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When a potential customer searches for “accountant near me” or “pizzeria [city]”, in most cases they never reach your website: they stop at the map with the three highlighted businesses, look at the stars, read a couple of reviews and call. That map is the local pack, and the decisive factor for getting into it isn’t your website: it’s your Google Business Profile.
Content
For many SMEs the profile is the single biggest source of enquiries. And it’s free. Yet most of the profiles I analyse are stuck in claimed and abandoned status.
The three factors that decide who appears in the local pack
Google openly states the criteria used to rank local results:
Relevance — how well your profile matches what the user is searching for. You work on it with correct categories, completed services and a precise description.
Distance — how close you are to the searcher. You can’t change it, but you can cover the right area: the profile must state your real address or service area.
Prominence — how well-known and trustworthy Google considers you: reviews (quantity, frequency, replies), citations of your name/address/phone on other sites, the authority of the linked website.
Step-by-step optimisation
Primary category: the most important choice
The primary category carries more weight than any other field. It must be as specific as possible: “Accounting firm”, not “Consultant”. Secondary categories cover ancillary services. Changing it can shift visibility significantly: choose it by checking which category the top three competitors in the local pack use.
Consistent NAP everywhere
Name, address and phone number (NAP) must be identical across profile, website, social media and directories. “10 Main Street” in one place and “Main St., 10” in another may look like details, but they erode Google’s confidence in the consistency of your data.
Reviews: frequency beats quantity
Fifty reviews frozen in 2023 are worth less than twenty reviews spread over recent months. The flow matters: ask for reviews systematically (at the end of a job, with a QR code or a direct link) and reply to all of them, including negative ones. The reply matters because future customers read it, not the person who left the review.
Photos and posts: the activity signal
Profiles with recent, truthful photos receive more direction requests and more clicks. Upload real photos (people, premises, work), not stock. Profile posts (offers, news, events) are underused by 90% of competitors: publishing one every two weeks sets you apart immediately.
Services, products, FAQ, messaging
Fill in the services section with names people actually search for. Activate questions and answers by adding the most frequent questions yourself, with their answers. If you can manage them, activate messages: one less point of friction.
The mistakes I see most often
Keywords stuffed into the business name (high risk of suspension), a home address shown publicly for at-home businesses instead of a service area, purchased reviews (they’re recognisable, Google removes them in blocks and penalises), duplicate profiles, and the classic: wrong opening hours that send customers to a closed door.
Profile and website work together
The profile intercepts, the website convinces and converts. Complete local SEO connects the two: a website page consistent with the profile category, LocalBusiness structured data, content that speaks about the area — an approach I also cover in the guide to SEO for freelancers and professional firms.
I manage Google Business Profile optimisation as a dedicated service: if you want to understand how much room for improvement yours has, let’s look at it together.
Frequently asked questions about the Google Business Profile
Is the Google Business Profile free? Yes, completely. Be wary of anyone calling to offer paid “activation” or “certification” of your profile: it’s an extremely common scheme.
How long does it take to see results in the local pack? Profile changes become visible within a period ranging from a few days to a few weeks; building prominence (reviews, citations) instead takes months of consistency.
Can I appear in the local pack without a website? Yes, but with one important caveat: a professional website strengthens relevance and prominence; without one, you lose everyone who wants to learn more before contacting you.
Should negative reviews be reported? Only if they violate the rules (spam, demonstrably false content, abuse). Otherwise: reply calmly and with facts.
What’s the difference between Google My Business and Google Business Profile? None: it’s the same tool, renamed by Google in 2022. Many still call it My Business.
