Reserve with Google: how it works and how to get a booking button
Reserve with Google puts a booking button on your Google Business Profile through an approved booking provider, so customers can book from Search and Maps. If your booking tool is not one of those providers, you can still add your own booking link to the profile, and customers who tap it book on your page instead.
What Reserve with Google is
Reserve with Google is how Google lets people book with a local business without leaving Search or Maps. When a business uses a booking provider that works with Google, a booking button can appear on its Business Profile, and the booking goes through that provider’s system.
Google calls these companies booking providers or partners. The business signs up with a provider, connects it in its Business Profile, and Google shows the provider’s booking option on the listing. Google’s help says the provider can take up to a week to appear, and that the provider may charge for bookings made through Google.
Two ways to get booked from your Google listing
There are two routes, and most small businesses can use at least one of them:
- A booking provider through Reserve with Google. In your Business Profile, open Bookings, choose Get started and pick your provider from the list Google shows for your country and type of business. The booking happens inside Google’s flow.
- Your own booking link. In your Business Profile, choose Edit profile and add your booking page as a link for booking an appointment. Google shows it on your listing, and customers who tap it book on your own page. Any business can do this, whatever booking tool it uses.
How to add a booking link to your Google Business Profile
Adding your own link takes a couple of minutes. Google moves its menus around from time to time, so the names may differ slightly on your profile:
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile and search for your business name on Google, or open it in Google Maps.
- Choose Edit profile.
- Open the Bookings section. On some profiles the option sits under Contact, as appointment links.
- Choose Add link, paste your booking page link and save.
- If you have more than one booking link, mark the one you want customers to use as your preferred link, so it shows first.
Which option should you choose?
A provider through Reserve with Google keeps the whole booking inside Google, which is convenient for customers who never want to leave Maps. It depends on your booking tool being an approved provider in your country and category, and Google’s help notes that performance data is available for provider bookings but not for custom links.
Your own link works with any booking tool, and the customer books on a page you control, with your photos, your services and your prices. That matters when a job needs more than a time slot: a price that depends on the details, a question or two before booking, or a deposit to hold the time. A generic booking button handles simple appointments; a booking page can quote the job first.
You do not have to choose only one. Google lets a profile carry several booking links, so a business can list a provider and its own page side by side.
Where Operator fits
Operator is not a Reserve with Google provider. It works through the second route: every Operator business gets a booking page with its own link, ready to add to Google in the Bookings section of the profile. Customers who tap it can ask questions, see a price built from the business’s own rates, pick a time from its real calendar and pay a deposit. Operator’s settings have the link ready to copy with a shortcut to your profile. Plans start at $49 a month with a 14-day free trial.