How to audit a Google Business Profile before changing anything

Editorial illustration

Start with a repair log, not a score

A Google Business Profile audit should answer three questions: does the profile describe the real business, can a customer use it successfully, and can the owner tell whether it produces useful enquiries? A checklist with every field ticked does not necessarily answer any of them. A complete-looking profile can still send callers to an unattended number or promise a service the business no longer provides.

Create a simple log with a field or issue, the current evidence, the proposed correction, the person responsible and a verification step. Save screenshots and the public Maps link before editing. Include the date, because opening hours, services and access arrangements change. Keep urgent faults separate from improvements: a wrong telephone number deserves attention before a new cover photograph.

Use plain outcomes such as correct, needs correction, needs owner confirmation and not applicable. Avoid inventing an audit percentage that makes a missing safety-critical detail look equivalent to an optional photo.

Confirm control and identify the right listing

Search the business name, current address, previous address and main telephone number. Record the profiles that appear and distinguish the current business from old locations or genuinely separate operations. If a second result looks like a duplicate, investigate its history before requesting changes. A profile used by a different practitioner or department may need a different treatment from an accidental copy.

Confirm who owns the profile and who can manage it. The business should know which account holds primary ownership and have a documented way to recover access when staff or suppliers change. Google distinguishes owner and manager roles; only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership. Review access deliberately rather than sharing one password. See Google's ownership guidance.

If ownership is disputed or a profile is duplicated, use the relevant Google resolution process. Creating another listing to escape an access problem usually leaves the original problem in place.

Check identity and customer-facing location

Compare the name with the name customers encounter on the business's signage and normal branding. Google requires accurate real-world representation; adding a string of towns and services to the name is not a substitute for a correct profile. Check the pin, entrance and unit information against how a visitor would actually arrive. The representation guidelines are the starting point for name and location decisions.

Ask an operational question before an SEO question: can customers genuinely visit this address, and will the business receive them there? If the answer is no, review whether the business should operate as a service-area business with its address hidden. A home office used for dispatch is different from a showroom. Document the answer with the owner instead of guessing from a map.

Do not change an address merely because a different neighbourhood appears more attractive in a ranking report. The location must remain a statement about the business.

Make categories describe the business

The primary category should identify what the business is, not every task it can perform. Review its main customer-facing activity, then compare the available categories in the editor. Additional categories should describe actual parts of the business. They should not become an inventory of every product on a shelf.

Google says category selection affects local ranking, recommends the most specific suitable primary category and notes that category edits can require verification again. Read the category guidance before experimenting. Keep a record of the old selection and the reason for the new one.

Next, review the services in language customers use. Remove discontinued work and make important distinctions clear: supply only versus installation, repair versus replacement, residential versus commercial. The aim is to reduce the gap between a customer's need and what the business actually delivers. Category changes should follow that understanding, not precede it.

Walk through the contact journey

Open the public profile on a phone. Check ordinary hours, holiday arrangements and the telephone number. Follow the website link and any booking links. A correct destination should load, belong to the business and explain the next step. Test the actual contact route with the team's knowledge: confirm that a test message arrives and that someone can recognise it as a test.

For a business with several locations, ensure the destination represents the relevant location. A generic homepage may leave a visitor working out which branch answers the phone. Look for mismatched addresses, old staff details, outdated appointment instructions and mobile buttons obscured by overlays.

Record what happened rather than writing “conversion issue” in the log. “Booking button opens an expired provider page” tells the owner what to fix. “Improve engagement” does not. A successful journey ends with an acknowledged enquiry or a usable booking, not a decorative button.

Review the evidence customers see

Read the recent reviews as a prospective customer would. Repeated comments about arrival times, communication or unclear quotations can reveal information the profile or website should explain more clearly. Separate a response task from an operational task: a courteous reply does not fix an unreliable appointment process.

Assess photographs by their usefulness. Can a visitor recognise the entrance? Can a customer understand the type of work, scale of premises or service experience? Replace misleading or obsolete business-owned images through the appropriate management controls. Google's photo guidance calls for images that represent reality; selecting a cover image does not guarantee it will appear first.

Make a short photography brief: entrance from the street, customer reception, relevant work process and a representative finished result with permission. That is more actionable than a recommendation to upload photographs continually without a purpose.

Establish a baseline before optimising

Export or record the available profile performance for a defined period, noting any closure, promotion or change of hours. Keep website visits, call-button clicks and actual qualified enquiries in separate columns. Google's performance definitions describe calls as clicks on the profile's call button. That measure cannot establish whether a call connected or became a sale.

Agree how the business records enquiry outcomes. A small operation may need only a dated log with service requested, area, source when known and the next action. Compare it with profile and website activity to locate gaps. Do not add personal customer details to a public audit document.

Keep a dated change log. When several edits and a website redesign happen together, later movement cannot confidently be assigned to one category change. A baseline helps the owner judge what actually improved.

Finish with a sequence the owner can execute

Order the work by consequence. First address access, incorrect identity, ineligible location arrangements and broken contact routes. Then correct categories, services, hours and website destinations. Follow with useful photographs, clearer explanations and ongoing review handling. Assign a person and a completion check to each item.

Confirm saved edits in the public profile; a change visible in the editor may still be pending. Check the customer journey again after approval. For anything uncertain, state the decision required and the evidence needed. An audit should make the next action clearer, not encourage a burst of unexplained edits.

Schedule the next review around real changes: a move, new service, holiday period or staff handover. Routine checks should protect accurate information and a functioning enquiry process. The strongest audit deliverable is a short, evidence-backed repair list that someone can finish.

Open this guide’s interactive checklist