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How to audit your Google Business Profile health (10-minute audit).

The Google Business Profile is the local-pack signal that decides which businesses appear in Maps. A 10-minute audit surfaces the structural gaps before they cost you ranking. Run this once a quarter.

01

Sign in to business.google.com.

Use the email associated with your Google Business Profile. If you cannot sign in, the GBP may have been claimed by someone else or the verification expired. Reclaim before proceeding.

02

Check your primary category.

Is it the exact phrase buyers would type? Generic categories ("Plumber") lose to specific ones ("Emergency Plumber"). The primary category drives ranking on its associated queries.

03

Check completeness.

Google shows a completeness percentage in the dashboard. Most businesses sit at 60-80%. Filling to 95%+ produces measurable ranking lift. Fill every available field: services, attributes, hours, photos, products.

04

Check posting cadence.

When was your last GBP post? Weekly cadence is the floor for ranking signal. If your last post was 3+ months ago, start posting immediately. Service highlights, job photos, seasonal announcements all work.

05

Check review recency.

Look at the last 5 reviews. Are they from the last 60-90 days? Recency matters more than total count. If your reviews are all from 2022-2023, your review-recency signal has decayed; rebuild the cadence.

06

Check for suggested edits.

The dashboard shows pending suggested edits from users. Some are legitimate corrections; some are competitor sabotage. Review each one. Reject any that change your business name suffix, primary category, or hours without your approval.

Common mistakes.

Still not resolved? Stan Consulting reads the structural pattern.

If your GBP dropped overnight or you cannot identify which signal is the gap, the Conversion Second Opinion (scoped after intake) runs the structural diagnostic in 72 hours.

Order the Second Opinion →

The structural concept underneath this tutorial

Google Business Profile

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