Use a 16:9 image at 1024 x 576 pixels, saved as a JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, with your subject kept in the top half of the frame. That is the size we upload for service businesses. Google's own help pages are less specific. They publish a recommended resolution of 720 x 720 pixels and a minimum of 250 x 250, and they don't publish a dedicated cover photo ratio.
So the 1024 x 576 figure is a practical convention, not an official Google spec. This guide explains why it works, what happens when Google crops your image anyway, and how to choose a cover photo that gets more calls.
TL;DR
- Size to use: 1024 x 576 pixels (16:9). Anything at least 720 pixels wide is safe. Smaller images look soft.
- Official file rules: JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, recommended 720 x 720 pixels, minimum 250 x 250 pixels.
- Composition matters more than pixels: Google crops covers differently on phones, desktops and Maps, so keep the subject centered and high in the frame.
- You don't fully control it: Google can show a customer-uploaded photo instead of your cover. An authentic, sharp photo of your real business gives you the best odds.
- Changes take time: New photos can take 24 to 48 hours to appear while Google reviews them.
Table of Contents
- What the official rules say
- The size we recommend: 1024 x 576 pixels
- Why your cover gets cropped (and how to design around it)
- What makes a good cover photo for a service business
- How to change your cover photo
- Why Google may not show the photo you chose
- Cover photo versus logo versus everything else
- Perspective: what we see on real profiles
- A pre-upload checklist
- Where paid ads fit with your profile photos
- Want us to handle the profile?
- FAQ
- Sources
What the official rules say
Google's photo guidelines for Business Profiles set these standards for every photo you upload, cover included:
| Requirement | Google's standard |
|---|---|
| Format | JPG or PNG |
| File size | 10 KB to 5 MB |
| Recommended resolution | 720 px tall by 720 px wide |
| Minimum resolution | 250 px tall by 250 px wide |
| Quality | In focus, well lit, no heavy edits or filters |
Notice what is missing: no mandatory width-to-height ratio for the cover. The 720 x 720 recommendation is a square, which tells you something useful. Google displays your photos in more than one shape, so your cover has to survive both wide and square crops.
The size we recommend: 1024 x 576 pixels
Industry practitioners commonly suggest 1024 x 576 pixels at 16:9 for the cover. Google's own Business Profile Community thread on cover photos points to the same figure and notes that the image may be cropped dynamically depending on the device or screen size.
Here is why we land on it:
- It clears Google's recommendation. At 576 pixels tall and 1024 wide, you beat the 720 pixel width benchmark and stay far above the 250 pixel minimum.
- It is a standard video-style ratio. Most modern phones shoot 16:9 in landscape, so you rarely need to stretch or distort anything.
- It is small enough to upload fast. A well-compressed 1024 x 576 JPG usually sits far below the 5 MB ceiling, and above the 10 KB floor.
You will see other numbers online, such as 1080 x 608 or 2120 x 1192. Those come from older Google+ era guidance and third-party posts. Treat them as forgiving upper bounds, not requirements. If you have a larger original, you can upload it. Just make sure it respects the 5 MB limit and keep the same 16:9 shape.
What about 820 x 312 and 170 x 170?
Some guides quote 820 x 312 for covers and 170 x 170 for profile images. Those are old display dimensions, and we don't recommend building your image around them. A 170 pixel logo upload will look fuzzy on a modern screen. Start from the 720 pixel recommendation and work up.
Why your cover gets cropped (and how to design around it)
Most owners upload a nice wide image and then discover the Search result shows only part of the truck, the building or the team. Google adjusts the crop by device and by where the photo appears. Two habits prevent most problems.
Keep the subject in the top half. Practitioners who test cover photos consistently find that crops tend to preserve the upper portion of the frame. Put your van's logo, the storefront sign or the technicians' faces there, not along the bottom edge.
Design for both landscape and square. Take your 16:9 image and imagine a square cut from its center. If the key subject survives that cut, it will survive almost any display.
A quick test before uploading:
- Open the image in any editor or photo app.
- Crop a 1:1 square from the middle.
- Check that the truck, sign or people are still fully visible and readable.
- If text is cut off, move it inward or drop it. Text in cover photos is a poor idea anyway, since Google's help page asks for photos without significant alterations.
What makes a good cover photo for a service business
A correct size doesn't make a photo persuasive. A customer scanning three Map listings decides in seconds, and the cover is the first thing they see. These choices work for the home service and professional service companies we work with.
- A real photo of your real business. Your branded truck parked in front of a customer's home, your shop front, or your crew in uniform. Stock images are poor for trust, and they can lose out to customer photos.
- A sharp, well-lit subject. Google's standard asks for photos that are in focus and well lit. A dark, blurry job-site photo hurts more than it helps.
- One clear subject. A wide shot of a building that could be anywhere does nothing for you. Show the thing a customer will recognize when your tech arrives.
- Minimal background clutter. Close-ups survive small mobile crops better than busy scenes.
- No promotional overlays. Phone numbers, coupons and banners can lead to a photo being rejected under Google's photo and video content policy.
Ideas by industry
| Business type | Strong cover subject |
|---|---|
| HVAC | Branded van with a technician beside a finished install |
| Plumbing and electrical | Uniformed tech at the front door, truck behind |
| Roofing | A finished roof with the crew's truck in frame |
| Automotive | Clean exterior of the shop with signage visible |
| Med spa or chiropractor | Bright reception area or treatment room, no patients identifiable |
| Professional services | Office exterior or the team in the lobby |
If you are a service-area business without a public storefront, your vehicle and your people are your storefront. We cover how that fits into the bigger picture in our 90 day plan for service business profiles.
How to change your cover photo
You do this from the Business Profile itself. Per Google's photo management instructions:
- Search for your business name on Google Search or Maps while signed in to the account that manages the profile.
- Open the Photos tab.
- Choose Add a cover photo or Change cover.
- Upload your 1024 x 576 image.
- Wait. New photos may take 24 to 48 hours to show, since they are reviewed for policy compliance.
If you have just claimed the profile and are still verifying it, finish that first. Our video verification checklist walks through the process, and our setup guide covers the remaining basics.
Why Google may not show the photo you chose
This is the part that frustrates owners. Setting a cover doesn't guarantee it will be the first image people see. Google's systems can surface a customer-submitted photo when they judge it more relevant or better quality, and the choice can vary by what someone searches for.
What you can do about it:
- Upload a photo that looks like what customers want to see. Authentic and high-quality beats stylized.
- Use an exterior or a clear service shot rather than a collage or a logo, which tend to underperform as covers.
- Add more photos regularly. A profile with a steady stream of fresh, labeled images gives Google more good options to choose from. Google's help page on business photos lists the kinds of photos it wants, such as exterior, interior and team images.
- Don't fight it forever. If a customer photo gets picked and it is accurate, leave it. If it is misleading, you can flag it for review.
Cover photo versus logo versus everything else
These are separate slots, and mixing them up causes most of the sizing confusion.
- Cover photo: the main image associated with your listing. Aim for 1024 x 576.
- Logo: your profile image. Use a clean square, at least 720 x 720 pixels, with your mark well inside the edges so rounded or circular crops don't clip it.
- Additional photos: exterior, interior, team, work samples. Square or 4:3 images at 720 pixels or larger are fine. Upload them in the largest sensible size within the 5 MB limit.
- Videos: keep them short and shot on a phone. Google reviews them like photos.
Most owners get the biggest gain not from the cover itself but from the volume and quality of photos beyond it. A cover is one image. Customers scroll through dozens.
Perspective: what we see on real profiles
We work only with local service businesses, and cover photos are one of the most overlooked fixes on the profiles we review. The common problems are never about pixel counts. They are a logo stretched into a banner, a stock image of a smiling family, a van photo where the lettering is chopped off, or a photo from 2017 that no longer matches the brand.
Here is how we think about it. The cover photo is a trust signal, not a ranking trick. We don't claim a cover image moves you up the Map pack by itself, and we haven't seen credible evidence that exact pixel dimensions affect rank. What it does is help a searcher who already sees you in the results choose you over the listing next to you. That matters when you are trying to win calls without paying for ads.
So our process is simple. We check that the cover is sharp, authentic and cropped safely. Then we look at the whole photo set, the categories, the reviews and the replies, because a good cover on a thin profile still loses. If you want a broader view of where a profile typically leaks calls, our audit prioritization guide for home services is the place to start.
— John
A pre-upload checklist
Run every cover photo through these before you hit upload:
- 16:9, ideally 1024 x 576 pixels, and no narrower than 720 pixels wide
- JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB
- In focus, well lit, no heavy filters
- Main subject centered and in the upper half
- Still readable when cropped to a square
- Shows your real business, vehicle, team or location
- No phone numbers, discount banners or collage layouts
- Consistent with your logo and current branding
Where paid ads fit with your profile photos
If you also run paid search, your profile and your ads work together. A caller who clicks an ad often checks your listing before dialing. A professional cover photo reinforces the promise of the ad. For a look at how paid search can turn calls into booked jobs for one trade, see this guide to Google Ads for air-con cleaners. It is written for Australian businesses, so the specifics will differ for U.S. markets, but the thinking on call-to-job conversion applies.
The goal for most of our clients is the opposite direction: get more of those calls organically from Search and Maps, so you depend less on ad spend.
Want us to handle the profile?
If you would rather not spend your evenings resizing images and checking crops, we do this as part of our done-for-you Google Business Profile work. That includes photo selection and updates, categories, review monitoring and replies, and ranking reports for local service businesses. You don't have to learn a new platform. See what we cover on our Google Business Profile management page, or get in touch through our main site.
Not sure whether to do it yourself? Our DIY or hire comparison lays out the tradeoffs.
FAQ
What is the best Google Business Profile cover photo size?
Use 1024 x 576 pixels at a 16:9 ratio. Google's official guidance recommends at least 720 x 720 pixels and lists 250 x 250 as the minimum, so this size sits comfortably above both. Keep the file under 5 MB.
Is the Google My Business cover size different from the GBP cover image size?
No. Google My Business was renamed Google Business Profile, and the photo rules are the same. Searches for the old name, the GBP cover image size and the cover photo size all lead to the same specs.
Why does my cover photo look cropped or blurry?
Crops vary by device and placement, so subjects near the edges get cut. Blur usually means the original was small or heavily compressed. Re-upload a sharp 16:9 image at least 720 pixels wide with the subject in the upper center.
How long does a new cover photo take to appear?
Google says it may take 24 to 48 hours, since photos are reviewed for policy compliance. If it hasn't appeared after that, check that the image meets the format and content rules and try again.
Can I make Google always show my chosen cover photo?
No. Google may show a customer photo instead if it judges it more relevant or better quality. An authentic, high-quality photo of your actual business gives your choice the best chance.
Sources
- Manage your Business Profile photos and videos, Google Business Profile Help
- Tips for business-specific photos, Google Business Profile Help
- Cover Photo thread, Google Business Profile Community
- Business Profile photos, videos and posts content policy, Google Business Profile Help