Google Business Profile management in Gauteng

Gauteng at a glance

Gauteng is the smallest province by area and the most populous, home to 15,099,423 people (Stats SA, Census 2022) at Census 2022. Johannesburg is the country's financial capital and Pretoria its administrative capital, and the two cities, with Ekurhuleni between them, form one long urban region.

The province was formed in 1994 from part of the old Transvaal and was first called Pretoria Witwatersrand Vereeniging, or PWV. It was later renamed Gauteng. That history still shows in how people describe where they are: a customer in Vanderbijlpark may say the Vaal, and someone in Midrand may say they are between Joburg and Pretoria.

Johannesburg is the provincial capital and the country's largest city, Pretoria is the administrative capital, and Ekurhuleni runs along the airport and the East Rand. Sandton is where much of the financial activity is concentrated, and Soweto is the largest township. A shopper may cross two municipalities in one trip, so a service area that lists the right suburbs matters more here than almost anywhere.

Outside the cities, the Sterkfontein caves near Krugersdorp are where some of the oldest hominid fossils, Mrs Ples and Little Foot, were found. Guesthouses, wedding venues and restaurants in the Cradle of Humankind area are chosen by visitors comparing photos and reviews on Google Maps before a day trip.

Politically and economically Gauteng is the country's centre: it is the wealthiest province and is considered the financial hub of South Africa. That also means the most competition on Google. In a single suburb there may be a dozen dentists or panel beaters, and the ones with recent, answered reviews are the ones people call.

The pages below cover Johannesburg, Sandton, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni in detail, and we work with businesses in every part of the province.

The name means place of gold in Sesotho, and Johannesburg is still often called eGoli. The 1886 discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand built the province, and that mining past still shows in suburb and street names such as Langlaagte and Crown Mines, names customers use when they search.

Trading notes for Gauteng

In Gauteng the quiet weeks are the opposite of the coast: many residents travel over December, so some shops close and others in the malls stay busy. Set your December and January hours on Google before the schools close, and again before the return in January.

Check the dates with our holiday hours tool.