If you run a local business and you are not actively managing your Google Business Profile, you are leaving a significant amount of local search traffic to your competitors every single day. Google My Business optimisation — now officially called Google Business Profile — is one of the highest-return, zero-cost marketing activities available to any local business in 2026. Done properly, it puts your business in front of people who are actively searching for exactly what you offer, in your area, at the exact moment they are ready to buy.
What Google My Business Actually Is
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the system that powers the map listings you see when you search for local services. When someone searches “web designer London” or “plumber near me” and a map with three business listings appears at the top of the results, those listings are powered by Google Business Profiles. Appearing in that map pack — the Local Pack — is one of the most valuable pieces of digital real estate available to a local business, and it is free.
Your profile controls what information appears in those listings: your business name, category, address, phone number, opening hours, website, photos, reviews, and posts. The completeness and accuracy of this information directly affects whether Google shows your business in local results and how high it ranks when it does.
Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Profile
Go to business.google.com and search for your business. If it exists but has not been claimed, claim it. If it does not exist, create it. Google will verify your business ownership through a postcard sent to your business address, a phone call, or increasingly through video verification. Complete verification before doing anything else — an unverified profile has very limited visibility.
Step 2: Complete Every Section Fully
Google rewards completeness. A fully completed profile consistently outperforms a partially completed one in local search rankings. Fill in every available field without exception.
Your business name should match exactly how it appears on your website and other directories. Do not stuff keywords into your business name — this violates Google’s guidelines and can result in suspension. Your primary category should be the most specific accurate description of your business. Add secondary categories for any additional services you offer.
Your description (750 characters) should describe what you do, who you serve, and what makes your business worth choosing. Write for a potential customer reading it, not for an algorithm. Include your primary keyword naturally once or twice but do not force it.
Add your full address, your exact opening hours including holiday hours, your phone number, and your website URL. These must match exactly what appears on your website and in any other directories where your business is listed. Inconsistencies in your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) data across the web are a local SEO ranking factor.
Step 3: Add Photos Consistently
Profiles with photos receive significantly more direction requests, website clicks, and calls than profiles without. Add at least 10 photos when you first set up your profile and continue adding new ones regularly.
Include photos of your completed work, your team, your workspace or premises (if applicable), and your logo. For a service business like web design, screenshot your best client websites and add them as portfolio photos. For trades businesses, before and after photos of completed jobs perform particularly well. For medical businesses, photos of the clinic environment, reception, and treatment rooms build trust before a patient ever makes contact.
Do not use stock photos. Google can detect them and they reduce trust with potential clients. Real photos of real work perform better in every metric.
Step 4: Generate and Respond to Reviews Consistently
Google reviews are the single most powerful local ranking signal available to a small business. A profile with 50 genuine four and five-star reviews will almost always outrank a competitor with 10, regardless of how much better optimised the rest of the competitor’s profile is.
Create a direct review link by going to your Google Business Profile dashboard, clicking Share profile, and copying the review link. Send this link to every client within 24 hours of completing work. Add it to your email signature, your invoices, and your website footer. Make leaving a review take under 60 seconds for a happy client.
Respond to every review, positive and negative, within 24 hours. Responding to positive reviews builds relationships. Responding to negative reviews professionally demonstrates to prospective clients reading the response that you handle problems with integrity — which is often more persuasive than only having positive reviews.
Step 5: Post Weekly Updates
Google Posts are short updates that appear on your Business Profile in search results. Most businesses set up their profile and never post again. Regular posting signals to Google that your business is active, which is a positive local ranking signal.
Post once per week. Share a completed project, a useful tip relevant to your industry, a limited-time offer, or an announcement. Keep posts under 150 words. Include a photo and a call to action button. Posts expire after seven days for most post types, so weekly posting keeps your profile looking current.
Step 6: Use the Q&A Section
The Questions and Answers section on your Google Business Profile allows anyone to ask questions and anyone to answer them. Proactively add your own frequently asked questions before customers ask them. Go to your profile, find the Q&A section, click Ask a question, and post the questions your clients most commonly ask — then answer them yourself. This gives you control over the information that appears and ensures the answers are accurate.
Google Business Profile optimisation is not a one-time task — it is an ongoing process of adding photos, collecting reviews, posting updates, and keeping your information accurate. Businesses that treat it as a living asset rather than a set-up-and-forget profile consistently outperform those that do not. Get in touch with Aesthetic Web Studio to discuss setting up your Google Business Profile correctly, or read our guide on local SEO for small businesses for the full local search strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google My Business free?
Yes, completely. Creating, claiming, and managing a Google Business Profile costs nothing. It is one of the very few genuinely free marketing tools that consistently delivers high-quality leads for local businesses. Google also offers paid advertising through Google Ads which is separate from the organic Business Profile listings.
How long does Google My Business optimisation take to show results?
Most businesses see meaningful improvement in their local search visibility within 4 to 8 weeks of completing their profile and beginning to collect reviews actively. The Local Pack rankings continue to improve over months as review volume grows and posting consistency demonstrates an active business. Some improvements — particularly in competitive markets — take 3 to 6 months to fully materialise.
What is the most important factor for ranking in the Google Local Pack?
Proximity to the searcher, relevance of your business category to the search query, and prominence (which includes your review count and rating, the completeness of your profile, and the consistency of your business information across the web) are the three primary local ranking factors. Of these, review volume and recency is the factor businesses have the most direct control over in the short term.
