For many local businesses, the Google Business Profile is the first thing a customer sees, before your website, and sometimes instead of it. It shows up in Google Search and Maps with your hours, reviews, photos, and a button to call you.
When it's complete and accurate, it's one of your best sources of new customers. When it's neglected, it can quietly send people to a competitor. Here's how to tell which one yours is doing.
Signs your profile is hurting you
- Wrong or missing hours, especially on holidays. Nothing loses a customer faster than showing up to a closed door.
- Few or outdated photos. Profiles with real, recent photos look active and trustworthy.
- Unanswered reviews, positive or negative. Silence looks like you're not paying attention.
- The wrong primary category. Your main category strongly influences which searches you show up for.
- An old phone number or website link that sends people to a dead end.
- Duplicate listings for the same location, which split your reviews and confuse Google.
How to audit your profile in 15 minutes
Search for your business name on Google and on Google Maps, then sign in to your profile and check each of these:
- Business name, address, phone, and website are correct and match your website exactly.
- Regular hours and special hours are up to date.
- Your primary category is the most specific one that fits, with relevant secondary categories added.
- Your services or products are listed.
- Your business description clearly says what you do and where.
- You have recent photos of your location, team, and work.
Reply to every review, not just the bad ones. A short, genuine thank-you shows future customers that real people are behind the business.
Keep it active
A profile isn't something you set up once. Add new photos regularly, use posts to share updates or offers, keep your hours current, and make asking for reviews part of how you finish every job.
Make it work for you
If your profile hasn't been touched in a while, or you're not sure it's set up correctly, I can audit it, fix what's wrong, and put a simple routine in place so it keeps bringing in calls.
