Most businesses create a GBP, add their basic details, and consider it done. That approach will not get you into the top 3. The businesses ranking at the top have optimised every available element — this checklist covers all of them.
Foundation — get these right before anything else
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Business name matches your legal trading name exactly — no keyword additions, no location tags, no descriptors not in your real name. This is the most common suspension trigger and the most important compliance item.
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Primary category is the most specific, accurate match for your core service — not the broadest possible category. If you are an emergency plumber, your primary category should be "Emergency Plumber" not "Plumber" or "Home Services."
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Secondary categories added for every genuine secondary service you offer — up to 10 are allowed.
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Business description written in 750 characters — keyword-informed, benefit-focused, policy-compliant. No promotional language, no URLs, no phone numbers in the description field.
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Phone number is consistent with your website and all other online listings — exact same format.
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Website URL points to the most relevant page — your homepage if you are a single-location business, or a location-specific page if you have multiple locations.
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Business hours are accurate and kept up to date — including holiday hours. Incorrect hours is one of the most common negative review triggers.
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Address is exact and consistent with your website and all citations — including suite numbers, floor, and building name if applicable.
Attributes and special features
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All relevant attributes selected — Google offers category-specific attributes (wheelchair accessible, free WiFi, accepts credit cards, etc.) that filter-based searches depend on.
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Health and safety attributes updated if applicable to your business type.
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Accessibility attributes completed — increasingly important for both ranking and customer experience.
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"From the business" description added — this is a separate field from the main description and is fully within your control.
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Products or services listed with descriptions and prices where applicable — each listing adds indexable content to your profile.
Photos and visual content
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Minimum 10 photos uploaded — Google recommends this as a baseline. Profiles with 50+ photos consistently outperform those with fewer.
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Cover photo is high quality, represents your business accurately, and is not a logo.
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Profile photo is your logo — clear, properly sized, and consistent with other platforms.
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Interior and exterior photos showing your actual premises — helps customers recognise your location and builds trust.
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Team photos — real photos of real people working. These build trust signals that stock photos cannot.
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Product or service photos — showing what you actually deliver, not stock imagery.
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New photos added at minimum monthly — photo recency is a confirmed activity signal for local rankings.
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No text overlays on photos — Google flags and removes these, and repeated violations risk suspension.
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Photos are geo-tagged where possible — adds a geographic signal that can benefit local rankings.
Reviews — your most powerful ranking lever
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Review generation system in place — a consistent, policy-compliant process for requesting reviews from real customers after service delivery.
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Every review responded to within 24 hours — positive and negative. Response rate and recency are ranking signals.
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Negative review responses are professional, address the specific concern, and offer resolution — future readers see your response as much as the review itself.
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Reviews are genuinely from customers — never purchase reviews, never incentivise reviews, never ask friends or family. Policy violations here cause suspension and permanent damage.
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Review volume is growing consistently — a profile that had 50 reviews two years ago and still has 50 is seen as less active than one consistently accumulating new reviews.
Posts and activity signals
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Minimum one post published per week — offers, updates, events, or product highlights.
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Post content is relevant, informative, and written for your customers — not just for search engines.
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Posts include a call-to-action where appropriate — "Book now", "Call for a free quote", "Learn more."
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Seasonal and timely posts published — holiday hours, special offers, relevant news. These signal active operation.
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Event posts used when relevant — these have extended visibility in the local pack and are underused by most businesses.
Q&A section
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Common customer questions proactively added and answered by you — do not wait for customers to ask them publicly.
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All customer-submitted questions answered promptly.
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Q&A content includes relevant keywords naturally — these are indexed and contribute to topical relevance signals.
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Inaccurate answers or spam in Q&A flagged and removed.
Service area and local signals
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Service area set correctly — specific enough to be accurate, not so broad it appears spammy.
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Service area does not conflict with your registered address configuration.
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NAP (Name, Address, Phone) is identical across your GBP, website contact page, footer, and all online directories.
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Local citation building completed — consistent listings across 50+ relevant directories (Yelp, Yellow Pages, industry-specific platforms).
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Frequently asked questions
Primary category selection is the single most important GBP ranking factor. Choosing the most specific and accurate primary category that matches your core service has more impact than any other single optimisation.
A minimum of 10 photos, with 50+ being the target for competitive markets. More importantly, photos should be added regularly — at least 4 new photos per month. Recency is a ranking signal.
At minimum once per week. Google uses posting frequency as an activity signal. Weekly posts demonstrate an active, legitimate business and contribute to local pack rankings.
Your GBP and website SEO are separate but interconnected. A strong GBP drives calls and direction requests directly. The website URL linked from your GBP passes authority signals. Consistent NAP across both strengthens local ranking signals for the pair.