. Google's list has no separate kind for finished jobs, but finished work is what a contractor's customers are buying, so treat it the same way: the new deck, the patched ceiling, the clean electrical panel.

How many photos is enough

For a business that uses five of these kinds, Google's minimums add up to fifteen photos, plus the logo and the cover. That's a good first goal for an afternoon.

Past that, more isn't automatically better. Forty shots of the same kitchen from slightly different angles don't tell a customer anything new. Aim for range instead. Ten photos of ten different jobs say more than thirty of one.

How often to add new ones

Google's help pages don't give a schedule. What works is a small habit:

Once a month, add a few photos from recent jobs. Put it on the same calendar reminder as your other profile checks, like the monthly routine at the end of our one-afternoon local SEO checklist.
Right away when something people can see has changed: a new sign, a remodel, new trucks, a new menu.
Delete what's out of date. An old storefront or the previous owner's sign confuses people looking for you. On Google's add-photos page, the steps are to open Photos, select the photo and click Delete.

Google's size and quality rules

From Google's add-photos page:

Format: JPG or PNG.
File size: between 10 KB and 5 MB.
Resolution: 720 by 720 pixels recommended, 250 by 250 at minimum.
Quality: in focus and well lit, with no significant alterations or excessive use of filters. Google's business-specific tips add "or AI" to that line and say the image should represent reality.
Video: up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, and 720p or higher.

Google says it can take 24 to 48 hours for new photos and videos to show on your profile, and they only show once the profile is verified. Any recent phone takes photos far above the recommended resolution, so you don't need a special camera. Just check that the file you upload is a JPG or PNG under 5 MB.

The rules for everyone posting to Maps

Owners and customers post photos to the same map, and Google's tips for posting media to Maps apply to both. In short:

Upload photos you took with a camera, at the place you're posting about.
Avoid screenshots, stock photos, GIFs, collages and heavily edited photos.
Don't add borders or text. Small fixes, like straightening a photo or improving the lighting, are fine.
Make the place the main subject. A selfie where the person is the focus is less helpful.

So no stock photo of a smiling plumber, no flyer with your phone number on it, and no "Call today" text across a photo of a car.

Photos taken in customers' homes

Most job photos in the trades are taken in someone else's house. Ask the customer before you post. Leave out anything that identifies them: house numbers, faces, family photos on the wall, mail on the counter, a license plate in the driveway. A close-up of the new water heater tells the story without showing whose basement it's in.

Photos your customers add

Customers can add photos to your profile too, and those are often the most believable ones: the plate they were actually served, the car after the repair. You don't choose them. Google's add-photos page does say you can request to remove photos customers added, and it links to the steps. Use that for photos that are wrong or break Google's rules, like a picture of a different business. The best answer to a bad customer photo is usually a few better photos of your own.

Use the same photos on your website

The photos that work on your profile work on your website too, and the habit of shooting every job feeds both. Our guide to job photos that win work covers what to shoot for each trade and how to size photos so the page still opens fast on a phone.

A website to go with the profile

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