Google Business Profile requires photos to be at least 720×720 pixels, under 5MB, and in JPG or PNG format. The cover photo displays at roughly 1080×608px (16:9). The logo requires a minimum of 250×250px. Google recompresses all uploads — uploading at 1200×900px or larger gives the algorithm better source material and produces sharper results in the Knowledge Panel.
| Photo type | Minimum size | Recommended upload | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard photo | 720 × 720 px | 1200 × 900 px | 5MB |
| Cover photo | 1080 × 608 px | 1080 × 608 px | 5MB |
| Logo | 250 × 250 px | 500 × 500 px | 5MB |
What Google actually displays vs what you upload
This is where most guides stop at the spec table and miss the real issue. Google doesn't show your uploaded photo — it shows a version it has reprocessed and stored in its own CDN. The display size, crop, and quality are all determined by Google, not by your upload.
In the Knowledge Panel (the info box on the right side of desktop search results), photos typically display in a grid at around 200–300px. In Google Maps, the cover photo displays in a card at around 380px wide. In Google Search on mobile, the cover photo can appear at full viewport width when the business panel is expanded. That means the same photo gets used at multiple sizes across multiple surfaces.
The practical implication: upload larger than the minimum. A 720×720px photo at Google's minimum will look acceptable on mobile cards but will be visibly soft if Google chooses to display it larger. A 1200×900px upload gives Google room to display sharply at any of its sizes.
The cover photo crop problem across surfaces
The cover photo is the photo Google selects to represent the business most prominently. Officially 1080×608px (16:9), it gets cropped differently depending on where it appears:
- Knowledge Panel (desktop): approximately 16:9, full width of the panel
- Google Maps business card: often cropped closer to 4:3 or even square
- Search on mobile: can be displayed at various crops depending on the result format
You can't set different photos for different surfaces. Design the cover photo so the key subject — your storefront, your product, your team — is centered and wouldn't be damaged by a crop to 4:3 or even 1:1. Avoid putting critical text near the edges.
Google chooses which photo appears first — you don't
This surprises most business owners. You designate a cover photo, but Google may override it and display a different photo from your listing — including user-submitted photos — in the prominent position. Google's algorithm decides which photo is most likely to be useful to the searcher.
You can't disable user-submitted photos, and you can't force your cover photo to always appear first. What you can do is upload more high-quality photos across all categories (exterior, interior, team, product) so that Google's algorithm has more good options to choose from. Businesses with more verified-owner photos tend to have less reliance on user photos in prominent positions.
Google officially recommends at least 3 photos to help the profile appear in local search results. In practice, 10–20 high-quality photos across multiple categories significantly improves how the listing performs.
File preparation for upload
Standard photos: shoot or prepare at 1200×900px or larger, export as JPEG at 80–85% quality. This produces files of 200–600KB — well under the 5MB limit but with enough quality for Google's recompression to work cleanly. You can compress to under 500KB before uploading if your source files are large.
Logo: PNG with a white or transparent background at 500×500px. Google displays logos as squares in most placements. A PNG preserves sharp edges on text and iconography better than JPEG at equivalent file sizes.
If you get an upload error for a photo that meets the specs, resave it as a new JPEG from an image editor. Photos with corrupted EXIF metadata or unusual colour profiles can fail silently. A clean resave from a basic tool usually fixes it.
Photos that Google will reject or remove
Google enforces content policies on Business Profile photos. Photos are rejected or removed for:
- Text overlays (promotional text, prices, phone numbers, URLs on the image itself)
- Blurry, dark, or low-quality images — Google's automated systems assess image quality
- Watermarks
- Images that don't represent the actual business location or products
- Sexually explicit or graphic content
Clean, professional photos without text overlays are most likely to be approved and displayed prominently. Keep file sizes under 1MB — though the 5MB limit is generous, smaller files upload reliably on slower connections and process faster through Google's pipeline.