TL;DR — Your Google Business Profile is probably the highest-leverage local SEO asset you own. This guide walks you through every field that affects ranking, plus the Bing Places and Apple Maps profiles most businesses forget. Watch the 15-minute video below or scroll to read the full breakdown.
Why Google Business Profile optimization matters
When someone types “physio near me” or “dentist [your town]” into Google, the first thing they see isn’t a list of websites. It’s a map with three businesses on it — the local map pack — and below that, a longer list of profiles. Every one of those listings is a Google Business Profile.
Your website matters, but for local searches your profile is what gets you in front of customers. Google decides who shows up based on three factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Optimising your profile directly improves all three.
The good news: most of your competitors haven’t done this work. The fields are filled in but never touched since setup. That’s the gap you can close in an afternoon.
How to set up and verify your Google Business Profile
If you don’t already have a profile, head to business.google.com and follow the on-screen steps. You’ll need to verify ownership before you can edit anything.
Verification can be as simple as a phone call with a code to type in. It can also be far more painful, sometimes Google asks for video walkthroughs of your premises and signage, and even then it doesn’t always go through on the first try.
If you hit problems, persist, raise a ticket with Google Support, and look for community advice. You will get there eventually.
The profile fields that actually move rankings
Once you’re verified, these are the fields worth your attention.
Business name
Your business name should reflect your real-world signage and not be keyword-stuffed (Google will penalise you for “Tom’s Plumbing — Best Plumber Bristol Cheap Emergency 24/7”). But if your business name doesn’t naturally include your service and location, you can sometimes append a clean descriptor. For example, “Tom’s Taps – Plumber, Bristol”. Whatever you settle on must match your website, your directory listings, and your other citations exactly.
Categories
Pick the most accurate primary category. Then add every secondary category that genuinely fits. If you’re not sure what your top-performing competitors use, the GMB Everywhere Chrome extension lets you see their categories directly.
The 750-character description
This is a free SEO field. Write it for real customers first, but make sure every keyword you want to rank for appears at least once. Service names, location names, neighbourhood names, and adjacent terms all belong here. Front-load the most important content because Google may truncate the display.
Photos
Photos affect ranking. Profiles that keep adding fresh photos are rewarded. Make sure you have a clear shot of your shop front (so people know what they’re walking towards), your interior, your team, and any products or treatments. Set one photo as your logo. Add a few new ones every month.
Products vs services — they’re not the same
This is the trap that catches almost every business.
Products are for physical items and entries you create here appear publicly on your profile, with prices, in a card customers can browse before clicking through to your site.
Services are private, they’re used by Google’s algorithm only to decide what searches you should appear in. Customers never see them.
Both matter, but they do different jobs. Even if your business doesn’t sell physical products, use the Products tab to display your offerings publicly.
Posts
Posts behave like a mini social feed inside your profile. Every post takes up more space at the bottom of your listing, which builds visual trust and gives Google fresh content to index. Aim for at least one post a month.
Booking link
If you take online bookings, adding the booking link puts a prominent “Book Online” button on your profile. It’s one of the highest-converting elements available — use it.
Don’t forget Bing Places and Apple Maps
Google gets the attention, but the other two matter more than people realise.
Bing Places for Business
Bing powers a meaningful share of search and crucially, it powers ChatGPT search results. Set up a profile at bing.com/forbusiness and follow the verification process. Bing tries to sync information from your Google profile by default, which sounds helpful but often introduces errors. If your information doesn’t match, unsync the profiles and edit Bing manually.
Apple Maps Business Connect
Every iPhone user who taps Maps is using Apple Maps. That’s a huge audience that doesn’t see Google’s results at all. Set up your profile at business.apple.com. Apple sources information from a mix of directories and your Google profile, so verify everything is correct after setup.
Common pitfalls (and how to fix them)
- Google silently changes your information. It pulls from other sources around the web and updates your profile without telling you. Check your profile weekly.
- Address reformatting. Google sometimes reformats commas, suite numbers, or “rear of” prefixes incorrectly. Resubmit a few times, then escalate to Support if it keeps happening.
- Inconsistent information across directories. If you ever change your hours, phone number, or address, you need to update them everywhere — your website, every directory listing, every citation. Inconsistency hurts ranking.
- Empty profile fields. Anything you leave blank is information Google can’t use. Fill out everything that applies, even attributes you think don’t matter.
Watch the full video walkthrough
The video below walks through every step of this on screen, including the bits that are hard to explain in text — what each settings page actually looks like, the sync issues with Bing, and how Apple Maps differs from the other two.
Watch: Google Business Profile Optimisation: Google, Bing & Apple #localseo
Frequently asked questions
How long does Google Business Profile optimisation take to affect my ranking?
You’ll often see movement within a few weeks of a thorough optimisation, but the bigger gains compound over months as Google builds confidence in your profile. Reviews and consistent posting are what keep it climbing.
Do I really need a Bing or Apple profile if I rank well on Google?
Yes. iPhone users default to Apple Maps without realising it, and Bing’s data feeds into AI search tools. Both audiences are missed if you’re only on Google.
What’s the difference between Google My Business and Google Business Profile?
They’re the same thing — Google rebranded “Google My Business” to “Google Business Profile” a few years ago. Some tools and articles still use the old name.
Can I do this myself or should I get help?
Most of it is genuinely DIY-friendly. The video covers everything you need. If you’d rather we just look at your profile and tell you what’s broken, book a free marketing review.
What to do next
If you want a structured walkthrough of the full local SEO playbook — not just profiles, but reviews, citations, on-page SEO and the rest — download our free SEO Runbook.
Or, if you’d like us to look at your profile and tell you exactly what’s holding you back, book a free, no-obligation marketing review
We do these every week. Even if you don’t end up working with us, you’ll come away with a clear list of what to fix.
