Google Business Profile audit: a 20-point checklist for installers

Your Google Business Profile audit checklist

Score each check 0, 1 or 2. Zero means missing or wrong, one means it's there but weak, and two means it's done properly. Add them up for a score out of 40.

Sign in to your Business Profile and work down the list. Each check says what good looks like, based on Google's own guidelines and help pages. Tap a score as you go and the total adds itself up at the bottom.

What your audit score means

Under 20, fix the basics before anything else. Between 21 and 30, close the gaps. Over 30, your profile is in good shape and the work is building reviews and links.

These bands are our own rule of thumb, not a Google score. Google doesn't publish one. The point is to see which checks to fix first.

Why audit your Google Business Profile?

Because details drift. Hours change, staff leave, services get added, and reviews go unanswered. An audit catches it before customers do.

Google is clear about what helps. Its tips for local ranking say businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. It also says the categories you select affect your local ranking, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help. Each of those is something a profile audit checks.

Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches the search, so a wrong category or missing services costs you. Prominence is how well known you are, which Google says includes how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have. Distance you can't change, which is why checking your rank from one spot can mislead you.

There's a practical reason too. When you're busy installing, nobody looks at the listing. Then a customer rings a number that changed last year, or turns up at an address you moved from. A GBP audit every few months stops that.

Free audit tools vs a full profile audit

A free Google Business Profile audit tool checks what anyone can see from outside. A full audit also looks inside your account and at where you rank across your area.

Free GBP tools and browser extensions are a quick start. They can read your public listing: your name, primary category, reviews, photos and posts. Some compare you with the businesses that rank above you. That's useful, but it's only half of an online audit.

What a GMB audit tool can't see

• Who owns the profile. Only someone with access can see the owners and managers.
• Your Performance figures. Calls, website clicks, direction requests and search terms are only visible inside the account.
• Edits waiting for review. Google reviews changes before they go live, so the public listing can lag behind.
• Whether the details are true. A tool can't know that you moved, stopped fitting boilers or changed your number.

Checking any Google Business Profile from outside

You can look at a competitor's public listing the same way a tool does. Their primary category shows under their name, and their reviews, photos and posts are all public. Comparing yours with the three installers above you is one of the quickest ways to see what you're missing.

How to check your local ranking properly

Check your map position from several points across your service area, not just from your own postcode. Distance changes the results.

Google says distance is how far each business is from the person searching. So the same search gives different results in different towns. If you only search from your office, you'll see yourself near the top and miss that you're invisible ten miles away.

A local rank tracker that uses a grid solves this. It checks one search from many points on a map and averages your position. For one of our solar clients, we check "solar panels" at 49 points round Retford. You can see how that changed on our results page.

How often to run a GBP health check

Every three months, and straight away after any change to the business.

A quarterly GBP check takes about an hour with the list above. Run one sooner if any of these happen:

• You rebrand, move your base or change your phone number.
• Someone who had access to the profile leaves.
• You start or stop installing something, like batteries or heat pumps.
• Calls from Google drop for a month without an obvious reason.
• Google shows a warning, or your listing disappears from the map.

If the listing has gone completely, check whether it's been suspended. Our guide to a suspended Google Business Profile explains what to do.

What to fix first after a profile audit

Fix ownership first, then your name, category and service areas, then reviews, photos and posts.

1. Ownership and verification

   Nothing else matters if you can't edit the listing. Our verification guide covers getting verified, and the set-up guide covers claiming a listing someone else controls.

2. Name, category and service areas

   These decide which searches you can appear for. Change them carefully: Google may ask you to verify again after editing your name or category.

3. Services, description and photos

   Fill every gap. Our guide to Google Business Profile optimisation goes into each one.

4. Reviews and replies

   Set up a simple routine to ask after every install, and reply to every review. See how to get more Google reviews.

Google Business Profile audit questions