Google Business Profile management: what it involves and why it pays
By Charles Mansfield-Osborne ·
For most local businesses, the Google Business Profile is the first thing a customer sees: the panel on the right of Google Search and the pin on Google Maps, with your hours, phone number, photos and reviews. It often gets more views than your website. Yet many profiles are set up once and forgotten, with old photos, wrong hours and unanswered reviews. Managing a profile properly is one of the most cost-effective things a local business can do for its visibility.
We have been working with Google Business Profiles (formerly Google My Business) since 2016, including setting up and verifying listings for multi-site operators such as Mecca Bingo. Here is what good management involves, and what our Google Business Profile management service covers.
1. Verification and ownership
Everything starts with a verified profile that you own. Google increasingly asks for video verification, a short, continuous recording showing your signage, your premises and proof that you operate there. It is a common sticking point, especially after a move, and a profile stuck in “further verification required” can’t show your edits. We prepare and guide the verification so it passes first time where possible.
We also make sure the business, not a former employee or agency, holds primary ownership.
2. Getting the basics exactly right
- Name, address and phone (NAP) that matches your website and every directory listing, character for character
- Primary and secondary categories, the single biggest factor in which searches you appear for
- Opening hours, including bank holidays and special hours
- Service areas for businesses that visit customers rather than receiving them
- Services, products and attributes such as accessibility, parking and payment options
3. Photos and 360° tours
Google says businesses with photos receive more requests for directions and more clicks to their websites than those without. Fresh, professional photos of your exterior, interior, team and work, plus a 360° tour on Google Maps that lets people look inside, give searchers the confidence to choose you. We shoot and upload them as part of management, and refresh them as your business changes.
4. Posts and updates
Regular posts about offers, events, new products and news show Google and customers that the business is active. A simple monthly rhythm is enough for most businesses.
5. Reviews
Reviews influence both ranking and choice. Management means asking happy customers for reviews at the right moment, replying to every review, good or bad, promptly and politely, and flagging reviews that break Google’s policies.
6. Monitoring and reporting
Anyone can suggest edits to a public profile, and Google sometimes applies them automatically. We monitor for unwanted changes, track calls, direction requests and website clicks from the profile, and report what is working.
Multi-location businesses
For chains, franchises and groups, every location needs its own accurate profile, and consistency matters: the same naming, categories and photo standards across the estate, with local details right for each site. This is where management saves the most time. One team keeps every location verified, current and optimised, instead of each manager doing it differently or not at all.
Keeping your website in step
Your profile and your website should reinforce each other. That means the same NAP, a location page for each site, LocalBusiness structured data, and your 360° tour embedded on your own pages as well as Google’s.
Talk to us about your profile
Whether you have one location or fifty, get in touch for a free review of your Google Business Profile and a plan to improve it.