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A half-empty Google Business Profile is why a fully built website still does not ring.
When someone searches “dentist near me” or “AC repair in Mesa,” Google does not read your brand story first. It reads the listing. Category. Services. Photos. Hours. Reviews. Distance.
Google Business Profile (GBP) is that listing. It is free. It is also the highest-leverage local asset most owners never finish.
I am going to walk you through the fields that actually move Map Pack rankings, the weekly cadence I use, and the AI prompts that draft the copy so you are not staring at a blank box on a Sunday night.
This sits under the local SEO pillar. Do the listing first. City pages second.
What Google Says It Ranks On
Google does not publish a 47-factor GBP checklist. It does publish the three local ranking buckets: relevance, distance, and prominence (tips to improve local ranking).
Your profile is how you feed relevance (category, services, description) and prominence (photos, posts, reviews, completeness). Distance is mostly the pin and the searcher’s location. You do not “hack” distance. You tell the truth about where you work.
Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better organic local rank. Anyone selling you a guaranteed Map Pack slot is selling you something else.
Categories, Name, and Address (Get These Wrong and Nothing Else Matters)
Primary category
This is the single most important field on the profile.
Google’s rule is simple: use as few categories as possible, pick ones that complete “this business IS a,” not “this business HAS a,” and go specific (representation guidelines).
| Business | Strong primary | Weak primary |
|---|---|---|
| Family dental office | Dentist or Dental clinic | Health |
| PI firm | Personal injury attorney | Lawyer |
| Cooling and heating shop | HVAC contractor | Contractor |
| Drain and water heater work | Plumber | Home improvement |
Secondary categories are for other things you are. An HVAC company that also does indoor air quality can add that. A dentist should not add “Restaurant” because they have a Keurig in the lobby.
I have seen owners stuff eight extra categories hoping to rank for everything. Google has gotten better at treating that as noise, and it can look like spam next to a clean competitor.
Business name
Use the name on the sign, the invoices, and the site.
Google lists what the name must not include: marketing taglines, extra services, hours, phone numbers, “LLC” unless it is on real-world proof, location keywords, and gimmicky characters (same guidelines). “Boise’s #1 Emergency HVAC Near Me” is how listings get suspended.
Address and service area
- Storefronts (dentists, many lawyers, restaurants): show the street address. Google expects permanent signage. Virtual offices are not eligible. Co-working only counts if you have clear signage, receive customers there, and staff it during hours.
- Service-area businesses (HVAC, plumbers): hide a residential address. Set a service area that matches where you actually drive. Google’s own cap is about two hours of driving from the base. One profile for the central office, not a fake pin in every suburb.
Phone: a number you control that rings to this location. Not a redirected call center you do not own, and not a premium-rate number.
Hours: the hours a customer can actually reach you. Use special hours for holidays. Wrong hours create angry reviews you earned.
Description, Services, Attributes
You get 750 characters for the description. Google wants useful information about services, products, mission, and history. It does not want sale slogans, prices as the focus, or links (guidelines).
Write like this:
Meridian HVAC is a licensed heating and cooling contractor serving Ada County. We repair and install air conditioners, furnaces, and heat pumps for homes in Meridian, Boise, and Eagle. Same-day diagnostic visits when the schedule allows. NATE-certified techs, upfront pricing before we start the work.
Not this:
BEST AC IN TOWN!!! 50% OFF TODAY click www.spam.example
Services: list every service you sell, each with a one or two sentence description and a price or range when you can stand behind it. Services are relevance food. They also show on the profile so a searcher does not have to guess if you do water heaters.
Attributes: wheelchair accessible, women-owned, veteran-owned, appointments only, whatever is true. Skip the ones you cannot defend if Google calls to verify.
Photos, Posts, and Q&A
Photos
Google’s help center is blunt: add photos and videos of the storefront, products, and services so the profile is complete, and add an exterior shot so customers can recognize you when they arrive (manage photos). They also want category-specific photos, not random stock (photo tips).
Specs that matter:
- JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB
- Aim for at least 720 x 720
- Logo, cover, exterior, interior or trucks, team, completed work
- Real photos. Stock images of a smiling model with a wrench get filtered and make you look fake.
Cadence I use: 3-5 new owner photos a week. A grid that stops in 2023 tells Google and the customer the same thing. You went quiet.
Posts
GBP posts are short updates on the listing. Offers, what’s new, events, seasonal tips.
They expire. That is the point. A weekly post is a freshness ping. I rotate:
- Monday: completed job (city named, no customer last name unless they agreed)
- Midweek: seasonal tip (“filters before July heat”)
- Offer only when it is real and you will honor it
Do not paste a 2,000-word blog post into a GBP update. Keep it under 150 words, one photo, one button (call, book, or site).
Q&A
Anyone can ask. Anyone can answer. If you leave this empty, a stranger will fill it with “Do you still charge a trip fee?” and someone else’s guess.
Seed 8-10 questions you already get on the phone. Answer as the owner. Recheck weekly. This is allowed. It is also how you stop bad answers from sitting on your listing for a year.
Weekly GBP Cadence (Steal This)
| Day | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Write and publish one post (AI draft, you edit) | 10 min |
| Tue | Upload 3-5 job or shop photos | 10 min |
| Wed | Answer new reviews and Q&A | 15 min |
| Thu | Check hours, service list, booking link | 5 min |
| Fri | Send review requests for closed jobs (same ask for everyone) | 10 min |
That is under an hour. The review responses get their own workflow so you do not sound like a robot.
If you run ads, point them at a page that matches the GBP category, and track the number with CallRail. The listing and the ads should not look like two different companies.
AI Prompts for Google Business Profile
Copy these into Claude or ChatGPT. Swap the brackets. Then edit. AI will invent certifications, “award-winning” lines, and cities you do not serve if you let it.
Prompt 1: Description (750 characters)
Write a Google Business Profile description for [BUSINESS NAME],
a [PRIMARY CATEGORY] in [CITY, STATE].
Facts you may use (do not add others):
- Services: [LIST]
- Service area: [CITIES]
- Credentials: [LICENSE / YEARS / CERTS]
- Differentiator: [ONE TRUE THING]
Rules:
- Max 750 characters
- First sentence: what we are and where
- No slogans, no "best," no prices, no URLs, no hashtags
- Plain English a customer would trust
Prompt 2: Service list blurbs
Write 1-2 sentence service descriptions for a [TRADE] Google Business
Profile. Services: [LIST]. Mention [CITY] only if it reads naturally.
Include a typical starting price only if I provide one. I provided:
[PRICES OR "no prices"]. No hype. No guarantees Google would flag.
Prompt 3: Weekly posts (4 weeks)
Write 4 Google Business Profile posts for [BUSINESS], one per week.
Week 1: a completed [SERVICE] job in [CITY] (no customer last name)
Week 2: a seasonal maintenance tip for [MONTH]
Week 3: a real offer: [OFFER OR "no offer, just a tip"]
Week 4: who we are / how to book
Each post: under 100 words, one keyword used once, end with a call,
book, or website CTA. Friendly and local, not corporate.
Prompt 4: Seeded Q&A
Create 10 Google Business Profile Q&A pairs for a [TRADE] in [CITY].
Questions a real caller would ask: hours, service area, emergency
availability, financing, brands, typical timeline, what to do while
waiting. Answers: short, specific, based only on these facts: [FACTS].
If a fact is missing, say we confirm on the call. Do not invent licenses.
Prompt 5: Photo upload plan
I am a [TRADE] with [STOREFRONT or SERVICE-AREA TRUCKS]. Build a
30-day photo plan, 3-5 photos per week, mapped to Google's types:
exterior or vehicle, interior or shop, team, work in progress,
before/after. No stock. Note what I should never photograph
(client faces without consent, license plates, kids).
If you want a packaged prompt instead of a blank chat, browse skills.sh for a local SEO or review-writing skill and paste it into Claude. The prompts above are still the ones I actually run.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important Google Business Profile setting?
Primary category. Google uses it to decide which searches you are eligible for. Pick the most specific category that describes the core business, then add only secondary categories you truly are, not keywords you wish you ranked for.
How often should I post on Google Business Profile?
Weekly is the cadence I keep. One post, a handful of new photos, and a pass through Q&A and reviews. Posts go stale fast. A listing that last posted in 2023 looks abandoned next to a competitor who posted Tuesday.
Can I add keywords to my Google Business Profile name?
No. The name must match how the business is known in the real world. Marketing taglines, extra services, and “near me” language in the name violate Google’s representation guidelines and are a common reason listings get suspended.
Should a plumber show their home address on Google?
Usually no. Service-area businesses that travel to the customer should hide a residential address and set a service area. Google does not allow virtual offices, and the service area should stay within about two hours of driving from where you operate.
How can AI help with Google Business Profile?
AI drafts the 750-character description, service blurbs, weekly posts, photo captions, and Q&A answers. You still pick the category, upload real photos, and verify every claim. AI is the intern. You are the owner of record.
Next Steps
- Claim, verify, and finish the fields above. Then keep the weekly cadence.
- Pair it with a policy-safe review system.
- If the listing is already down, stop posting and go to GBP reinstatement.
- Vertical specifics: dentists and HVAC have the channel order for those trades.
Have questions about a specific field? Send me what Google is showing, not what you meant to type.