How to Optimize a Google Business Profile, Field by Field

A Google Business Profile is a set of fields. Optimizing it means filling each one accurately, in the words your customers use, within Google’s guidelines. Here is each field in turn.

Business name

Use the name on your signage, invoices and registration. Adding a service or city (“Smith Plumbing, Emergency Plumber Leeds”) is against the guidelines unless that is the registered name. It can be reported by competitors and can lead to suspension.

Categories

Choose one primary category that best describes the business as a whole, then add secondary categories for other real services. To choose well, look at what the listings ranking for your main search use. Review categories once or twice a year, because Google adds new ones.

Address or service area

Storefronts show the address. Businesses that visit customers hide it and list service areas. Hybrid businesses, such as a shop that also delivers, can do both. Service areas should reflect where you really work.

Hours

Enter regular hours, then add special hours for public holidays. If you list 24 hours, someone must answer. “Open now” is a filter customers use constantly, and wrong hours produce wasted journeys and poor reviews.

Phone and website

Use a local number you answer. Link to the most relevant page of your website, which for a single-location business is usually the home page.

Description

You have up to 750 characters. Say what you do, who for and where, in plain sentences. Put the most important information first. Do not list keywords, and do not include links or offers.

Services

Add every service by name with a short description and, where it helps, a price or starting price. This section is often empty, and it is one of the easiest ways to make a profile more relevant to specific searches.

Products

If you sell products, or packaged services such as a spa day, add them with photos and prices. They appear prominently on the profile.

Attributes

Attributes vary by category: accessibility, payment methods, appointment required, outdoor seating, online estimates and many more. Tick everything that is true. Customers filter by them.

Booking and ordering links

Where your category supports it, add your appointment, reservation or ordering link so customers can act directly from the profile.

Photos

Add a logo, a cover photo and real pictures of your premises, team, vehicles and work. Add new ones regularly. Avoid stock images. You do not need to geotag files. What matters is that photos are genuine and current.

Posts

Posts are short updates: an offer, a finished job, a seasonal reminder. They show customers the business is active. A couple a month is enough.

Reviews

Create your review link, share it with every customer and reply to every review. Never offer anything in exchange for a review. It breaks Google’s review policies.

A monthly ten-minute routine

1. Check hours and add any upcoming holiday hours.
2. Add two or three new photos.
3. Publish one post.
4. Reply to any reviews.
5. Look at the performance data: calls, directions and website clicks.

Beyond the profile

A complete profile is the foundation, not the whole building. Google checks it against your citations and your website. Read Google Business Profile vs website SEO for how they work together, or see our Google Business Profile ranking service if you want this done for you.