Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile optimisation
Improve the accuracy, completeness and relevance of your business information to support local discovery and customer confidence.
The assessment is an initial, limited review — not a full technical audit, and not free implementation.
For a business with a physical location or a defined service area, the profile that appears in Google is often the first complete impression a customer gets: the category, the hours, the photos, the reviews, the way to call or get directions. When that information is wrong or thin, customers hesitate — and sometimes they choose someone else without ever visiting the website.
This service is about accuracy, completeness and relevance. We make sure the business is described the way it actually operates, that the profile is claimed and maintained by the right people, and that the details customers check before contacting you are correct.
It is work on your business information, not a lever we can pull on Google's local results. We improve what the profile says and how complete it is; Google decides where it appears.
The problem
What this service addresses
The profile is often set up once, in a hurry, and never revisited — while the business around it changes.
- Incorrect or overly broad categories, so the business is grouped with services it does not offer.
- Missing services, products, attributes or service areas that customers are actively looking for.
- Out-of-date hours, including holidays, which produces avoidable complaints and lost visits.
- Duplicate or unclaimed listings splitting reviews and confusing customers.
- Thin or dated photos that make an established business look inactive.
- Reviews that go unanswered, and no routine for requesting new ones.
Who benefits
Who gets the most from this
If your situation looks like one of these, this is likely to be a sensible place to start. If it does not, we will say so rather than sell it anyway.
- Businesses with a shop, clinic, studio, workshop or office that customers visit.
- Service-area businesses that travel to customers, where the address is hidden and coverage areas do the work.
- Multi-location businesses that need consistent information across each profile.
- New businesses that have not yet claimed or verified a profile.
- Established businesses whose profile no longer matches how they operate.
Scope
What the work can include
The items below are the building blocks. What is actually included is agreed in writing before work starts — not everything here is right for every business.
- 01
Profile ownership and verification
Confirming the profile is claimed by the right account, verified, and free of duplicates that split reviews and confuse customers. We guide the invitation process and never ask for your Google password.
- 02
Categories and services
Choosing a primary category deliberately, adding relevant secondary categories, and building out the services or products list in the words customers use rather than internal terminology.
- 03
Business information accuracy
Name, address or service areas, hours including holidays, contact routes, website link and attributes — checked against how the business actually operates and made consistent with the website.
- 04
Photography and presentation
A practical shot list the business can capture on a phone — exterior, interior, work in progress, products, signage — plus guidance on which images help a customer recognise and trust the business.
- 05
Reviews and enquiries
A simple review request routine, guidance for replying to reviews including critical ones, and answers to the public questions customers leave on the profile.
- 06
Performance review
Reading the profile's own performance data — calls, direction requests, website clicks and messages — and reporting what changed, without claiming credit for factors we do not control.
Deliverables
What you receive
Deliverables are listed in the proposal and agreed before work starts, so there is no ambiguity about what is being produced.
- A written review of the profile against completeness and accuracy criteria.
- Claim, verification and duplicate clean-up handled or guided to completion.
- Categories, services, description, hours and attributes corrected and completed.
- A photo shot list, with the first batch selected and uploaded where access allows.
- A review request message and reply guidance you can keep using.
- A one-page routine for maintaining the profile, plus a short performance summary.
Dependencies
What depends on you or on third parties
Some of this work cannot proceed without access, approvals or a platform that allows the change. We would rather name those now than discover them mid-project.
- Owner or manager access to the profile. We guide the invitation; we never need your Google account password.
- Business verification where the profile is not yet verified — this is completed by Google, and the timing is theirs.
- Approved photography, or permission for us to use images you supply.
- Your confirmation of hours, services, coverage areas and any claims made in the description.
- Platform dependency: Google controls verification, review policy, suspension appeals and how profiles are displayed. Changes we request can be reviewed or reversed by Google, and we cannot guarantee approval or a particular position in local results.
Engagement
How scope, duration and fees are agreed
Nothing is charged for before you have approved a written proposal. The proposal is the agreement.
Scope
Scope covers a stated number of profiles and locations, the extent of photography support, and whether review and posting routines are set up or run by us afterwards. Multi-location work is scoped per location.
Duration
Initial setup is usually a short project measured in weeks, with verification timing set by Google. Ongoing maintenance, where taken, runs monthly.
Fees
Our packages start at the published prices; additional locations or profiles beyond a package are quoted individually. Final fees are confirmed in a written proposal based on your business goals, scope and deliverables. Google Business Profile itself is free to use — what you pay for is our work on it. Any third-party cost, such as photography you commission separately, is identified in the proposal rather than bundled.
See the published prices
You can engage this service on its own, or as part of a coordinated combination with another area. Where services are combined, the proposal shows each area separately. See how pricing works.
Limits
What this service cannot promise
We improve visibility and digital foundations. We cannot guarantee rankings, AI citations, enquiry volumes or sales.
- We do not promise a position in Google Maps or the local results — those placements are decided by Google.
- Verification, review removal and reinstatement decisions belong to Google, not to us.
- We cannot remove genuine negative reviews; we can help you respond to them well.
Google Business Profile: questions we get asked
Is the Google Business Profile itself free?
Yes. Google does not charge for the profile. What is quoted is the work of setting it up accurately, writing the description and services, and keeping it current — and much of that you can also do yourself from the guidance in our proposal.
Will optimisation make us rank first on Maps?
No promise of that is possible. Local results depend on proximity, competition, relevance and behaviour we do not control. What improves is the accuracy, completeness and relevance of your information — which is the part within reach.
How many reviews do we need?
There is no number that guarantees a position. What matters is that reviews are recent, specific and answered. A steady trickle of honest reviews is more useful than a burst collected in one week — and buying reviews breaks Google's policies.
Can you get a bad review removed?
Only if it breaks Google's policies — spam, a competitor, abuse, or content about a different business. Google decides, not us. For genuine criticism, a calm public reply is usually worth more than removal, and we draft it with you.
Our address is our home. Can we still appear?
Yes. A service-area business hides the street address and lists the areas it covers, so customers see the coverage area rather than your home.
Other service areas
Compare all four servicesSEO
Website structure, content quality and technical foundations improved so the business can be found for relevant, commercial searches.
AI Search Visibility
Clearer representation of the business across the website and profiles, plus a repeatable process for monitoring what ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity say.
Ecommerce Growth
Product and category pages, discoverability and technical foundations improved, with agreed conversion opportunities addressed — subject to platform access and scope.
Request a Free Visibility Assessment for google business profile.
An initial, limited review of how the business currently appears online — not a full technical audit, and not free implementation. It is yours whether or not you engage us.