How to optimize your Google Business Profile

Why the profile matters

For local searches, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a buyer sees: in the map pack, in Google Maps and increasingly in Ai Overviews. Google’s guide to improving local ranking lists complete and accurate information, verification, hours, reviews and photos among the things that help. The profile is free, and it is one of the highest-return hours a local business can spend.

Get the basics exactly right

• Business name: your real-world name, as it appears on your signage and paperwork. Adding keywords to the name breaks Google’s guidelines and can get a profile suspended.
• Address or service area: show your address if customers visit you; if you go to customers, set the areas you serve instead.
• Phone and website: a local number you answer, and a link to the most relevant page of your site.
• Hours: regular hours plus special hours for holidays, so you never send someone to a closed door.

Choose categories carefully

Your primary category tells Google what kind of business you are, and it shapes which searches you appear in. Choose the most specific category that describes your main service (for example “Roofing contractor” rather than “Contractor”). Then add secondary categories only for other services you genuinely offer. Check which categories the businesses ranking above you use; it is often the quickest insight.

Services, products and description

• Services: list every service you offer, in the words customers use, with short descriptions and prices or ranges where that helps.
• Products: for retailers and ecommerce businesses with a local presence, add key products or categories.
• Description: a plain statement of what you do, for whom and where, and what makes you different. Write it for people; it also gives search and Ai engines clear facts.
• Attributes: accessibility, payment options, women-owned, veteran-owned and other attributes customers filter on.

Photos and updates

Real photos of your team, vehicles, premises and work make a profile more trustworthy than stock images. Add new ones regularly, especially of finished jobs. Posts let you share offers, events and news on the profile itself; even occasional updates show the business is active. Keep everything consistent with your website, so buyers and engines see the same story.

Reviews: asking, replying and the rules

Reviews are one of the strongest signals on the profile. Google’s review guidance says you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code to leave a review, and that offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for reviews is strictly prohibited. The FTC’s 2024 fake reviews rule adds legal teeth in the US.

1. Ask every customer, right after a good job, with a short link.
2. Make it easy: a text or email with the link, or a QR code on the invoice.
3. Reply to every review. Thank people specifically, and answer complaints calmly with a way to resolve them offline.
4. Report reviews that break Google’s content policies rather than arguing in public.

Keep it accurate everywhere

Your profile, website, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and major directories should all show the same name, address, phone, hours and website. When details conflict, Google and Ai engines are less sure which is right, and buyers lose trust. Review the profile monthly and after any change in hours, phone, address or services.

The profile and Ai answers

Google’s Ai Overviews and Ai Mode draw on Business Profile data for local questions, and other Ai engines read the same reviews and listings when they search the web. A complete, active profile with detailed reviews gives every engine more to quote. Our guide to getting into Google Ai Overviews covers the rest.