How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile: 7 Best Practices for 2027

Every business owner needs a Google Business profile to reach their target audience.

While collecting Google reviews is the main reason to have one, Google also offers other features that will help you establish strong local SEO.

So, I’m listing seven best practices that will help you create and optimize the perfect Google Business Profile and grow in your busy market niche.

What is Google Business Profile? (formerly Google My Business)

Google Business Profile is basically your local business listing or your digital storefront as it appears on Google. As such, it includes all relevant information about your business, from opening hours to images of your products and contact info for your customers.

This Google feature was previously known under other names, such as Google Places and Google My Business, but with a recent redesign, Google has enhanced and streamlined most of its features and consequently updated the name to Google Business Profile.

“Google Business Profile, formerly know as Google My Business, is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying and editing your business information, you can both help customers find you and tell them the story of your business.”

‘Google Business Profile’ definition

7 best practices to optimize your Google Business Profile manually

For better visibility and ranking of your Google Business Profile, you must follow a few best practices at all times, including but not limited to the following:

1. Optimize your Google Business Profile listing

As a part of your marketing strategy, optimizing your listing for search engines and searchers is always a great opportunity.

To start with this right away, it is important to add as much relevant info and media as possible in the first days you are setting up your listing.

Here are some tips on how to set up and optimize your Google Business Profile:

1. Choose an appealing profile photo and cover photo that will stand on the list
2. Be as detailed as possible when entering contact information, such as business category, business location, phone number, website URL, hours of operation, etc.
3. Choose the relevant business type: storefront (restaurants, bars, hotels, etc.), service area (delivery, taxi service, transportation service, etc.), or brand (products, brands, causes, etc.)
4. Post lots of photos, especially if you are in the food business
5. Get reviews so you will eventually rank at the top

To edit your information, go to your Google Business Profile dashboard, select ‘Edit profile,’ and then choose a section to fill out or update.

Here, you should update all required sections. The more information you add, the better.

Remember: you can always edit your business listing and optimize it further to reflect your most recent business changes.

The latest option in the Google Business Profile is the ability to add links to social media profiles. You can do this under the Contact tab as shown below:

Now, let’s dive into how to edit and get the most out of the other sections in your Google Business Profile listing

2. Optimize your Google Business Profile photos

Depending on your business case, Google Photos is one of the touchpoints for your new customers to discover your offer. If you are a restaurant or a hotel, the photos you manage on your Google My Business account will be a strong selling point to get new guests on board. Google Maps also surfaces these images in its Discover through photos feature, which shows searchers photo carousels of products and places.

The goal with photos is to make your Google My Business profile appeal live and make people feel that you are right there, ready to serve them.

Here are the Google My Business photos you should pay attention to:

Profile photo

Your profile photo appears when you post Google posts, updates, upload new photos, videos, or review responses. The most common example here is to upload your logo as a profile photo in an appropriate format.

Cover photo

The cover photo is one of the most important parts of the look of your Google Business Profile. It usually shows at the center of your listing when someone searches your business name in Search but often Google makes their own customization of the search results and may show other photos they assume are relevant.

Here are the required dimensions for your Google Business Profile cover photo:

• Dimensions: 1080 x 608 pixels (minimum 480 x 270; maximum 2120 x 1192) Format: JPG or PNG.
• Size: Between 10 KB and 5 MB.
• Minimum Resolution: 720 px tall, 720 px wide.

You should upload other images along with your profile and header photos to make your listing more informative and appealing. Today, uploading even your company’s videos is also a great idea.

To make the most out of these photos and stand out from the competition, here is a list of a few ideas that you can do:

• Hire a professional to capture the best moments in your local business
• Make sure photos are authentic and updated
• Post photos in a specific category, such as Exterior, Interior, or Team photos
• Regularly post photos with your latest offers or menus

By sharing relevant photos, you will avoid customer reviews and comments that confirm that the dish was not like in the photos or that the room sizes are smaller than the photos you’ve shared.

Note that the users can actually post their own photos and give visual ‘evidence’ of what they’ve actually experienced.

3. Use Google Posts to increase organic traffic

Google Posts or recent Google Updates are a recent feature added to the Google Business Profile Suite.

This functionality allows businesses to publish short posts with links to news, events, or offers about their products and services directly in the Google search panel, which displays on the right side of the Google search results.

By making this small feature, Google actually wants to bring the social media component into the search results by allowing small businesses to push their latest news. Here are the steps to create your first Google post or update:

Step 1: Go to your Google Business Profile manager and click Add Update:

Step 2: In the popup, choose what you want to post, update, event or offer:

Step 3: If you choose an update, you will need to fill in the following:

• Upload photo: recommended resolution of 720 px tall, 720 px wide, or minimum: 250x250px.
• Write a description that can be from up to 1500 characters.
• Choose a call to action button that is optional: Book, Order online, Buy, Learn more, Sign up, or Get an Offer.
• You can click Preview, and if it looks good, click Post.

How will people see my Google posts and updates?

After you publish your Google Posts, it will immediately appear on the right-side panel (Knowledge Panel) in the Google search results when people search for your business.

Here an example of how our Google Post looks like in the Google search homepage results:

Here are a few more facts you need to know about Google Posts:

• You can publish up to 10 Google posts
• If you have multiple posts, they will be displayed as a carousel in the Knowledge Panel
• Get analytics: Views (times your post was seen) and Engagement (times a customer clicked your button)
• Google archives posts after 6 months, unless you set a date range. Offer and event posts run until their end date. Post at least weekly anyway: fresh posts show customers your profile is active.
• Use a Google posts scheduling tool to post updates on multiple Google business profiles.

4. Get more Google business reviews

I mentioned Google reviews a few times. And here is why.

Reviews are one of the biggest indicators for Google to rank your location in their local listings.

With positive and negative reviews posted by your customers, you can easily differentiate from your competitors in the Google local search, and potential customers can get a real insight into the quality of your offerings.

So basically, when people search for keywords in your industry, especially when searching Google Maps, Google most definitely considers the rank based on your average rating and the number of reviews.

Like other review sites, one of the best practices to get Google reviews is to let your customers know they can do this. And just ask!

This is proven by the 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal:

“68% of consumers left a review after a local business asked them to”

Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal

Sharing a simple link to your Google reviews form can initially get you the first reviews on Google. To get the Google reviews link, 

1. Type your company name in Google’s search bar and follow these steps:
2. In the Profile section, click on Get reviews
3. Please copy the link from the popup and share it with your customers. 

Here is an example of this link: 

https://g.page/r/CfO4tqbmA5_lEBM/review

Follow this detailed tutorial on how to create a Google My Business reviews link.

To start collecting Google reviews, you can do these simple actions:

• Send emails with the review submission form to your customers.
• Share this link with other social media profiles.
• Create a “Leave a review” button on your website.
• Print a QR code with the link in your menus or fliers.
• Create a campaign to incentivize customers to leave reviews.

5. Respond to Google reviews

As your Google Business Profile starts collecting new reviews, you will need a strategy for handling them.

Customer questions work differently now. Google replaced public customer questions on Maps with an AI “Ask” feature in December 2025, which answers from your profile details and reviews. Keep your description, services, hours and attributes complete so those answers are accurate.

So basically, your online reputation and rank will strongly depend on how you as a company will handle and respond to the Google reviews posted by your customers.

Step 1: To view the new reviews, just click on the Reviews option in your Google Business Profile.

Please note: Ensure the email you used to create My Business Account is always on. Or assign a person to your team and add him as a manager. By doing this, you will make sure that you will never miss a review in your Google Business Profile manager. Every time somebody posts a review about your business, Google will send you an email notification.

Step 2: A popup will open with all the reviews. Here, just click ‘Reply’ next to the review you want to respond to, as shown below:

You can also access all reviews on this link: business.google.com/reviews, where you will also see the option to reply to each review.

Furthermore, you can respond to reviews by downloading the official Google My Business app on your mobile devices, where you will get direct notifications for all new reviews people post on your profile.

Pay special attention to the negative reviews. Unsatisfied customers can literally break or make your business.You will need to have your customer team or a person dedicated to understanding, analyzing, and responding with details to every single negative review.

Read more:

How to handle negative reviews with greater success.

Managing several profiles? Here’s how to manage Google reviews for multiple locations.

6. Know how to delete negative Google review by reporting

If the negative review does not follow Google’s content rules and is simply fake, you can flag it as inappropriate, and Google will delete and remove it. There is no option at the moment, to delete a review by yourself, you can only report it.

Here is how to flag or report a Google review:

1. Log in to your Google Business Profile account.
2. Navigate to Reviews.
3. Find the review and click the three dots in the top right corner.
4. Click ‘Flag as inappropriate.’

For more details read the full guide to flag inappropriate Google reviews.

7. Search and find insights in Google reviews

By searching through Google reviews, you can find valuable insights about the sentiment and reputation of your own or the competitor’s businesses.

This option is available within the public Reviews section on each Google Business Profile, but if you use a Google reviews management tool you will be able to make more searches in bulk, tag the reviews and create custom reports.

How to manage your GBP automatically with Localith

Disclosure: Localith is our Google Business Profile management platform, built by the EmbedSocial team.

Signing up for Localith is the smarter way to optimize your GBP, as we offer a platform powered by automation, AI, and the Google API.

After all, manually updating every Google Business Profile location is time-consuming, especially for businesses with multiple stores or offices.

That’s why we built a GBP management platform that automates the most critical optimization tasks for staying visible, trusted, and up-to-date on Google Search and Maps.

Here’s everything you’ll be getting when you sign up for our Google Business Profile platform:

Centralized dashboard

Manage all your Google Business Profiles from one place. Get GBP insights like searches, map views, clicks, calls, and direction requests in real time, no more switching between accounts:

Bulk edit your Google Business Profiles

Quickly assess how complete each listing is and edit all your GBP locations in bulk with business hours, phone numbers, categories, etc. to keep your profiles optimized:

AI review responder

Respond to Google reviews across all your locations from a single screen. Use AI-generated replies to maintain a consistent tone and save valuable time:

Bulk publishing for Google Posts

Create Google Posts and publish them to multiple locations at once. Share updates, offers, or announcements in seconds instead of hours:

Embed Google reviews on your website

Automatically embed your best Google reviews as widgets on your site to build trust and convert visitors into customers:

Upload photos in bulk across your Google locations

Great feature for all multi-location businesses out there, as they can upload as many photos as they want across all Google locations they have in seconds:

Edit log and change tracking

You can track all your GBP edits and prevent suggested, unauthorized GBP edits by malicious third parties. Stay in control of your business information with automatic alerts:

Performance and SEO reports

Access automated reports that reveal your GBP performance and your Google reviews metrics, and export them to analyze what’s driving growth:

AI SEO tools to boost your local rank

Take advantage of advanced AI SEO agents that show the top keywords on which you are ranking, who your main competitors are, which local citations you are missing, and what you need to do to optimize your Google locations to rank higher in local search:

Team and agency collaboration

Collaborate efficiently by assigning roles, managing permissions, and streamlining multi-location workflows in one platform:

Benefits of creating and optimizing your Google Business Profile

Without it, your location will not appear on Google Maps, especially for local queries people use on their mobile phones. The algorithm will not find you in the “Google local pack”, and you’ll lose potential customers if you are not optimized!

Increased visibility in Google Maps

GMB profiles appear across Google’s ecosystem, including Google Maps, Search, and even Google Shopping. This increased visibility can help your business get discovered by potential customers. For example, suppose you own a restaurant called “Per Se” in New York.

After setting up a Google Business Profile, when someone searches “restaurants near me” or “Per Se New York” on Google, your restaurant appears in the search results and on Google Maps.

This increased visibility makes it easier for potential customers to find your restaurant, enhancing your online presence and potentially increasing foot traffic.

Improved local SEO in Google Search

GMB integrates with Google Maps, making your business easier to find for local customers. This can significantly improve your local SEO, making your business more visible to people searching for your products or services in your area.

Regarding local SEO, Google Business Profile is a remarkable free tool for digital marketing.

Google is very different from social media networks and enables unique metrics and insights for marketers.

Search is intent-driven, which means the user has the will and interest to do an action. And in some cases, such as the local search, they want to do that action NOW.

That is why the intent-driven concept allows a business that can match the consumer discovery right at that moment to win big in increasing conversions.

Suppose you already have accounts and manage Yelp, Linkedin, Facebook Business Page, Instagram profiles, or any other review sites. In that case, you must do the same and manage your Google Business Profile.

Building trust with customers

GMB allows you to showcase customer reviews, which can help build trust with potential customers. Positive reviews can significantly enhance your business’s reputation and attract more customers.

Increased traffic

A well-managed GMB profile can increase traffic to your website. By providing accurate and up-to-date information about your business, you can attract more potential customers and drive more traffic to your site.

Customer insights

GMB provides valuable insights about your customers, such as how they found your business and their actions on your listing. These insights can help you understand your customers better and optimize your marketing strategy accordingly.

Free advertising

Essentially, GMB is a form of free advertising. Creating and optimizing your GMB profile allows you to promote your business on Google without any additional cost.

Leveraging these benefits can help your business grow and succeed in the online marketplace.

To sum up, if you invest enough resources to handle online reviews, manage photos, and post updates regularly, your Google Business Profile can turn into a new acquisition channel for your business. And this will have an effect on both Google Search and Maps, too.

10 ways to optimize your Google Business Profile, from local SEO experts

We asked local SEO and marketing leaders what they’d change first on a Google Business Profile. Here are their 10 best tips.

1. Refine GBP categories for visibility
2. Ensure business location accuracy
3. Maintain consistent NAP details
4. Utilize special business features
5. Enhance GBP with engagement points
6. Leverage reviews and photos
7. Manage customer reviews for GBP
8. Add branded user-generated content
9. Post engaging, relevant content
10. Embed GBP on optimized websites

1. Refine GBP categories for visibility

From personal experience, optimizing Google Business Profile categories had a noticeable impact on exposure and reach for a local client. Initially, the business was under broader, less-specific categories, which limited its visibility in relevant searches. After refining the categories to better match their services, we saw a significant improvement in local search rankings and Google Maps visibility. This optimization led to more relevant traffic, with an increase in calls and visits directly from search. The more precise categorization made it easier for potential customers to find the business, significantly boosting local exposure and engagement.

Dan Taylor, Partner, SALT.agency

2. Ensure business location accuracy

One practice that I implement is ensuring that your target area and your business are located in the same city. Business Profiles tend to optimize for searches such as “near me” and will only list businesses within a certain radius of that person.

An example that I use is if your business serves people in New York City, but your business is listed as being in Buffalo, then you aren’t going to have the opportunity to show up for anyone searching “near me.”

Beau Bawab, Director of Marketing, Beau B Content

3. Maintain consistent NAP details

The most effective technique to increase performance on GBP is to maintain accurate and consistent details on the profile and on external websites as well. There is a concept of NAP (Name, Address, and Phone) which tells us to maintain consistent details across the internet. After listing your GBP, you can utilize other high-authority listing websites to create a profile so Google can recognize your presence and authority and improve your profile’s performance.

Shubham Ahuja, Digital Marketing Manager, BigOhTech

4. Utilize special business features

If you are a marketing manager or business owner, I recommend checking if your business category has a special feature you can utilize. I have seen significant impacts from those features whenever they are available. For example, if you own a restaurant, invest time to update your menu on GBP using the “Edit menu” feature. Google also allows you to import menus from pre-approved third-party platforms, which could save a lot of time. Similarly, if you are a travel agency, utilize the “Activities” feature to highlight your hero tour packages.

Prabin Yonzon, SEO Consultant & Founder, T-Shaped Marketing

5. Enhance GBP with engagement points

A local SEO strategy that has been working well for our team in recent months is enhancing Google Business Profiles (GBP) with extra engagement points.

These are often overlooked when working on a GBP because it can be time-intensive upfront. However, it’s a fantastic way to stand out from your competitors, and we’ve seen a direct influence on rankings and traffic gains when effort is put into these engagement points.

Our recommendation is to tailor your GBP to showcase your business’s unique character. Rather than relying on generic stock images and standard descriptions, invest the time in:

1. Creating custom photos for product cards.

2. Collecting frequently asked questions directly from your customer-facing staff.

3. Crafting distinctive descriptions for your services or offerings.

The results in terms of local visibility are well worth it long-term.

Michael Dobkowski, CEO, Glacial Multimedia

6. Leverage reviews and photos

When I personally look at another business’s Google Business Profile, my eyes are first drawn to their reviews. Your company’s first impression for thousands of people is the raw number of Google reviews you’ve collected. If a potential customer is truly shopping for what you offer, though, they will go a step deeper and read your individual reviews. That’s where our company decided to try to win, and it’s been paying off. When one of our sales reps identifies that one of their clients had a positive experience, they ask for three things from that client: 

1. Clients are asked to write a review on the spot when they express their gratitude to our team. That looks like having NFC review cards ready to go, or the link to write a review saved in a handy spot. One trick here: have your sales guys save the review link in the URL section of their personal phone contact card.

2. We ask that clients name the sales team member in their review. We also ask the customer to mention the service they received for keyword purposes.

3. Lastly, we ask the customer to upload a photo of the work they received. We want it raw from their phone, not edited, so that it looks organic and real.

We’ve been putting this into practice in 2024, and we’ve seen our Google Business Profile traffic increase consistently month-over-month.

Ryan Stephens, Marketing Director, Texas Direct Roofing & Construction

7. Manage customer reviews for GBP

To best optimize a Google Business Profile (GBP) effectively, one of the single best practices that has the greatest impact on ranking and visibility is actively managing customer reviews. 

The GBP ranking algorithm has changed significantly in the last year; many factors have been downgraded. We have noticed this across many of our clients. Review management is the easiest, yet the most difficult task to perform, and we always suggest asking constantly. Encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews and responding promptly to all feedback, both positive and negative, builds credibility and trust. 

This approach not only improves customer perception but also enhances local SEO rankings. Simply put, a well-managed review system can significantly boost visibility and customer engagement, making it a critical strategy for your GBP success.

Steve O’Brien, Digital Marketing & SEO Strategist, Woya Digital

8. Add branded user-generated content

Adding quality, branded user-generated content (UGC) pictures can significantly improve your Google Business Profile. It’s all about showing real-life experiences at your brand. Users trust other users, and UGC provides a genuine, trustworthy outlook of your brand. So, encourage your customers to share their experiences in pictures and ask for their permission to use these photos.

Using these images in your profile not only gives authenticity but also aids in SEO. Google loves fresh, original content. Remember, though, the pictures should be of high quality and relevant to your business. They should represent your brand effectively.

For us, it could be photos of guests enjoying their stay, the interior of the villas, or even the surrounding location. This way, potential customers can visualize their own experience, increasing the chances of them making a booking.

Khanh Tran, Growth Manager, Italy Villa Finder

9. Post engaging, relevant content

To optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) performance in Local Search, it’s essential to post engaging and relevant content consistently across your entire profile portfolio. Much like Google’s core algorithm, Google’s Local Search algorithm rewards businesses that actively produce content designed to engage users and provide value. Regularly updated profiles signal to both users and search engines that your business is active and invested in providing a useful experience.

One key element to this strategy is ensuring the content you post is relevant to your intended audience. Google places significant emphasis on relevance, so it’s important to align your content with the specific needs and interests of your users. For instance, if you have profiles representing different locations, localized content is vital. Tailoring your posts to highlight local offerings, events, or services will not only engage users but also help your business appear in searches from people in those specific areas.

Moreover, maintaining a regular posting schedule helps establish your business as an authority in Local Search. Posting useful and relevant information frequently signals to both users and search engines that you are an expert in your industry and local area. This also ties into Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. By adhering to these guidelines through consistent, relevant updates, you’re more likely to see enhanced performance on your Google Business Profile.

In short, regularly posting content that is engaging, relevant, and tailored to your audience’s local interests helps boost visibility and authority in Local Search. Google rewards businesses that put the effort into maintaining their profiles, so creating a robust content strategy across your profile portfolio is essential for ongoing success.

Elliot Stanion, Deputy Head of SEO, The SEO Works

10. Embed GBP on optimized websites

One overlooked factor when it comes to GBP ranking is the website itself. First off, the website should have the GBP embedded in it. I typically embed the Google Map of the listing in the footer and on the contact page. Business owners and marketing managers should make sure that the website’s on-page SEO is done well. The website’s SEO plays an important role in the ranking of the GBP. 

The website the GBP links to should be optimized for the keywords relating to the categories the GBP has selected. These should be implemented throughout the content, alt text, Schema markup, internal link anchor text, headers, URLs, meta titles, and meta descriptions. 

The GBP categories are how Google shows the terms and entities it uses to understand various business types. Using these exact terms gives Google what it wants in the right format to improve rank. Making sure the website’s on-page is rock-solid is the first thing I do when I’m optimizing a GBP.

Gabriel Bertolo, Owner, Gabriel Bertolo Web Design & SEO

Conclusion: optimizing your Google Business Profile drives real results!

An optimized Google Business Profile means credibility for your business.

The more complete, accurate, engaging, and trustworthy your profile is, the more likely potential customers are to trust and choose your business.

From updating core details to adding fresh photos, posts, and reviews, every small improvement makes a big difference in how your brand appears on Google Search and Maps.

And while doing this manually is possible, tools like Localith help you scale the process, allowing you to manage all types and sizes of businesses. You can manage updates, respond to customer reviews, and track performance across all locations from one dashboard.

So, start optimizing your profile today, and turn every search into a real customer connection.