When someone searches for a service "near me", the map pack at the top of the results gets much of the attention, and the businesses in it get many of the calls. Your Google Business Profile decides whether you're one of them. It's free, it's powerful and it's often left half-finished. Here's how to optimise every part of it.
How Google ranks local results
Google describes three main factors:
| Factor | What it means | What you can influence |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well your profile matches the search | Categories, services, description, website content |
| Distance | How far you are from the searcher or location in the search | Your address or service area |
| Prominence | How well known and trusted you are | Reviews, links, mentions, overall web presence |
1. Get the basics exactly right
- Business name: your real name, with no added keywords or locations
- Address or service area: an address if customers visit you; a service area if you travel to them
- Phone number: a local number that's answered
- Website: link to the most relevant page, often the homepage or a location page
- Hours: including holiday hours
Keep your name, address and phone number identical everywhere online: your website, directories and social profiles.
2. Choose categories carefully
Your primary category is one of the strongest ranking signals. Choose the most specific option that describes your main service, then add secondary categories for other genuine services.
| Too broad | More specific |
|---|---|
| Contractor | Roofing contractor |
| Consultant | Marketing consultant |
| Shop | Bicycle shop |
3. Add services and products
List every service with a short description, and add products if you sell them. This helps your profile appear for more specific searches and gives searchers a clearer picture before they click.
4. Write a useful description
Use your 750 characters to explain what you do, who for, where, and what makes you different, in natural language. Don't stuff keywords or include links and promotions.
5. Add photos regularly
- Your exterior, so people recognise the premises
- Interior and team photos
- Your work, products and projects
- A clear logo and cover photo
Real photos build trust; stock images don't. Add new ones regularly.
6. Use attributes
Attributes such as wheelchair accessibility, payment options, appointment-only or women-led help searchers decide and can match specific searches. Fill in every one that's true.
7. Earn and manage reviews
Reviews influence both rankings and whether people choose you. Ask happy customers consistently, make it easy with a direct link, and reply to every review politely, including negative ones. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers this in detail.
8. Post updates
Google Business Profile posts let you share offers, events, news and recent work. Regular posts keep the profile active and give searchers more reasons to choose you.
9. Connect your website
- Add LocalBusiness schema with matching details; our schema generator can create it
- Create location or service-area pages for the areas you serve
- Embed a map on your contact page
- Track calls and visits from your profile with UTM-tagged website links
Mistakes that hurt or suspend profiles
- Adding keywords or locations to the business name
- Using a virtual office or PO box as a physical address
- Creating duplicate profiles for the same location
- Buying, incentivising or faking reviews, which breaks Google's policies and, in the UK, consumer law
- Letting details go out of date
Measuring performance
Your profile's performance data shows how people found you, searches that triggered your profile, calls, direction requests and website clicks. Track these monthly alongside enquiries.
Optimisation checklist
- Name, address, phone and hours accurate and consistent
- Most specific primary category, plus relevant secondary categories
- Services and products listed with descriptions
- Helpful 750-character description
- Real photos added and refreshed
- All relevant attributes completed
- Review requests built into your process; every review answered
- Regular posts
- Website has LocalBusiness schema and location pages
A weekly and monthly profile routine
| Frequency | Task |
|---|---|
| Weekly | Reply to new reviews; add a post or photo |
| Weekly | Check for suggested edits from Google or the public |
| Monthly | Review performance: calls, direction requests, website clicks |
| Monthly | Update services, products and offers |
| Quarterly | Refresh photos; check categories and attributes still fit |
| Before holidays | Set special opening hours |
A few minutes each week keeps your profile active and accurate, which is exactly what Google and searchers look for.
Multi-location businesses
- Create one profile per real location, each with its own address and phone number
- Link each profile to a dedicated location page on your website
- Keep names consistent, adding a location descriptor only if it's part of how the business is genuinely known
- Manage profiles together in a business group for easier updates
- Track performance per location, since each competes in its own local market
Avoid creating profiles for locations without staff or premises; virtual offices break Google's guidelines and risk suspension.
How we help
Our local SEO service optimises and manages your profile, citations, location pages and reviews. For the wider picture, read our local SEO checklist for service businesses.
The short version
Get your name, address, phone and hours exactly right, choose the most specific categories, list services, write a genuine description, add real photos, complete attributes, earn and reply to reviews, post regularly and connect your profile to a website with matching details and schema.
