But simply creating a Google Business Profile doesn’t guarantee visibility.
Google considers a range of signals when determining which businesses appear for local searches, including relevance, distance and prominence.
That means improving your visibility usually isn’t about finding one magic setting.
It’s about making sure Google has a clear and consistent understanding of who you are, what you do and where you operate.
Here are some of the first areas we look at when reviewing local SEO performance.
1. Your primary business category isn’t the best fit
Your Google Business Profile category helps Google understand what type of business you operate.
Choosing the closest possible primary category is therefore important.
The mistake we often see is businesses choosing the category they personally use to describe themselves rather than considering how their customers actually search.
Start with your primary service and work backwards from search intent.
Secondary categories can then be used where genuinely relevant.
The goal isn’t to add every category possible. It’s to give Google the clearest possible picture of the business.
2. Your business information isn’t consistent
Your business name, address and phone number should be accurate and consistent across your major online touchpoints.
That includes your website, Google Business Profile and relevant directories.
This becomes particularly important when a business has moved premises, changed phone numbers, rebranded or opened additional locations.
Old information can remain online for years.
A local SEO audit should therefore look beyond your Google profile and assess the broader digital footprint surrounding the business.
3. Your review strategy has stalled
Reviews serve two important purposes.
They provide Google with additional signals about your business and, just as importantly, they influence the person comparing you against competitors.
A strong review strategy isn’t about generating a huge number of reviews overnight.
It’s about consistently encouraging genuine customers to share their experience.
That creates a healthier and more natural review profile over time while giving prospective customers recent evidence that other people trust your business.
4. Your profile is incomplete
Your Google Business Profile should give both Google and potential customers useful information.
Depending on the business, that can include opening hours, services, service areas, photos, attributes, business information and relevant categories.
Completeness matters, but accuracy matters more.
Don’t fill your profile with information purely because there’s a field available.
Make sure everything reflects how the business genuinely operates.
5. Your profile isn’t being actively maintained
Google Business Profiles shouldn’t be treated as a set-and-forget asset.
Opening hours change. Services evolve. New photos become available. Businesses move or expand.
Regularly maintaining the profile helps ensure customers are seeing accurate information and gives you another place to communicate relevant business updates.
6. Your website and Google Business Profile are telling different stories
Local SEO extends beyond the profile itself.
Google also has your website available to help understand what your business does and where it operates.
If your profile positions you around one service while your website barely mentions it, there’s a disconnect.
The same applies to location.
For businesses targeting specific areas, the website architecture and content strategy should support those locations naturally rather than relying entirely on the Google Business Profile.
Your website, on-page SEO and Google Business Profile should reinforce each other.
7. You have duplicate or outdated listings
Businesses that have moved, rebranded or changed ownership can sometimes end up with multiple listings.
That creates confusion for customers and can complicate your local search presence.
Search your business name and address in Google Maps and make sure there aren’t old or duplicate profiles floating around.
If there are, investigate the correct Google process for updating, merging or removing them.
8. Your profile setup doesn’t reflect how the business operates
A business customers physically visit is different from a business that travels to its customers.
Google provides different options for storefront and service-area businesses, so your setup needs to accurately reflect your real-world operations.
This is particularly worth reviewing if the business has changed significantly since the profile was originally created.
Local SEO is bigger than your Google Business Profile
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is treating local SEO as a standalone Google Business Profile exercise.
It isn’t.
Your website, content, reviews, business information, location signals and profile all contribute to the bigger picture.
That’s why our approach at Froth Media starts with research.
We look at how people are actually searching, which competitors are appearing, where the gaps are and whether your website and Google presence are aligned around the same opportunities.
From there, we can build a local SEO strategy around the areas most likely to make a commercial difference.
Because the goal isn’t simply to “rank on Maps”.
It’s to be visible when the right customer is searching for the services you provide.