If your business serves customers in a specific area, whether that’s a shop, a trade, a clinic, a solicitor or a restaurant, local SEO is one of the highest-return channels available to you. And at the centre of local SEO sits one free tool: your Google Business Profile.
This guide covers why local search matters, how Google decides which businesses to show, and exactly how to get the most from your profile.
Why Local Search Should Be Near the Top of Your Priority List
Local searches come from people who usually need something now and nearby. Someone searching “emergency plumber Nottingham” or “dentist near me” isn’t browsing. They’re ready to act. Google’s own research found that 76% of people who search on their phone for something nearby visit a related business within a day.
That makes local visibility valuable in a way few other channels can match:
- High intent. Local searchers are often close to making a decision, so they convert well.
- A level playing field. A well-optimised independent business can outrank national brands in the local results.
- Low cost. Your Google Business Profile is free, and most of the work involved is time rather than budget.
- Trust. A complete profile with strong reviews tells people you’re established and reliable before they’ve even visited your website.
Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business, which Google renamed in 2021) controls how your business appears in Google Search and Google Maps. For many local customers, it’s the first thing they see, and sometimes the only thing they see before picking up the phone.
How Google Decides Which Local Businesses to Show
Google confirms that local results are based on three factors:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone is searching for. Accurate categories, services and descriptions all help.
- Distance: how far your business is from the searcher, or from the location in their search. You can’t change where you are, but service area settings help if you travel to customers.
- Prominence: how well known and trusted your business is. This is shaped by reviews, links to your website, mentions across the web and your wider online presence.
Prominence is where most of your effort should go, because it’s the factor you can influence most.
Getting Your Listing Right
Complete Every Section
Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage and paperwork. Adding keywords to your business name breaks Google’s guidelines and can get your profile suspended. Then fill in your address, phone number, website, opening hours and services, and write a clear description using as much of the 750-character allowance as is useful.
Choose Your Primary Category Carefully
Your primary category is one of the strongest signals you control. It should describe the core of what you do, as specifically as possible. Secondary categories can help you appear for related searches, but only add ones that are genuinely accurate.
Add Real Photos and Video
Google reports that businesses with photos receive more requests for directions and more clicks through to their websites than those without. Upload new photos regularly, showing your premises, your team, your products and examples of your work. Real photos build far more trust than stock images. You can also add short videos of up to 30 seconds.
Keep Your Opening Hours Accurate
Wrong opening hours are one of the quickest ways to frustrate a customer and earn a bad review. Set special hours for bank holidays in advance. Industry testing, including a BrightLocal study, also suggests that businesses shown as open at the time of a search tend to rank better, which is another reason to keep your hours up to date.
Reviews: Why They Matter and How to Earn Them
Reviews are one of the most powerful assets a local business has. They affect where you rank and, just as importantly, whether people choose you once they’ve found you. Most people check reviews before choosing a local business, and a strong, recent set of reviews can be the deciding factor between you and a competitor.
Why Reviews Make Such a Difference
- They build trust. Reviews from real customers are more convincing than anything you can say about yourself.
- They support your rankings. Review quantity, quality and recency all contribute to prominence.
- They improve conversions. A good rating and positive comments make people more likely to call, visit or enquire.
- They give you feedback. Reviews tell you what customers value and where you could improve.
Recent Reviews Matter as Much as Total Reviews
A business with a large number of reviews that are all several years old can lose out to a competitor with fewer reviews arriving steadily. Recent reviews show Google and customers that you’re active and still delivering. That’s why asking for reviews should be an ongoing habit, not a one-off push.
Make It Easy for Customers to Leave a Review
From your Google Business Profile, you can create a review link and QR code that takes customers straight to your review form. Add it to receipts, invoices, follow-up emails, email signatures and printed materials, and ask in person when a job has gone well.
Respond to Every Review
Reply to all reviews, positive and negative. Thank people for positive feedback, and respond to negative reviews calmly and professionally, offering to put things right. Future customers read your replies too, and a thoughtful response to a complaint can build more trust than a perfect score.
Never Buy or Fake Reviews
Since April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has made it illegal in the UK to commission or publish fake reviews, or to hide incentivised ones. Following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, Google has also committed to tougher action on UK businesses that manipulate reviews, including warning labels on their profiles and restrictions on new reviews. Offering discounts or rewards in exchange for reviews also breaks Google’s policies. The risk simply isn’t worth it.
Posts, Updates and Profile Activity
Google Posts let you share updates, offers and events directly on your profile. There’s no strong evidence that posting frequency directly improves rankings, but regular posts keep your profile fresh, give searchers more reasons to choose you and show that the business is active. A realistic rhythm you can stick to, such as one or two posts a week, is better than a burst of activity followed by silence. Posts can be scheduled in advance from your dashboard.
What Has Changed Recently
- Chat has been replaced. Google removed the built-in Business Profile chat feature in July 2024. You can now add WhatsApp or SMS as contact options instead.
- More verification options. Video verification is now available for many businesses alongside the traditional postcard method.
- Automated suggestions and updates. Google increasingly suggests edits to your profile and can update details based on information from other sources. Check your dashboard regularly, as these aren’t always accurate.
Google Business Profile and AI Search
Information from Google Business Profiles increasingly appears in AI-generated answers, such as AI Overviews, for local searches. A complete, accurate and active profile gives you a better chance of being included. For more on how AI search works and how to prepare for it, read our guide to GEO and optimising for AI search.
Make Your Profile and Website Work Together
Your Google Business Profile shouldn’t stand alone. It works best when your website reinforces it:
- Use local keywords naturally. Research the terms local customers search for and use them in your profile description and services, and in your website’s page titles, meta descriptions and content.
- Keep your NAP consistent. Your business name, address and phone number should match exactly across your website, your profile and online directories. Inconsistencies can undermine Google’s confidence in your business.
- Create location pages where relevant. If you serve several towns or cities, dedicated, genuinely useful pages for each can help you appear in those areas.
Measuring What’s Working
The Performance section of your Google Business Profile shows how people find and interact with your listing, including searches, profile views, calls, direction requests and website clicks. Compare this with Google Search Console and Google Analytics to see the full picture of how local search contributes to traffic and enquiries. If you see a sudden change, our guide to diagnosing traffic drops can help you work out why.
10 Things You Can Do to Your Profile Today
- Complete every section, including services, attributes, description and hours.
- Check your primary category describes your business as precisely as possible.
- Upload at least five new photos of your premises, team, work or products.
- Create a review link or QR code and add it to receipts, emails and printed materials.
- Reply to every unanswered review, including older ones.
- Check your NAP is consistent across your website, profile and directories.
- Publish a Google Post and plan a realistic schedule for future ones.
- Set special hours for upcoming bank holidays.
- Review Google’s suggested edits, accepting the accurate ones and correcting the rest.
- Add WhatsApp or SMS so customers can still message you.
Treat Your Profile as a Channel, Not a Listing
Your Google Business Profile isn’t something you set up once and forget. The businesses that win in local search treat it as an active marketing channel: adding fresh photos, earning and responding to reviews, keeping information accurate and making sure their website backs it all up.
If you’d like help improving your local visibility, our local SEO team can review your current presence and show you where the opportunities are. Start with a free SEO audit.
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