The Easy-Reading Guide to Ranking Your Google Business Profile

Your GBP is your #1 digital asset as a local business

If you run a local business, your Google Business Profile (GBP) is the most valuable piece of real estate you have online. It shows up before your website. It’s what people look at to decide whether to call you. And most of your competitors are barely using it.

Here’s how to make it work for you.

1. Fill Out Every Single Field in Your Google Business Profile

Most business owners set up their GBP once and never touch it again, missing an entire layer of SEO opportunity. Inside your profile you can add products, services, a business description, attributes, and more. Most don’t realise these fields exist, let alone that you can keyword-optimise them.

Treat every field like a mini landing page. Add every service you offer by name, write your description using the actual words your customers search, and add as many relevant services as apply to your business. Think “emergency plumber Perth” and “blocked drain specialist,” not just “plumbing.” Google reads all of it. The more you fill in, the more searches you can show up for.

2. Get Your Categories Right

Your primary category is one of the most critical choices on your profile. Choose the one that most precisely describes your core service, not just the broadest option. Then add secondary categories for everything adjacent you offer. A physio clinic might have primary: Physiotherapist, secondary: Sports Medicine Clinic, Massage Therapist, Pilates Studio. Each category you add opens you up to a new set of searches.

3. Upload Raw, Geotagged Photos

Don’t strip the metadata from your photos before uploading. When you take a photo on your phone at a job site or customer location, it contains GPS coordinates. Google reads those geotags and uses them to understand where you operate, strengthening your profile’s relevance in those areas. Upload raw photos from real jobs. This is one of the most underused tactics in local SEO.

4. Get Reviews, and Keep Getting Them

Reviews are the single biggest driver of both rankings and conversions. But here’s what most people miss: recency matters as much as volume. 100 reviews from three years ago are worth less than 20 reviews from this month. Google treats recency as a proxy for relevance. An active review profile signals that your business is still operational and still delivering.

The best way to get reviews? Ask in person, at the right moment. Wait until after the job is done and the customer is happy, then hand them a QR code that goes directly to your review form. Don’t make them search for you. Don’t ask while they’re paying. Time it right, and your conversion rate will be dramatically higher than any email or text follow-up.

5. Build Local Citations

Get your business listed, with consistent Name, Address, and Phone number, across local directories: True Local, Yellow Pages, Yelp, industry-specific directories. These citations act as trust signals that confirm to Google your business is real and established in your area.

6. Link Your Social Media

Your connected social profiles show up directly on your GBP. Link them. It adds credibility and gives Google more signals about your brand’s legitimacy and activity. Your profile also displays your recent posts!

7. You Can Make Posts

Google Posts are essentially free content on your profile: promotions, updates, new services, recent jobs. Most businesses never use them. Posting weekly keeps your profile active and signals to Google that you’re current.

The Thread Running Through All of This: Activity

Google rewards recency and relevance. A profile that gets fresh reviews, new photos, and regular posts every week looks like a healthy, active business, because it is one. That’s what earns you a spot in the Local Pack (the top three results on the map), which is where the phone calls come from.

Your GBP is your most powerful local SEO asset - and it's free. Before you even think about traditional SEO, get this right first. If you follow this guide: from categories and photos to reviews and citations, you'll be ahead of 90% of local businesses.