Your Google Business Profile does more work than your website for one simple search: "[your service] near me." Most small business owners have never audited theirs. Here are the five mistakes I see constantly, and the exact fix for each.
1. It's Unclaimed
Google sometimes generates a listing for your business automatically, using data it pulled from somewhere else. If nobody's claimed it, nobody's managing it, which means nobody's correcting it when it's wrong.
Fix: Search your business name on Google right now. If you see a "Claim this business" option anywhere, that's the entire problem in one sentence.
2. The Categories Don't Match What You Actually Do
A lot of profiles get set up years ago under a generic category, "Contractor" instead of "Roofing Contractor," "Restaurant" instead of "Italian Restaurant," and never get revisited. Google uses your category to decide which searches you're even eligible to show up for.
Fix: Go as specific as Google allows for your primary category, and add relevant secondary categories. This alone can unlock searches you've never appeared in.
3. No Recent Photos
A profile with a handful of photos from years ago, or none at all, reads as inactive. Customers judge it in about two seconds, and so does Google.
Fix: Add real photos of actual completed work, your team, and your location. Do this monthly, not once and done.
4. Reviews Are Old, Thin, or Never Responded To
Five reviews from three years ago tells a very different story than twenty reviews from the last six months. And an unanswered negative review sitting at the top of your profile is doing active damage every day it stays there.
Fix: Ask every satisfied customer for a review right after the job is done, while it's still front of mind. Respond to every review, good or bad, briefly and professionally.
5. Inconsistent Name, Address, or Phone Number
If your business info on your GBP doesn't exactly match your website and your listings on other directories, Google reads that as a trust signal problem. It's a small thing that quietly caps how much Google trusts the listing.
Fix: Pull up your website, your GBP, and any directory listing you can find. Make sure the name, address, and phone number are character-for-character identical everywhere.
Many small business owners don't take advantage of their Google Business Profile. Some haven't even claimed theirs.
The 10-Minute Audit
- Search your business name, confirm you control the listing
- Check your primary and secondary categories
- Count how many photos you've added in the last 90 days
- Count your reviews from the last 6 months, and check for unanswered ones
- Compare your name, address, and phone number across your site and your GBP
None of this is complicated. It just needs someone to actually sit down and do it, and then keep doing it every month instead of walking away after the initial setup.