Google Business Profile audit and optimization guide

Eligibility and the location record

Google's business representation guidelines distinguish businesses that receive customers at a location from service-area businesses that travel to them. Review the rules for the operating model before publishing an address. A mailing address where the business does not operate, described as a virtual office in the guidelines, is ineligible.

Keep the public name consistent with the name used by the business. Put services and location details in their appropriate fields instead of adding search phrases to the name. Choose the fewest categories needed to describe the core business. For each eligible location, retain the approved address or service area with its phone number and customer-facing hours.

Business ownership and maintenance access

Have the business retain primary ownership through an account it controls. Invite the provider through the available owner and manager roles, with each person using their own Google Account. Sharing the owner's password makes a routine agency handover harder and is unnecessary for profile management.

Name the person who approves facts and the person who updates them. Holiday hours and a changed phone number need a maintenance route even when no SEO campaign is active. Keep an edit history with the previous value and approval date so a disputed change can be traced.

Corrections to the profile and its website destination

Local rankings depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. The customer's location affects the result. Keep that geographic context in any visibility report, and reject a claim that payment to a provider can secure a better ranking from Google.

1. Compare the published profile with the approved location record. Correct the business name, categories and contact details where they disagree with the operating business.
2. Check regular and special hours, then confirm that the stated customer access matches the location or service-area model.
3. Open the website and appointment links as a customer would. Use the relevant location or service page and test its inquiry path on mobile.
4. Record submitted changes and check the public profile afterward. Assign follow-up for edits that remain under review or are rejected.

Measurement beyond the profile action

Define what each reported action means before using it to judge the work. A website click can be followed by no inquiry, and a call action does not establish an answered call or a sale. Connect reporting to the business's available inquiry records without presenting profile activity as booked revenue.

If visits arrive but inquiries fail, inspect the conversion path and its measurement. A website move also needs a migration check on profile destinations so visitors do not continue through obsolete links.

Brief checklist

• Compare the published profile with the approved location record. Correct the business name, categories and contact details where they disagree with the operating business.
• Check regular and special hours, then confirm that the stated customer access matches the location or service-area model.
• Open the website and appointment links as a customer would. Use the relevant location or service page and test its inquiry path on mobile.
• Record submitted changes and check the public profile afterward. Assign follow-up for edits that remain under review or are rejected.