Google gives you 750 characters for your business description, but only the first 250 display before a customer has to click "Read more" — meaning the real writing challenge isn't filling the space, it's making the first quarter of it count. A clear structure — what you do, who you serve, where, what makes you different, and some form of social proof — consistently outperforms a vague, promotional-sounding paragraph, and it's one of the most underfilled fields on most business profiles.

The Character Limit Reality

750 characters works out to roughly four to six sentences — enough for a real, informative description, not enough for your full company history. The first 250 characters matter most, since that's what shows in the preview before anyone clicks through, so the most important information — what you do and who you serve — needs to live in that first stretch, not be saved for later in the description.

The Structure That Works

State what you do, plainly, in the first sentence. This is the line most likely to actually get read, since it's what shows in the preview.

Detail your specific services. Vague ("we offer great service") loses to specific ("emergency plumbing, drain cleaning, water heater installation").

Name your service area explicitly. The same local-specificity principle that helps with "near me" search results applies here too.

State a genuine point of difference. Years in business, a specialization, a credential — something concrete, not a generic claim every competitor could equally make.

Include a form of social proof if space allows. A specific number — years served, customers helped — carries more weight than an adjective.

What Google Prohibits — and Why It's Worth Taking Seriously

This isn't a soft guideline: violating it risks account suspension. No links or HTML of any kind. No prices, sales, or time-sensitive offers — that's what Google Posts exist for instead. No keyword stuffing; Google has actively cracked down on descriptions that read like a list of search terms rather than real sentences. No misleading claims, no gimmicky characters, no promotional language dressed up as description. Writing naturally, the way you'd actually describe your business to a person, satisfies all of this automatically — the businesses that run into trouble are usually the ones trying to game the field rather than simply use it.

A Concrete Example

For a dental practice: "At [Practice Name], we provide comprehensive family dentistry in a warm, welcoming environment in [neighborhood/city]. With over [X] years of experience, our team specializes in preventative care, cosmetic dentistry, and emergency dental services. Patients choose us for our gentle approach and personalized care. We're currently accepting new patients." Notice what this does: names the business type and location immediately, gets specific about services, states a genuine differentiator (gentle approach, personalized care), and closes with a soft, non-promotional call to action rather than a discount or deal.

Where to Go From Here

This is one piece of a fully optimized profile — see the complete checklist in How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile for AI Search.

Want a second opinion on your current description? Get in touch — we'll tell you honestly whether it's working as hard as it could be.