Google Business Profile optimisation for UK businesses

Google Business Profile optimisation means filling in your listing so that Google understands exactly what you do, and customers who find you have everything they need to choose you. It is free, you can do it from your phone, and it is usually the quickest improvement a local business can make.

Below is every part of the profile that matters, in the order worth tackling. If the profile is only one part of what you're working on, local SEO for small businesses shows where it fits.

Start with categories

Categories come first because they tend to decide which searches you are considered for at all.

• Primary category: the one that best describes your core business. A salon that mostly does nails should consider "nail salon" before "beauty salon". A firm that mostly fixes boilers might be a "heating contractor" rather than a general "plumber".
• Secondary categories: add the other things you genuinely are. Leave out anything you don't offer.

To choose, search your main service in Google Maps and look at the category under each of the top three names. The same goes for the Google 3-pack on a normal search.

If they share a category you don't have, ask yourself whether it describes you too. Kerbrank's competitor comparison lays this out for the businesses holding the top three across your area, alongside their review and photo counts.

Law firms, doctors and agents have one more rule to know: Google treats them as individual practitioners, who can have profiles of their own beside the firm's. Our guide to SEO for solicitors explains how that works for a law firm.

Dashboard · CompetitorsExample

Services and products, with prices

The services section is where you spell out what you do in customers' own words.

• Add each service separately. "Gel nails", "acrylic infills" and "nail art" are three services, not one.
• Write a line or two about each: what it involves, how long it takes, who it suits.
• Add a price or a "from" price where you can. People comparing options on their phone tend to skip businesses that make them ring to find out.
• Use the words people search, not the label your trade uses for itself. Our guide to choosing searches shows how to check the monthly numbers.

Products let you show items or packages with a photo, a price and a description. They work well for shops, but salons and trades can use them too, for example a "full service and MOT" package or a "bridal hair trial".

Description, hours and attributes

Description

Write a plain description of what you do, who for and where. Mention your main services and the area you cover. Google limits the length, so put the most useful part first. Don't include links, prices or special offers here, and don't repeat your town name ten times.

A simple shape that works: what you are, your main services, what makes you different (in facts, not adjectives), and where you are or where you cover.

Hours

• Set normal opening hours and keep them accurate.
• Add special hours for bank holidays, Christmas and any closures.
• Use "more hours" if you have separate times for things like deliveries or walk-ins.

Wrong hours are one of the quickest ways to lose a customer's trust, and people can suggest edits to your listing if they think your hours are wrong.

Attributes

Attributes are the small tags on a profile, such as wheelchair-accessible entrance, free Wi-Fi, online appointments or women-led. Which ones you can set depends on your category. Tick the ones that are true. Some are filled in from customer feedback, so check them now and then.

Photos

Photos help customers decide, and a listing with few or dated photos can look closed.

• Outside: your front, so people recognise it when they arrive. Take one from the direction most people approach.
• Inside: the space as it looks on a normal day.
• Work: real results, before and after where it suits the trade, finished jobs, treatment rooms.
• Team: people like seeing who they'll meet.

Use your own photos, not stock images. Add a few new ones every month rather than fifty at once. Look at how many photos the top three businesses on your map have: if they have many more than you, that gap is easy to close.

Posts, Q&A and bookings

Posts

Posts are short updates that appear on your profile: news, offers, events, new services. Google doesn't say posts directly change your ranking, but they show customers you are active, and they give you somewhere to promote a seasonal service.

One post every week or two is plenty. Our guide to Google Business Profile posts covers the three kinds, what to write and the rules that get posts removed.

Questions and answers

Where your profile still shows a questions section (Google has been changing this feature), check it. Answer anything people have asked, and correct wrong answers left by other users. The questions customers ask you on the phone are good material for your description and services too.

Bookings

If you take appointments, make booking possible straight from Google. Many booking systems used by salons, clinics and restaurants can connect to Google so customers can book from your profile. Check whether yours does. If not, add your booking page as the appointment link in your profile.

A monthly routine

A profile isn't something you finish. Put half an hour in the diary each month:

1. Check your hours, including any bank holidays coming up.
2. Add a few new photos.
3. Reply to new reviews, especially the bad ones. Our guide to responding to Google reviews has wording to adapt. Our post on how to get more Google reviews has a message to copy for asking, and our free review link and QR code tool gives you the link to send.
4. Publish a post if you have news or an offer.
5. Check nobody has suggested an unwanted edit to your name, category or address.
6. Look at the Performance section to see which searches found you, and add any service that customers search for but your profile doesn't list.
7. Open People and access and check every owner and manager still works with you. Our post on Google Business Profile manager roles explains what each one can do.

To check a profile you already have, our Google Business Profile audit takes about 25 minutes. For the wider picture, including your website and directories, work through our local SEO checklist. To see how the profile fits with distance and reviews in Google's ranking, read how to rank higher on Google Maps.

Common questions