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Home / Digital marketing / GBP management
Google Business Profile optimization and management
Your Business Profile is what Google shows in the map pack: your categories, services, photos, hours, and reviews. We set it up completely, keep it current every month, and coach your team on reviews and photos.
32%of a map ranking comes from the profile itself
20%comes from reviews
Ranking factors
What decides a map ranking
Local search specialists rank the factors every year. In the 2026 survey, three numbers tell most of the story.
52%
Your profile and reviews
Business Profile (32%) plus reviews (20%). This is what GBP management works on directly.
29%
Your website and listings
On-page (15%), links (8%), and citations (6%). Covered by the Local SEO program.
19%
The searcher
Behavior (9%), personalization (6%), and social (4%). These follow from getting the first two right.
All eight factor groups
Hover over or tap a factor to see what it covers.
Categories, business name, address, hours, and how complete the profile is. The largest single factor, and the one you control most.
How many, how recent, the star rating, and whether they include text. Up from 16% in the 2023 survey.
What your website says: service and location pages, titles, and a name, address, and phone that match the profile.
What searchers do with your listing: clicks, calls, and direction requests.
Other websites linking to yours, especially local and industry sites.
Your name, address, and phone listed the same way across directories.
The searcher's own location, history, and device. Outside anyone's control.
Activity and engagement on your social profiles.
Source: Whitespark, 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors, as summarized by BrightLocal. A survey of practitioners, not figures published by Google.
Inside the profile
The profile factors ranked highest, and what we do about each
The same survey ranks individual factors. Most of the top nine relate to the Business Profile or its reviews.
#1 Primary categoryChosen from what the top three competitors use and the searches you want to rank for. Secondary categories (#8) are added for each service.
#2 Distance from the searcherYou can't move the office, so we widen reach with area pages, reviews, and grid tracking.
#3 Business nameKeywords in the name carry weight, but adding them breaks Google's rules and risks suspension. We keep your real name consistent everywhere.
#4 and #7 AddressIn the city searched and shown on the profile, matched to your website and listings.
#5 Open at the time of searchHours kept accurate, including holidays.
#6 and #9 Rating and written reviewsRequest and response templates, plus coaching for your staff.
The profile
What a complete profile looks like
Pick a part of the profile to see what we set up and maintain.
The basics Google uses to decide what you are.
CategoriesPrimary and secondary, matched to the searches you want.
Name, address, phoneMatched exactly to your website and other listings.
Hours and attributesIncluding holiday hours and the attributes customers filter by.
Who GBP management is for
It is a good fit if you
- Have a profile that was set up once and not touched since
- Get reviews but rarely reply to them
- Have changed your name, address, phone number, or hours in the last few years
- Don't know who else has manager access to the listing
It will not help much if
- The profile is suspended. Reinstatement comes first. See why your Google Business Profile was suspended.
- The business has no real, verified address
How it works
From audit to a managed profile
Step 1
Audit
We compare your profile to the top three businesses in your map pack and list every gap.
Step 2
Optimize
Categories, services, details, links, and photos are completed in the first month.
Step 3
Manage and coach
Monthly updates, posts, and monitoring, with coaching calls so your team keeps reviews and photos coming in.
What happens each month
| Period | What we do | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Full audit against the top three profiles in your market. Categories, services, hours, attributes, and description corrected. Ownership and manager access reviewed. | Before and after of every field changed |
| Every month | Two posts per location and new photos. Review replies drafted for your approval. Checks for edits made by Google or the public. | A log of posts, photos, replies, and any edits rejected |
| Every quarter | Category and competitor recheck. Holiday and seasonal hours set ahead of time. | Updated comparison against the top three |
GBP management explained
What is Google Business Profile management?
Google Business Profile (GBP) management is the ongoing work of keeping a business's Google listing complete, accurate, and active so it can rank in the map pack and turn searchers into calls.
How the profile affects rankings
Google ranks local results on relevance, distance, and prominence. Categories, services, and descriptions tell Google what you are relevant for. Reviews, photos, and activity add to prominence. Distance you can't change, which is why the other two matter.
What management involves
The first month is setup: every field completed and checked against your website and other listings. After that it is upkeep: posts, new photos, review responses, and watching for edits made by Google or by the public.
GBP management vs. local SEO
GBP management works on the profile itself. Local SEO also covers citations, map grid tracking, engagement signals, and the pages on your website that support the profile. The two are sold together for that reason.
What goes wrong with an unmanaged profile
Anyone can suggest an edit to a Google listing, and Google sometimes applies changes on its own. Hours get altered, categories get swapped, and a pin moves to the wrong building. Owners often find out when calls drop.
Three problems come up most:
- Wrong hours. A profile marked closed ranks lower for that search and sends callers elsewhere.
- Duplicate listings. An old address or a former practitioner's listing splits reviews between two profiles.
- Unanswered reviews. BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey found 80% of people are more likely to use a business that replies to all its reviews.
Which profile fields matter most
Primary category has the most effect on rankings, followed by additional categories, open hours, and review rating and count. Photos and posts affect whether a searcher picks you once you appear. Geotagging photos does nothing, because Google strips that data on upload.
Our guide on how to optimize your Google Business Profile covers each field in order.
Free Google Business Profile guides and tools
- Google Business Profile suspension recovery kit: A cause checklist, the documents Google accepts, an appeal template, and next steps if denied.
- The review response playbook: Six reply templates, a version for regulated professions, and the removal steps.
- See all tools and resources
GBP management FAQ
Common questions about GBP management
What is Google Business Profile?
The free Google listing that appears in Maps and the map pack. It was called Google My Business until 2021.
Can I buy GBP management on its own?
No. It is bundled with the Local SEO program, because profile work and map rankings depend on each other. Bundling also lowers the price of GBP management.
Do you need access to our profile?
Yes, manager access. You stay the owner, and you can remove access at any time.
Can you remove bad reviews?
Only Google can remove a review. We flag 1- and 2-star reviews for removal when they violate Google's policies, and help you respond to the rest.
How often should a Google Business Profile be updated?
Hours and services should change the day the business changes. Beyond that, a couple of posts and a few new photos each month keep the profile current.
Who owns the profile while you manage it?
You do. We work as a manager on a profile owned by your business email. If we stop working together, you remove our access and keep everything.
Can you get more reviews for us?
We set up the review link, QR code, and request templates, and coach your team on when to ask. The reviews have to come from your real customers. See how to get more Google reviews.
Do you reply to reviews for us?
We draft replies for your approval. For law firms and medical practices, replies are written so they never confirm someone was a client or patient.
What happens if someone changes our listing?
We check for edits and reject incorrect ones. If Google applies a wrong change, we correct it and document it.
Does adding keywords to our business name help?
It can raise rankings in the short term, and it is a common cause of suspensions. We use your real business name only.