How to Audit Your Google Business Profile?

Google Business Profile is a valuable tool for your business if you want to build a strong brand reputation and establish a solid first impression with potential customers.

However, Google continues to update features for business profiles. Therefore the practices you used earlier to audit your Google Business Profile might also need an upgrade as they might have become outdated.

We have created this guide to help you audit your Google Business Profile with the best and the most advanced methods so that you continue to gain traffic, customers and new Google reviews for your business. 

Let’s first understand why you should keep a check on your GBP.

Why You Should Do A Google Business Profile Audit?

Audit for Google local listing profile is essential to ensure your business information is accurate, fully optimized, and aligned with the latest features. Here are some common reasons to do a Google My Business audit:

1. Keep Your Business Information Accurate and Updated

Inaccurate information on your business profile can confuse your customers and even lower your profile ranking on Google. Conducting a regular audit Google Business Profile allows you to ensure that all of the business information is accurate and up to date.

2. Align Your Profile with New Google Features

Google continues to come up with new features like booking buttons and service lists. Once you start a Google Business listing audit, you can update your business profile as per the latest feature and get a competitive edge in Local SEO efforts than other businesses who are behind.

3. Identify and Fix Listing Weaknesses

Audits allow you to identify gaps in your listing and improve them as needed. For example, if your business location is not updated, then your local business profile audit would detect this and allow you to take the appropriate corrective action.

4. Improve Visibility on Google Maps

Google rewards optimized Google Business Profile with higher rankings in Google Maps and local search. A Google my business profile audit immediately promotes your profile and increases its visibility among your potential customers.

Now that you know why Google Maps listing audit is important, to help you stay organized and cover all the areas of the audit, we have created a checklist on how to do so.

Google Business Profile Audit Checklist

To get the most out of your Google Business Profile, conduct a thorough audit of each feature. This Google business profile checklist will walk you through the main areas to review and optimize GMB for local SEO to increase visibility of your profile.

1. Review Business Details (NAP)

Ensure that all of your business information, like business name, logo, and descriptions, is comprehensive and true. If your profile lacks accurate information, you are at a risk of losing consumers' trust you have developed over time. To check your business information, try Googling your firm in an incognito tab and update it accordingly.

2. Update Service Area & Business Hours

Update your business service area to attract potential customers directly to your place of business. Google Business allows you to select up to 20 service areas, so pick your most profitable zip codes. Don’t forget to add business hours, so that you don’t miss out on any clients.

3. Verify Location Pin Accuracy

Google Business Profile allows businesses to get visible on Google Maps immediately. For that, you should update your accurate business location as your location influences your business’s appearance in search results. Adding inaccurate locations could adversely affect your overall rankings and lower your visibility.

4. Add Link To Website & Attributes

When auditing your Google business profile, make sure your website's address is right and links to the HTTPS version. Google Business offers a plethora of attributes to choose from. Spend some time going through each one and checking the ones that are relevant to your business.

5. Monitor Reviews and Q&A

Respond quickly to all reviews and questions on your profile, whether positive or negative. Engaging with reviews demonstrates that you value their feedback and it also builds confidence with them. Answering queries can further help you get more Google reviews and improve your customer trust.

6. Optimize Business Categories

Choose one primary category that best reflects your core business, and then select descriptive secondary categories that cover various aspects of your company. Make sure the GBP categories mirror the actual service categories, so that your customers can easily search the products.

7. Link Social Media Profiles

Google now allows you to link your social media accounts with your Google business profile. So, when auditing your Google Business profile ensure to check whether all your social media links are updated on the profile or not. This will help you across promote your business and increase trust, improve brand visibility, and bring in more revenue.

8. Improve and Organize Posts

Regular, relevant Google posts help you engage your customers, increase visibility, and signal activity to Google. During the audit, ensure your posts are published on a continuous basis, include keywords relevant to your brand and highlight current deals, changes or events.

9. Analyze Competitor Profiles

Understanding your competition is essential for maximizing the impact of your GBP. Begin by using Google Maps to find and analyze your top competitors' profiles and review competitors' patterns on how they respond to customer feedback.

While updating your Google Business Profile, it's critical to be aware of frequent mistakes that can hamper your profile's performance. Let’s learn about those mistakes.

Common Google Business Profile Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Even minor errors in your Google Business Profile can harm your overall visibility and client confidence. Here are some common mistakes that you might face and tips on how to avoid them.

1. Inaccurate or Incomplete Information

Providing outdated or incomplete information about your business like name, address, phone number, or hours, can mislead clients and harm your local search rating. Keep monitoring your Google Business Profile to ensure all information is correct and consistent across all platforms.

2. Fake or Misleading Reviews

Fake positive reviews can violate Google's policies and harm your credibility if discovered by Google. Similarly, bad reviews might harm your reputation. Focus on gathering genuine client feedback and respond to negative reviews professionally.

3. Low-Quality or Irrelevant Photos

Photos create a first impression of your business to the clients. Using high-quality pictures attracts more customers and may turn into sales. Use high-resolution, good lighting photos that are relevant to your brand, products you offer and the working environment.

Conclusion

Conducting a Google business profile audit is an effective way to identify missed opportunities to make your company stand out in local search results. Continuously optimizing your Business profile will reflect back with good results for your business. Ensure to follow the checklist we provided to not miss out on necessary points. 

Quickly respond to customer feedback and questions and consistently add new and trending content through images and posts to attract more customers. Practising this will help you stay relevant and visible in search results. Start your audit today and give your business the local spotlight it deserves! If you want to improve your Google business profile ranking and authority, you can buy Google reviews today and start improving your ratings!