Google Business Profile for RV parks, field by field.
The Business Profile is the pin on the map and the panel beside the search results. It is free, it is the biggest single factor in whether your park shows for its town, and most parks have filled in half of it. Here is all of it.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Claim the profile at business.google.com and verify it. Set the primary category to RV park or Campground. Enter the name exactly as it appears on your sign and your site, no extra words. Set regular hours and special hours for opening and closing dates, never permanently closed. Add twenty or more real photos. Fill every attribute Google offers. Write a two-sentence description with the town and the one thing guests come for. Then get steady reviews and answer every one. Check it monthly, because Google and guests both edit it without asking.
Claiming and verifying
Search your park's name on Google Maps. If a listing exists, click "Own this business" or "Claim this business." If not, create one at business.google.com. Verification is by video, phone, postcard, or email depending on what Google offers; video is most common now for new claims and involves showing the sign, the office, and yourself. If a former owner or manager verified it years ago to an email nobody has, request ownership through the same flow and Google will contact the current owner, then transfer it if they do not respond. Do this before anything else. An unowned profile is edited by strangers.
Business name
The name on the sign and the site, exactly. "Willow Lake RV Park." Not "Willow Lake RV Park, Prescott's Best Camping." Google's rules forbid extra descriptors, and profiles that add them get suspended, sometimes for weeks. The town goes in the address field, not the name.
Category
Primary category: "RV park" for most parks. "Campground" if tents and cabins are the larger part. The primary category drives which searches you appear for, and the wrong one is the most common reason a park is missing from its own town's map pack. Secondary categories where true: Campground, Cabin rental agency, Holiday park, Convenience store, Boat ramp. Do not add categories you do not offer.
Address and service area
The physical address, matching the website footer and every directory to the letter. If the postal address differs from the physical entrance, use the physical one and put directions in the description. Do not set a service area; a park is a place people come to.
Hours, by season
Regular hours are the office hours in season. Then use special hours for the dates that differ: opening day, closing day, holidays. When the park closes for winter, set the profile to "temporarily closed" with a reopening date, or use seasonal hours if Google offers them for your category. Never "permanently closed." Guests who arrive at a locked gate because the profile said open leave reviews, and Google counts unanswered "is this open" questions against you.
Phone and website
The main office line, in the same format as the site. The website field gets your homepage. If you have a booking platform, put its link in the appointment or reservation link field where Google offers one, not in the website field.
Photos and video
Twenty or more, real, current. Google reports that profiles with photos get more direction requests and website clicks. What to upload: the entrance sign, an aerial or wide shot of the layout, a site with a rig in it, the bathhouse inside, the office, the pool or playground, the view, the road in, and the map. Add a few each season so the profile shows the park in summer and in fall. Set a logo and a cover photo. Short videos of the drive in do well.
Attributes
Google offers a list of attributes for your category: pets allowed, WiFi, pull-through sites, big rigs, showers, laundry, dump station, wheelchair accessible, and more. These become filters and appear in the panel. Fill every one that is true. Leave the rest unset rather than marking no, unless it is a common question you want answered.
Description
Up to 750 characters, plain. What, where, and the one thing: "Snowy Peaks RV Park in Buena Vista, Colorado, has 60 full-hookup sites and 8 cabins on the Arkansas River, ten minutes from Mount Princeton Hot Springs. Open April through October. Big rigs welcome, pets welcome." No keywords stacked, no exclamation points. Google reads it and so do guests.
Products, services, and posts
Use the products or services section to list site types with a rate or range: "Pull-through 50-amp site, from $55 a night." Use posts for what changes: opening day, a new bathhouse, the fall rate. A post a month keeps the profile active, which Google notices, and it costs five minutes.
Questions and answers
Anyone can ask a question on your profile and anyone can answer it. Get ahead of it: post the six questions guests ask most and answer them yourself. Can I bring my dog. Do you have 50 amp. Do you take reservations. Is there a dump station. How far is the entrance. Then watch for new ones; an unanswered question sits there with a stranger's guess under it.
Reviews
The largest single ranking factor for the map pack. Get them steadily, three or four a month all season, by asking at check-out and putting the review link on the receipt, the WiFi card, and the departure text. Answer every one within a week. How to ask and what to say back.
The settings that get parks suspended
- Extra words in the business name.
- Two profiles for one park, or one for the park and one for the office.
- An address that is a PO box or a manager's house.
- A category that does not match what is at the address.
- Bulk review requests that arrive in one week, which look bought.
- Letting the profile sit unverified while a competitor or a directory edits it.
A suspended profile disappears from the map until Google reinstates it, which takes a form and often weeks. Avoiding the list above is most of avoiding suspension.
Check it monthly
Google accepts edits from users and from data partners without telling you. Hours change, the phone number reverts to an old one, a category appears. Once a month, open the profile, confirm the basics, answer the questions, reply to the reviews, and add a photo. Our Listings + Reviews band does this every month along with the other directories. How we handle it.
Questions that come with this one.
Is Google Business Profile free for an RV park?
Yes. Claiming, verifying, and maintaining it costs nothing. It is the highest-return hour a park owner can spend on marketing.
What category should a campground use on Google?
RV park as the primary category for most parks, or Campground if tents and cabins are the larger share. Add secondary categories only for things you actually offer at the address.
How do I show my park is closed for the season on Google?
Set it to temporarily closed with a reopening date, or use seasonal hours. Never mark it permanently closed; that removes it from the map and is hard to reverse.
Why did my park's Google listing get suspended?
Usually extra words in the business name, a duplicate profile, an address that is not the park, a mismatched category, or a burst of reviews that looked bought. Fix the cause, then request reinstatement through the profile dashboard.
Want us to look at your profile?
Send the park name. We will tell you what is wrong with the profile and the listings around it, no charge for the look.