Why GBP is the highest-ROI local SEO activity

For any business that serves customers in a geographic area, Google Business Profile is the single most important local SEO asset. It determines whether you appear in the Map Pack (the three businesses shown with a map at the top of local search results), how you appear in Google Maps, and increasingly, what AI engines say about your local presence.

A fully optimised GBP is free. The only cost is time. Yet most businesses set it up once and forget it, leaving their most visible digital asset incomplete and stale.

The complete setup checklist

Primary category

Your primary category is the single strongest ranking signal in GBP. Choose the most specific category that accurately describes your business. “Plumber” is better than “Home service company”. “Dance school” is better than “Performing arts group”.

You can add up to 10 additional categories, but the primary carries the most weight. Google’s category list updates regularly; check it annually.

Business description

750 characters maximum. Use them all. Include your primary service, your location, your key differentiator, and a natural mention of your target keywords. Do not stuff keywords; write for the business owner who finds you in Maps and needs to understand what you do in 10 seconds.

Services and products

Add every service you offer as a named item with a description. This structured data helps Google match you to specific queries. “Emergency plumbing repair” as a named service ranks better for that query than a business that only mentions emergency plumbing in their description.

Photos

Businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for directions and 35% more website clicks than those without, according to Google’s own data. Upload at minimum:

  • Exterior photo (helps customers recognise the building)
  • Interior photos (builds trust before the visit)
  • Team photos (real people, not stock images)
  • Work examples (your actual output, not generic images)
  • Logo and cover photo

Update photos quarterly. Stale photo sections signal an inactive business.

Hours and special hours

Keep regular hours accurate. Add special hours for bank holidays, seasonal changes, and closures. Incorrect hours result in negative reviews from customers who arrive to find you closed.

The review strategy that works

Reviews are both a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Here is what matters:

Volume. More reviews increase your visibility. There is no magic number, but businesses in the Map Pack typically have significantly more reviews than those below it. Aim for a steady cadence rather than bursts.

Recency. A business with 100 reviews but none in the last 6 months looks abandoned. A business with 30 reviews and 5 in the last month looks active. Google weights recency.

Response rate. Respond to every review. Positive reviews get a genuine thank you. Negative reviews get a professional, empathetic response that addresses the concern without being defensive. Your response is written for future customers reading the review, not for the reviewer.

How to ask. The simplest method: after a successful job or interaction, say “If you were happy with the work, a Google review would really help us.” Send a follow-up message with a direct link to your review page. Do not offer incentives; Google’s policies prohibit it and customers can tell when reviews are incentivised.

According to the BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses. Your review profile is often the first thing a potential customer evaluates.

GBP posts

Google Business Profile posts appear in your listing and in Maps. Most businesses ignore them entirely, which is an opportunity.

What to post: Service highlights, seasonal offers, event announcements, blog post links, before-and-after work examples. Keep it factual and useful.

How often: Two to four posts per month. Consistency matters more than frequency.

What not to post: Generic motivational quotes, stock images, overly promotional language. GBP posts should feel like updates from a real business, not a social media feed.

The Q&A section

GBP has a Q&A feature where anyone can ask questions and anyone can answer. If you do not seed this section yourself, customers (or competitors) will.

Identify the 10 most common questions your customers ask. Post them on your own listing and answer them yourself. This ensures accurate information is the first thing searchers see.

How GBP feeds into AI engines

Google AI Overviews pulls directly from GBP data when answering local queries. If someone asks Google’s AI “who is the best plumber in North London”, the AI Overview draws from GBP listings, reviews, and website content to construct its answer.

This means your GBP is not just a local SEO asset; it is an AI visibility asset. The information in your profile, your review volume, and your category selection all influence whether AI engines recommend you.

For businesses serious about local visibility, GBP optimisation and our local SEO service work together as the foundation. Everything else (website content, backlinks, social presence) builds on this base.

For a worked example, see how a women’s fitness studio whose unclaimed profile had left it outside the local map results rebuilt its local presence.