A field-by-field walkthrough of your Google Business Profile: which settings affect local ranking, which only affect clicks, what to avoid so you are not suspended, and how to read the Performance report.
Short answer: Google Business Profile optimization means filling in every field accurately, choosing the right primary category, earning a steady stream of reviews, and keeping the profile active with photos and posts. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence. You cannot change distance, so the work is making your profile as relevant and prominent as it can honestly be.
This guide goes through the profile field by field, in the order that matters, then covers the Performance report and the mistakes that get profiles suspended.
Before optimizing, confirm three things:
Each field below is marked by what it mainly affects: ranking (whether you show up), clicks (whether people choose you), or both.
Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your storefront, website and legal documents. Do not add "best", services, or city names. "Riverside Dental" is correct. "Riverside Dental | Emergency Dentist Portland" breaks the guidelines, and while it may lift rankings briefly, it is one of the most common causes of suspension.
Your primary category tells Google what you are. Choose the most specific one that describes your core business. Some practical tests:
Add the additional categories that describe services you genuinely offer. A plumber might add "Water heater installation service" and "Drainage service". Avoid categories for things you do rarely; they dilute relevance and can trigger edits.
Keep regular hours accurate and set special hours for holidays in advance. Google has indicated that being open at the time of the search can influence local results, and inaccurate hours generate angry reviews.
Use a local number where possible and make sure it matches your website. For the website link, point to the most relevant page. A multi-location business should link each profile to that location's page, not the homepage. You can add UTM parameters, for example ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp, so profile visits show up separately in analytics. Our website analytics setup guide explains how to read them.
You get 750 characters. Google shows only the first part in some views, so front-load the essentials:
Family-run bakery in Bristol's Gloucester Road since 2011. Sourdough, pastries and custom celebration cakes baked daily on site. Order cakes online for collection, or visit for coffee from 7am.
Say what you do, where, for whom, and one reason to choose you. No links, no promotional claims about prices, no keyword lists.
Add every service with a short description, and prices where you are comfortable. Products can be added with photos and links. These give Google more text to match against searches and give searchers more reasons to click.
Attributes like "Wheelchair accessible entrance", "Women-owned", "Online appointments" or "Free Wi-Fi" appear on your profile and in filters. Set every one that honestly applies.
Profiles with real, recent photos look trustworthy. Upload:
Add a few new photos each month. Avoid stock images. Customers can also upload photos, so check them occasionally and report anything inappropriate.
If you take appointments, connect a supported booking provider or add a booking link. Features for messaging have changed over the years, so check what is currently available for your category in your profile dashboard, and only switch on channels someone will actually answer.
Reviews affect both ranking and clicks. The pattern that helps is a steady, ongoing flow of genuine reviews that mention real services, and replies from the owner.
Our online reputation management guide has reply templates for negative and fake reviews.
Posts. Use "What's new", "Offer" and "Event" posts for news, seasonal offers and events. Add a real photo and a button. A weekly post is a reasonable rhythm.
Questions and answers. Anyone can ask or answer questions on your profile. Seed it with the questions you are asked most often, answered from your account, and check for new ones weekly so a stranger's wrong answer does not sit there.
Prominence includes how well known you are across the web, and your website is a big part of that. The profile and site should back each other up:
See our on-page SEO checklist for the site side.
Open your profile and choose "Performance". You will see:
| Metric | What it tells you | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Profile views (Search vs Maps) | How often you appeared and were viewed | Watch the monthly trend, not daily swings |
| Searches breakdown | The terms people used to find you | Add missing services or wording to your profile and site |
| Calls | Taps on your number | Track against real bookings |
| Website clicks | Visits to your site | Compare with UTM-tagged sessions in analytics |
| Directions | Requests for directions | Useful for storefront businesses |
| Bookings and messages | Where available | Check response times |
Two useful habits: note the date whenever you make a significant change to your profile so you can see its effect later, and compare the same month year on year if your business is seasonal.
If you are suspended, fix the cause first, gather proof (photos of permanent signage, a utility bill, business licence), then submit the reinstatement request once.
If your profile links to an outdated site, or to no site at all, you are losing clicks you already earned. We.Inc builds a business website from a short description, with service pages, mobile layouts, hosting and SSL included, so your profile has somewhere good to send people.
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. In practice, your primary category, how complete and accurate your profile is, your reviews, and the strength of your website and wider web presence are the parts you can influence. Distance to the searcher you cannot change.
No. Your profile name must match your real-world business name as it appears on signage and paperwork. Adding keywords or locations breaks Google's guidelines and is a common reason for suspension. It can also be reported by competitors.
Weekly is a sensible target. Posts are not a strong ranking factor on their own, but they keep the profile looking active, give searchers a reason to click, and let you promote offers and events.
Common causes are keyword stuffing in the name, a virtual office or PO box as the address, a service-area business showing an address it should hide, sudden big edits, or duplicate listings. Fix the cause, then request reinstatement through Google's support form with proof such as photos of signage and a utility bill.
It shows how many people viewed your profile on Search and Maps, the search terms that surfaced it, and actions taken: calls, messages, website clicks, direction requests and bookings where available. Compare month over month rather than day to day.
How we research, test and update this page: our editorial policy. We.Inc is our own product.
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