Most Google Business Profiles we audit are claimed but not optimised — someone set it up years ago, verified it, and never touched it again. Meanwhile Google is actively scoring it against every competitor nearby. Here's the order we'd work through it in.

Step 1: Confirm you actually own it

Before anything else, make sure you (or someone you trust) has primary owner access — not just manager access. Old agencies or former employees sometimes retain ownership of a profile long after the relationship ends, which can quietly block changes later.

Step 2: Choose the right categories

Your primary category is one of the single highest-impact settings on the entire profile. Choose the most specific accurate option — "Seafood Restaurant" instead of "Restaurant," "Surf School" instead of "Sports Club." Add secondary categories for genuine additional services, but don't pad the list with categories that don't reflect what you actually do; Google can penalise obvious over-tagging.

Step 3: Fill out every field completely

An incomplete profile is a weaker signal. Work through:

Business description — plain language, no keyword stuffing
Hours — including holiday hours, kept current
Services or products — as specific as the interface allows
Attributes — accessibility, amenities, and other relevant tags
Booking or ordering links — direct, working links, not a generic homepage

Step 4: Build a real photo strategy

Photo count matters, but recency matters more than most owners realise. A profile with fifty photos from three years ago reads as stale. Aim for new, high-quality photos added on a regular cadence — real photos of the actual business, not stock imagery.

Step 5: Systematise reviews

Reviews are both a trust signal and a ranking signal. The two things that matter most: a consistent, ethical system for asking satisfied customers to leave a review (never incentivised, which violates Google's policies and risks the listing), and a habit of responding to every review — positive and negative — professionally and promptly. See Business Systems for how we help set this up as an actual system rather than a one-off effort.

Step 6: Post and manage Q&A

Google Posts (updates, offers, events) and the public Q&A section both contribute to how "alive" your listing appears. Anyone can post a question, including ones you'd rather answer yourself first — check it regularly and seed accurate answers to common questions before someone else does with a wrong one.

What to expect after you optimise

Initial configuration takes 3–5 days of focused work. Ranking movement builds from there, as Google re-crawls and re-evaluates the profile alongside your ongoing review and engagement activity — this isn't a one-time fix, it's a profile that needs to stay active.

Frequently asked questions

I already claimed my profile years ago — do I still need to do this?

Almost certainly, yes. Claiming a profile and optimising it are two different jobs. Most of the profiles we review are claimed, current on hours, and stalled everywhere else.

How often should I post updates?

Consistency matters more than frequency — a steady weekly or biweekly cadence beats a burst of ten posts followed by six months of silence.

How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile