Key takeaways
- Departments that work as distinct entities, such as service and parts, can have their own profile.
- Each department needs a unique name and its own categories. No keywords in the name.
- The main dealer profile uses car sales hours; departments use their own.
- At scale, the wins come from fixing basics consistently across every store.
Why does a dealership need more than one Business Profile?
Because people searching for an oil change, a replacement part or a new car are looking for different things, often with different hours and entrances. Google allows public-facing departments that operate as distinct entities to have their own profile, so the service department can appear for repair searches while the main profile shows for car sales.
This is set out in Google's guidelines for representing your business, which use a dealership as the example: the main profile is the brand dealer, and a separate "Service & Parts" profile uses an auto repair category. For a dealer, the service lane often brings more recurring visits than sales, and without its own profile it competes poorly with independent shops in Maps.
What are Google's rules for department profiles?
Each department must operate as a distinct, public-facing part of the business, usually with its own entrance, and must have its own categories. Its name must be different from the main business and from other departments. The main dealer profile uses the car sales hours, and if new and used sales hours differ, it uses new sales hours.
| Profile | Name pattern | Primary category idea | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main dealership | Brand + dealer name, as on the sign | The brand's car dealer category | New car sales hours |
| Service | Dealer name + Service | Auto repair or car service category | Service lane hours |
| Parts | Dealer name + Parts | Auto parts category | Parts counter hours |
| Used / pre-owned (if separate) | Dealer name + Pre-Owned | Used car dealer category | Used sales hours |
Two rules cause most problems we fix. First, no keywords or locations in the name: "Best Toyota Deals Downtown" is not a business name. Second, multiple brands sold at one location should not be combined into one profile name. Google points auto dealers to its specific dealer guidance, and the details are worth reading before any change, since renaming a verified profile can trigger a review.
The basics every dealership profile needs
- The exact name on the sign, the right primary category and a few accurate secondary ones.
- Department hours kept current, including holidays, which change often in service lanes.
- Photos of the real showroom, service drive, entrance and staff, not stock images.
- A website link to the matching page: service profile to the service page, not the home page.
- Products or services lists that match what the department actually offers.
- Reviews answered for each department, by someone who can fix the problem.
Google's local ranking depends on relevance, distance and prominence, as its tips to improve local ranking explain. Correct categories drive relevance; reviews and complete information support prominence. Neither works if the basics above are missing.
How do you manage dealer profiles across many stores?
With a standard and a checklist, not one-off fixes. Define the naming pattern, categories, photo set and hours process once, audit every store against it, and fix gaps in batches. Give the agency manager access instead of sharing passwords, and keep the dealer group as owner. Then review every store monthly, because hours, staff and photos drift.
We work inside a team that manages SEO for more than 600 US dealerships. Across a portfolio of 436 of those stores measured over five months, the average Business Profile grade in the team's tracking tool moved from 78.8 (C) to 91.9 (A), alongside more number-one keywords per store. None of it came from tricks. It came from fixing names, categories, hours, photos and links consistently, store by store. The full numbers are in our 436-dealership case study.
Access matters at scale. Google lets owners add managers to a Business Profile, so the dealer group stays in control while your team does the work. If a store changes hands, nothing is lost.
Connecting profiles to the website
Each profile should land on the page that matches it, and that page should confirm the same name, address, phone and hours. Mark up the dealership with AutoDealer structured data that matches what is visible. Then give shoppers reasons to stay: the research content in model comparison and trim pages works well alongside a clean set of profiles. For a broader review, use our Business Profile audit checklist.
How we deliver dealership local SEO for agencies
We audit each rooftop, fix profiles under your brand, and report monthly by store and by department. It is part of the program on white label automotive SEO, and of our white label SEO services for agencies and dealer groups.
Frequently asked questions
Can a dealership have separate profiles for sales and service?
Yes, when the service department works as a distinct public-facing operation, with its own name, categories and hours.
Can we add the city to the dealership name?
Only if the city is part of the real name on the sign. Adding locations or keywords breaks Google's name rules.
Which hours should the main dealer profile show?
Car sales hours. If new and pre-owned sales hours differ, Google says to use the new sales hours.
Who should own the dealer's profiles?
The dealership or dealer group. The agency should be added as a manager, so access survives any change of vendor.
Does a body shop need its own profile?
If it operates as a distinct department with its own entrance and categories, it usually qualifies, like service and parts.
About the author
Juan José Giraldo is a senior SEO specialist with 5+ years of experience. He works on technical and local SEO for 600+ US car dealerships and supervises the SEO of 18 US e-commerce stores. He runs White Label SEO LATAM from Medellín, Colombia, and delivers white label SEO for agencies in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Read more · LinkedIn.