Built Different · Free course5 lessons · about 35 minutes
Audit and fix a Google Business Profile, the agency way.
A free course for agencies that sell or deliver local SEO. Five short lessons, each ending with one task on a real client profile, using the free tools. Your progress is saved in this browser.
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What a complete profile looks like
6 min readLesson 1 of 5
Before you audit anything, agree with the client on what “good” means. A complete, accurate, active profile is something you can deliver and prove. A ranking is not.
What Google says it looks at
“Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity.” And: “There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”Google Business Profile Help [1]
Distance is fixed: you can't move the business. Relevance and popularity are where your work shows up: accurate details, the real services, photos, reviews and the replies to them.
The 7 parts of a complete profile
Foundation
Verified, the real business name, the right categories, the correct address or service area, one phone number.
Links and actions
A working website link and a way to book or ask for a quote.
Hours
Regular hours for every day of the week, plus holiday hours.
Content
Description, services, attributes, and products where they apply.
Visuals
Logo, cover photo and recent, real photos.
Reviews
Enough reviews compared with nearby competitors, and replies to them.
Activity
Recent posts, and the same name, address and phone on other sites.
Two features that are gone
Older checklists still score them, so check yours. Business Profile chat ended on July 31, 2024 [2]. Public questions and answers are being retired: Google shut down the Q&A API on November 3, 2025 [3]. Don't score them, and don't sell work on them.
The audit is the first thing a client sees from you, so it has to be fast to run and hard to argue with. Public data only, and about 30 minutes per profile once you've done a few.
How the scoring works
Each of the 25 points gets 2 when it's fine, 1 when it's partly done and 0 when it's missing. Mark N/A when a point doesn't apply, for example a service area for a business that customers visit. The score is the points earned out of the points possible, as a number out of 100.
The points most profiles get wrong
Primary category. Compare it with the businesses shown above for the same search.
Services. The services the business really sells, each with a one-line description.
Booking or quote link. The button people use when they don't want to call.
Holiday hours. Confirmed before each holiday, not after.
Photos. Real ones, with at least one from the last 90 days.
Review replies. Especially to the negative reviews.
Two rules that keep you credible
The stop rule. Above 80/100, tell the client the profile is in good shape and audit something else. That honesty is what makes your next audit believable.
Report the map position as a fact. “For ‘water heater repair Boise’, the profile appears in position 14.” Leave out claims about how many calls each position gets.
Fix in this order: what is wrong, then what is missing, then what builds trust. It's the quickest way to a visible improvement, and the easiest one to explain.
1. What is wrong
Name. Google asks for the real-world name, “as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery”, without taglines, store codes or phone numbers. Profiles that break the guidelines can be suspended [4].
Categories. “Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business.” The primary category should finish the sentence “This business is a…” [4].
Address, pin and phone. The same as on the website. One main phone number everywhere.
2. What is missing
Hours for every day, plus special hours for holidays [4].
Services, each with a short description.
A description in plain language about the services and products. No links, and no promotions or prices [4].
The booking or quote link.
3. What builds trust
Logo, cover photo and real photos of the premises, the team and finished work.
Attributes that are true for the business, such as payment options or accessibility.
Get the client's OK before changing anything customers see, and write down each change with its date. You'll need that list for the report in lesson 5.
A complete profile goes stale without activity. This is the part clients pay for every month, so set a rhythm you can keep.
Posts
A fixed rhythm, with a real photo each time. We publish 8 posts a month per location; two a month is a sensible minimum.
No phone numbers, emails or social handles in the post text. Google may remove posts with unverified contact information [5], and a phone number in the description can get a post rejected [6]. Use the Call button instead.
Posts older than 6 months are archived unless they have a date range [6].
Photos
Add new, real photos every month. Google's own tips say to avoid screenshots, stock photos, collages, and added borders or text [7].
Reviews
Ask every customer, with a direct review link. Never offer anything in return, and don't ask only the happy ones: both are against Google's policy [8].
Reply to every review. “Be conversational, not promotional”, and never share a reviewer's private information [9].
Dental and medical clients: never confirm that a reviewer is a patient. A dental practice paid $23,000 under an HHS resolution agreement after disclosing patient information in its review replies [10].
Property managers: posts and replies must not suggest a preference for or against any group protected by the Fair Housing Act [11].
Do this now
Drafts for the client to approve. About 40 minutes.
We do this work white-label. Founding-partner pilot: 3 client locations in 7 days for $750, with $375 to start and $375 when the work is ready for your review.
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