Optimising Your Google Business Profile: Step-by-Step Guide

Why does the Google Business Profile matter so much?

The Google Business Profile (formerly "Google My Business", renamed in 2022) is your company listing in Google Search and Google Maps: name, opening hours, photos, reviews, directions, call button. For local searches, Google shows a map section with three listings above the regular results — the so-called local 3-pack. That is exactly where the competition for local customers happens.

For many small businesses, this profile generates more first contacts than their own website: calls straight from the search results, route planning, website clicks. A well-maintained profile is the cheapest marketing tool available to local businesses — provided it is not forgotten after being created.

Step 1: Claim and verify your profile

First check whether your business already appears on Google Maps — Google often creates listings automatically from public sources. If a listing exists, claim it via "Own this business?"; if not, create one at google.com/business using a Google account for your company.

Google then requires confirmation that you genuinely represent the business. Depending on industry and location, this happens via video (a walkthrough of your premises, company vehicle or tools), by phone, or classically by postcard to your business address. Without completed verification the profile stays limited and cannot be edited — this step is mandatory, not optional.

Step 2: Keep your core data complete and exact

Google itself states: businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear in local search results. These details need to be maintained properly:

• Choose your primary category precisely (e.g. "plumber", not a generic "tradesman") — plus fitting secondary categories
• Name, address, phone number identical everywhere: profile, website, legal notice, business directories
• Keep opening hours current — including holidays and vacation; nothing frustrates customers more than locked doors
• Add services and products with short descriptions
• Link your website and, if available, your online booking
• Write a business description covering your key services and service area

Step 3: Photos, posts and freshness

Profiles with real photos look far more trustworthy than empty listings with a grey map. Show your team, your premises, work examples and your company vehicle — no stock photos. Upload new images regularly instead of twenty at once: freshness signals to Google and customers that the business is alive.

With posts you can additionally publish news, offers or seasonal notes directly in the profile — for instance "Heating maintenance appointments now bookable". The questions-and-answers section belongs to the routine too: answer questions there yourself before strangers do it inaccurately.

Step 4: Collect and answer reviews

Reviews are the strongest lever you can influence yourself. Google explicitly names the number of reviews and positive ratings as a factor in a business’s prominence — and customers read them before every call anyway.

The most practical approach: ask satisfied customers for a review right after the job is done and send the direct review link by message — or place a QR code at the counter or on the invoice. Reply to every review, including critical ones: factual, solution-oriented, no battles of justification. Stay away from bought or discount-rewarded reviews — that violates Google’s guidelines and is also legally risky in Germany under competition law.

How does Google decide local rankings?

Google officially names three factors for local results: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far your location is from the searcher) and prominence (how established your business is — measured among other things by reviews and links from other websites). A better ranking cannot be bought, not even from agencies that promise exactly that.

In practice this means: you cannot influence distance, but relevance and prominence very much so — through complete data, the right category, a steady flow of reviews and a well-maintained website that clearly names your services and service area. Profile and website reinforce each other: the profile brings visibility, the website delivers the depth that turns a searcher into a customer.

Common mistakes that hold profiles back

These are the mistakes we see most often in practice:

• Stuffing keywords into the business name ("Miller Ltd — Plumbing Heating Emergency Cheap") — violates the guidelines and risks suspension
• Wrong or overly generic primary category — a direct loss of relevance
• Duplicate profiles for the same location — confuses Google and dilutes reviews
• Outdated opening hours, especially on public holidays
• Reviews and questions left unanswered for months
• No website link — prospects find you but cannot go deeper

Conclusion: one hour a month that pays off

Once set up properly, the profile needs about one to two hours of care per month: new photos, answering reviews, checking opening hours, an occasional post. This routine beats any one-off "optimisation package". If you cannot find the time in daily business, the maintenance can be outsourced — in our SEO add-on (from 69 euros per month) the business profile is part of the ongoing programme alongside website optimisation. What matters is not who does it, but that it happens continuously.