Google Business Profile Audit

Common Questions

• What is a Google Business Profile audit?

  It is a check of everything on your free Google listing — the box that shows up on the right of a search and on Google Maps. This one is 20 questions across five areas: your basic information, photos, reviews, recent activity, and details like services and attributes. You answer yes or no, you get a score out of 100, and you get the five things worth fixing first, ranked by how much they are costing you. It takes about five minutes with your profile open in another tab.

• How do reviews affect local ranking?

  Reviews are one of the strongest local ranking factors, and they do double duty: they move you up the map pack and they decide whether someone calls once they see you. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey found 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 71% use Google to do it — still the biggest platform, though down from 83% a year earlier. Recency matters as much as volume: 74% look for reviews written in the last three months. Forty reviews with nothing since last year reads as a business that may not still be open.

• Do Google posts actually matter?

  Less than reviews, more than nothing. Posts show up on your profile and give someone deciding between you and a competitor something current to look at. They also signal that the profile is actively managed, which matters because Google has to decide whether your information is still accurate. One post a month clears the bar. The realistic case for posting is not a ranking jump — it is that a profile with a post from last week looks open and a profile with nothing since 2023 does not.

• Why isn't my business in the map pack?

  Usually one of four things. Distance: the map pack is built around where the searcher is standing, and you cannot rank three towns over. Category: a wrong or too-broad primary category keeps you out of the searches you want. Reviews: if the three businesses above you have 40 reviews and you have 6, that gap is the gap. Or your information is incomplete — no hours, no services, no photos. Work the checklist above in order. The Basics section is worth 25 points because it is where most of the damage is.

• How often should I update my profile?

  Monthly, and it takes about 15 minutes. Add a photo, publish a post, reply to any new reviews, and check that your hours are still right. Then four times a year, do the longer pass: holiday hours, your services list, your description, and whether your phone number still rings the right place. The 30-day items in the checklist above are there on purpose — photos, posts, and reviews all go stale at about a month, and a profile that has not moved in a year looks abandoned.

• Is a Google Business Profile free?

  Yes. Creating and managing it costs nothing, and every feature in this checklist — photos, posts, messaging, Q&A, services, attributes — is included. Google does sell ads that place you above the map pack, but that is separate and optional. If someone calls offering to "verify" or "activate" your listing for a fee, it is a scam; those calls are common enough that Google warns about them. The only real cost of a Google Business Profile is the 15 minutes a month it takes to keep it current.