Google Business Profile

What GBP unlocks

• Google Maps presence, your business appears when users search for category + location
• Local Pack eligibility, the 3-business map result on Google SERPs for local queries
• Knowledge Panel for the local entity (separate from a national brand Knowledge Panel)
• Reviews ecosystem, customer reviews directly on Google
• Direct customer actions, call button, directions, website click from SERP
• Q&A section, Google indexes the questions + answers as content

Setup essentials

1. Verify the business, postcard (most common), phone, email, or video verification
2. Complete every field, name, address, phone (must match NAP elsewhere), categories, hours, services, attributes
3. Add photos, exterior, interior, team, product/service photos. GBPs with 10+ photos significantly outrank empty ones
4. Write a long description, 750 chars, keyword-aware but natural
5. Pick the right primary category, single biggest local ranking lever; pick the most specific applicable
6. Add secondary categories, up to 9, more is usually better
7. Add services, itemized list of what you offer

Ranking factors specific to Local Pack

Factor	Impact
Primary category selection	Very high
Review count	High
Review recency	High
Average rating	Moderate-High
Proximity to searcher	Very high (uncontrollable)
NAP consistency across web	Foundational
Citations across local directories	High
Posts and updates frequency	Moderate
Photos	Moderate

Common mistakes

• Skipping the verification step, without it, the listing isn’t trusted
• Mismatched NAP between GBP and website footer / schema
• Picking generic primary category (“Service” instead of “SEO Agency”)
• Leaving fields empty, every empty field is a missed signal
• Ignoring reviews, both negative and positive deserve responses
• Not updating, outdated hours and special hours during holidays cost trust

Review acquisition strategy

The legitimate path: ask satisfied customers to leave a review with a direct Google review link. Forbidden by Google policy: incentivized reviews, fake reviews, gated review-collection (where unhappy customers are routed to private feedback instead of public review).

Implication for AI search

Verified Google Business Profile + matching NAP + Knowledge Panel materially boosts AI search citation rate for queries like “best [service] in [city].” The compounding effect across the entity authority signals is meaningful.