Google Business Profile management — the local-pack signals Google counts.
Your Google Business Profile is the single most important page about your business online — and most owners haven't touched it since they verified the address. To be honest, the gap between "verified" and "optimised" is enormous, and it's where most of your local-pack rankings live. So I help owner-operators close that gap properly.
I sell SEO consulting, website work and content. So you should know up front that's the bias. I'd rather you knew than have me pretend I'm neutral.
What GBP actually is.
Google Business Profile (GBP, formerly Google My Business) is the listing that shows up when someone Googles your business name or your service-plus-town. It controls:
- Whether you appear in the three blue map results (the local pack)
- Whether you appear on Google Maps at all
- What people see in that listing — photos, hours, services, reviews, posts
- The phone number people click, the directions they take, the bookings they make
So this isn't a "nice-to-have." For a local service business in the UK, GBP often drives more enquiries than your website does. It sits inside the wider local SEO playbook — but for most clients it's the highest single lever.
The 5 settings that matter.
GBP has about thirty settings you can change. Five of them move rankings most of the time; the rest are tidying. In rough order of impact:
- Primary category — pick the most specific one. "Boiler service" beats "Plumber" if you do mostly boilers.
- Secondary categories — up to nine, used carefully. Don't stuff them.
- Services — every service you offer, with a 750-character description that mentions the location.
- Hours that match the rest of the web — Google reads inconsistencies between GBP, your site footer, your Facebook page. So fix them all.
- Review velocity — steady flow of new reviews, with responses to all of them (good and bad).
Reviews + photos.
Reviews are the most controllable ranking factor. Photos are the most under-used one. A proper GBP routine has:
- Reviews — a system for asking after every job (email, SMS, QR code), templates for responses, and a process for handling the occasional bad one.
- Photos — fresh photos uploaded weekly. Real photos of real work (or real premises, or real staff), not stock. Google ranks listings that get fresh photo uploads.
Posts + Q&A.
GBP Posts are like little Twitter updates that show up in your listing. Weekly is plenty. The Q&A section needs seeding — write the questions you wish your customers asked, then answer them yourself. So both features cost ten minutes a week and help rankings + click- through-rate at the same time.
What you actually buy.
Full GBP audit + setup
Every setting reviewed, every gap filled. Primary + secondary categories, services with descriptions, hours, photos, attributes.
Review + posting system
Templates, schedules, training — set up so your team (or you) can run it in 15 minutes a week. Don't worry, no fancy software needed.
Monthly review
I check your GBP each month against the competitor set, flag drift, suggest fixes. Most clients need 30 minutes of input from me a month.
What it costs.
Honest answer: I don't publish pricing on this site, on purpose. GBP scope varies a lot — single-location listings vs multi-location operations, well-set-up listings vs drifted ones, lightly-competed local SERPs vs heavily-competed ones — and a generic price would either over-quote you or under-quote me.
Drop your URL into the free audit; the audit covers your GBP alongside the rest. Then we have a quick call to talk through scope, and I come back with a fixed number tailored to your business. Don't worry, no obligation either way.
Common questions.
Is Google Business Profile the same as Google My Business?
Yes — Google renamed GMB to Google Business Profile in 2022. The product is the same; just a different name. So if you've heard of GMB and not GBP, don't worry, you already know what we're talking about.
Can I manage GBP myself?
Yes, and honestly most owner-operators should — the day-to-day (posts, reviews, photos) doesn't need a consultant. What I do is the setup, the strategy, and the monthly review. Then you (or your team) run the daily stuff. Don't worry, I'll show you exactly what to click each month.
How often does GBP need updating?
Reviews: respond within 48 hours, every time. Posts: weekly. Photos: monthly. Services + categories: review every 90 days. Most of this is 15 minutes a week if you've got a system. By the way, the businesses that win the local pack are the ones treating GBP like a small social channel, not a forgotten setting.
My GBP is suspended — can you help?
Yes, in most cases. Suspensions usually come from category mismatches, address issues, or violating the (changing) guidelines. To be honest, I've appealed and recovered most of the suspensions I've worked on — but not all. So I'll tell you honestly within 48 hours of looking whether yours is recoverable.
※If you want me to look at your Google Business Profile against your three closest local competitors — I'll show you exactly where the gap is. Free, no call required. Send the URL + your town — let me know what's going on.