The Google Business Profile checklist for local service clients

For a plumber, a dental practice or a physiotherapy clinic, the map results often matter more than the ordinary blue links. They sit near the top of the page, they show reviews and opening hours, and they come with a "Call" button.

The good news is that a lot of local visibility comes from things an agency can check and fix in a few hours. The bad news is that a surprising number of local businesses have never looked at their Google Business Profile since the day it was created.

This is the checklist we work through for a new local client.

How Google says local results are ranked

Google is unusually open about this. Its Business Profile help pages say local results are based mainly on three things:

• Relevance: how well a profile matches what someone searched for.
• Distance: how far the business is from the searcher, or from the location in the search.
• Prominence: how well known the business is, which Google says draws on information from across the web, including reviews, links and articles.

Distance is the one a business cannot change, and it is why local rankings vary so much depending on where the searcher is standing. Relevance and prominence are where the work is.

Claim and verify the profile

Start with the basics, because they are often not done.

• Confirm the client owns the profile and that someone at the business, not only a former employee or an old agency, has owner access.
• Verify it if it is not verified. An unverified profile has limited control over how it appears.
• Check for duplicates. Old listings from a previous address or a past business name confuse customers and split reviews.
• Get manager access for yourself rather than using the client's login.

Get the categories right

The primary category is one of the most important choices on the profile, because it tells Google what the business fundamentally is. Choose the most specific category that describes the core business: "Emergency dental service" or "Pediatric dentist" rather than a general category, if that is genuinely what the business does.

Add secondary categories for other real services, but keep them honest. A category the business does not actually serve makes the profile relevant for searches that will not turn into customers.

Look at the categories of the businesses that rank well for the client's main searches. It is one of the quickest ways to spot a better-fitting primary category.

Keep the name real

Use the business's real name as it appears on its signage, website and paperwork. Google's guidelines do not allow adding keywords or locations to the business name, such as "Smith Dental — Best Dentist in Leeds".

It is tempting, because keyword-stuffed names sometimes appear to rank well. It also puts the profile at risk of suspension, and competitors can suggest edits or report it. Not worth it for a client's main source of calls.

The fastest way to lose a local client's map listing is to game the business name.

Address, service area and hours

• Address. Use the exact address customers visit. If the business serves customers at their own locations and does not receive visitors, set it up as a service-area business and hide the address, as Google's guidelines require.
• Service areas. List the towns or districts the business genuinely serves.
• Hours. Make them accurate, and add special hours for public holidays in advance. A customer who drives to a closed practice because the profile said it was open does not come back.

Website, phone and booking links

Link the profile to the most relevant page on the website. For a single-location business, that is often the homepage. For a business with several locations, link each profile to its own location page, with the same address, phone number and hours shown on that page.

Use a local phone number that is answered during the listed hours, and add a booking or appointment link if the business takes bookings online.

Then check the website itself. A location page that loads slowly on mobile, or that does not clearly say where the business is and what it offers, weakens the connection between the profile and the site. Running a technical audit on the pages the profile links to is worth doing early.

Description, services and photos

• Description. Say what the business does, who it serves and where, in plain language. No links, no promotional claims Google's guidelines disallow, and no keyword lists.
• Services or products. Add the actual services, with descriptions, so the profile has more to match against specific searches.
• Photos. Add real, current photos of the premises, the team and the work. Customers look at them before choosing, and a profile with only a logo looks abandoned.

Reviews: ask every customer, reply to every review

Reviews affect both how prominent a business appears and whether someone chooses it once they see it.

• Ask consistently. Make asking for a review part of the normal process after a job or appointment, with a direct link to the review form.
• Reply to reviews, good and bad. A calm, specific reply to a bad review is read by every future customer who sees it.
• Do not incentivise reviews. Google's policies prohibit offering discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews.
• Do not filter who you ask. Asking only customers you expect to be happy, sometimes called review gating, is also against Google's policies.
• Never write or buy reviews. Fake reviews can be removed and can put the profile at risk.

A steady flow of genuine reviews over time is worth more than a burst of them in one week.

Make the business look the same everywhere

Prominence draws on information from across the web. Check that the business name, address, phone number and hours are the same on the website, the Business Profile, major directories and industry-specific listings.

Inconsistent details, such as an old address on one directory or a different phone number on another, create doubt for customers and make it harder for anyone reading the web, people or software, to be sure they are looking at the same business. It is tedious work, and it only needs doing properly once.

Track the map results, from the right place

Finally, measure where the client appears in the map results for their main searches. Because distance matters so much, check from a consistent location that reflects where customers are, and include the location in the search, such as "dentist in Dubai Marina", rather than relying on where you happen to be.

Track the position alongside the profile's completeness: whether it is claimed, has a website and hours, has photos, and how its rating and review count compare with the businesses ranking above it. When a client asks why a competitor ranks higher, those side-by-side details are usually the answer.

AuditOpti's Local SEO tool does this check for a local search: where the business ranks in the map results, a completeness check of its profile, and the businesses ranking ahead of it. If the client's website has never had a technical check, a free audit is a good place to start.