Companies House Number on Google Business Profile: Required or Not?

Short answer: not as a matter of UK statute. The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 require your registered name, registered number, place of registration and registered office to appear on your company website. They name "websites" specifically, alongside business letters and order forms. They do not name Google Business Profile or any other third-party listing.

Long answer: put it there anyway. UK law is the clearest of any European country on website disclosures, and a Google Business Profile description is the cheapest possible place to make sure no Trading Standards officer, no AI Overview ranking signal, and no nervous customer ever asks where your registered number is. This article walks through what the law actually says, how the UK regime differs from the rest of Europe, and the exact text to drop into the description field.

What UK trading disclosures law actually says

The framework is in two layers. Section 82 of the Companies Act 2006 is the enabling power that lets the Secretary of State make regulations about trading disclosures. The actual rules live in The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/17), which replaced the 2008 SI in full.

Regulation 25 of the 2015 SI sets out what the company must disclose on certain documents and communications. The list of covered media includes:

• business letters
• order forms
• websites

For each, the company must show its registered name, registered number, place of registration (England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland), and the address of its registered office. Limited companies must also show that they are limited. Community interest companies must show their CIC status. A company being wound up must say so.

The penalty under section 84 of the Companies Act is an offence committed by the company and every officer in default, fine on the standard scale (currently up to level 3, around £1,000). For continuing contraventions there is a daily default fine. Prosecutions are rare. The real stick is section 83: if your trading disclosures are not in order, you cannot enforce a contract against the other party in legal proceedings during the period of breach. That is the mechanism that hurts.

For the underlying website obligation, see our separate guide on what UK companies must display on their website (TODO: /uk/en/guides/companies-house-number-website-required once it ships).

What this means for Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is not a website that the company controls. The HTML, the layout, the moderation rules, and the storage all sit with Google. The company adds content into a structured form. Whether that counts as a "website" of the company under regulation 25 has not been tested in court.

The cautious legal reading is that the regulations apply to the medium the company itself publishes. A Google Business Profile sits closer to a directory listing than to a corporate website. The regulator-facing answer is: your registered number must be on your own website, and it almost certainly does not have to be on your Google Business Profile.

The practical answer is different. You add it to GBP because:

• Customers verify before they call. Anyone comparing three plumbers, three accountants, or three solicitors will glance at the GBP description first. A registered number is the fastest credibility signal a small business can show.
• AI Overviews and ChatGPT scrape GBP descriptions. Search engines and large language models use GBP descriptions as a structured source for entity grounding. A profile that names "Companies House number 06234567" couples your business to the Companies House record. A profile without it does not.
• It removes any doubt about the regulation. If a future court reads regulation 25 broadly enough to capture company-controlled third-party listings, the businesses that get fined will not be the ones who already complied. Adding the number is free.

How the UK regime differs from the rest of Europe

This is the differentiator worth knowing. Most EU member states impose the website-disclosure obligation through the E-Commerce Directive transposition, which says identification information must be "easily, directly and permanently accessible." That is implication, not enumeration. The UK regime is stricter: the 2015 SI literally names "websites" as a covered medium, alongside letters and order forms.

If you trade in both the UK and Ireland, France, or Germany, the website-disclosure rule is similar in substance everywhere. But only in the UK does the statutory instrument spell it out word for word. That makes the UK obligation harder to argue away on technicalities.

The registered number itself

The format is typically eight digits for companies registered in England and Wales or Scotland. Northern Ireland companies have an "NI" prefix. Limited liability partnerships have an "OC" prefix. You can confirm yours at the official Companies House register at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.

Sole traders are not registered at Companies House. They have no Companies Registration Number (CRN) to display. The Business Names provisions in Part 41 of the Companies Act 2006 (sections 1200 to 1206) still apply: a sole trader operating under a business name rather than their personal name must show their own name and a service address on business correspondence. On a Google Business Profile that translates to the trading name in the title, the legal owner's name in the description, and the address in the address field.

Where on GBP to put the number

The GBP description sits under the About section in the profile editor at business.google.com. It accepts up to 750 characters. Only the first 250 are visible before a "More" truncation in the public profile. URLs and phone numbers are not allowed. Factual information about the business, including your registered number, is allowed.

Put the registered number near the end of the first 250 characters so it sits above the fold. Group it with the place of registration so the disclosure mirrors what regulation 25 asks for on the website.

Worked example

Smith & Co Plumbing Limited has been serving households across Bristol since 2009. Emergency call-outs available 24/7 for leaks, blocked drains, and boiler breakdowns. Gas Safe registered. Family-run, fully insured. Companies House number 06234567. Registered office: Bristol.

Character count: 240. Fits inside the GBP description preview pane.

Notice what is not in the example: no website URL (Google strips them), no second phone number (the profile already has a phone field), no VAT number (it belongs on the website footer, not in a marketing description), and no email address (also has its own field).

What not to put in the GBP description

• VAT number. It belongs on your website if you trade as an information society service, not in your GBP description.
• Bank details or account numbers. A public profile is not a payment instrument. This invites fraud.
• Long blocks of legal text. Cookie notices, terms and conditions, privacy policy text, all belong on the website. The description is for marketing copy plus identification.
• URLs. Google rejects them. Use the website field on the profile instead.
• Repeated phone number. Use the phone field. A duplicate in the description triggers Google's spam review.
• Director PPSN, NI number, or any personal identifier. A registered company number is public. Personal identifiers are not.

Where each disclosure belongs

Five-minute fix

1. Sign in at business.google.com with the Google account that owns the profile.
2. Pick the right business if you manage more than one.
3. Click Edit profile, then About, then Description.
4. Append a sentence like "Companies House number 06234567. Registered office: Bristol." at the end of your first 250 characters.
5. Save. Google's review usually clears the change within 24 to 48 hours.

If the edit is rejected, the most common reason is a stray URL or phone number elsewhere in the description. Strip those out and resubmit.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to put my Companies House number on my Google Business Profile?

Not as a matter of statute. The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/17) name your company website as a covered medium, not third-party listings such as a Google Business Profile. In practice you should add it anyway. It is the strongest, cheapest trust signal you can place in front of a customer who is comparing you with three competitors before they call.

Where on my Google Business Profile should I put my company number?

In the description field under About, accessible from business.google.com. The field accepts up to 750 characters and the first 250 are shown before a More truncation. Put your registered name and Companies House number near the end of those first 250 characters so they sit above the fold without forcing the reader to expand.

Can I add a link to my Companies House listing in the GBP description?

No. Google does not allow URLs in the description field of a Business Profile. Submissions with links are rejected automatically or stripped during review. Phone numbers in the description are also disallowed because the profile already has a dedicated phone field.

Are sole traders required to display anything similar?

Sole traders have no Companies House number because they are not registered at Companies House. The Business Names Act provisions in sections 1200 to 1206 of the Companies Act 2006 still require them to display their name and a service address on business correspondence. On a Google Business Profile this means using the Business Names disclosures rather than a registered number, and listing the trading name correctly so customers can match it to invoices.

Want to know if your website is compliant?

Adding your Companies House number to GBP is free. The bigger question is whether your website itself meets the trading disclosures regime. The footer needs registered name, registered number, place of registration, and registered office. The site needs a privacy notice under the UK GDPR, a cookie banner under PECR, and consumer rights disclosures if you sell online.

Run a free scan and see in under two minutes which mandatory disclosures are missing. No account needed.

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This is technical analysis, not legal advice. Speak to a solicitor for advice on your specific situation.