Most Google Business Profiles are losing customers to fixable gaps. This free 35-point checklist shows you exactly what to fix and why.
If your Google Business Profile has been live for more than 6 months and you're still not showing up in the Local Pack, something specific is wrong. Here's how to find it in under 15 minutes.
I've audited over 300 Google Business Profiles across the US. The same problems show up every single time, missing attributes, stale photos, zero Q&A, categories that don't match what the business actually does. None of it is complicated. Most of it can be fixed in an afternoon.
This guide gives you the same 35-point checklist I run on every client profile. Go through it section by section, check off what's done, and fix what isn't. By the time you're done, you'll know exactly why your profile is ranking where it is, and exactly what to change.
If you operate in a different niche, our guide to local SEO for new businesses is worth a read.
To see how this plays out in a specific vertical, read our guide to local SEO for cardiologists.
A Google Business Profile is not a "set it and forget it" tool. It's a living document that decays if you ignore it.
Business hours change. New profile features launch, Google added product menus, booking integrations, and AI-generated business summaries in the last 18 months alone. Competitors optimize while you're standing still. Profiles that haven't been touched in six months typically show it, and Google Maps rankings show it too.
Why audit frequency matters:
📊 Flento Data: Profiles updated at least once per month rank 34% higher on average than profiles left untouched for 90+ days in the same category and ZIP code.
When to audit:
Action Step: Set a recurring calendar reminder right now, every 90 days, for your GBP audit. This one habit puts you ahead of the majority of competitors who never audit at all.
If you want to go deeper, our article on GBP audits for agencies walks through how agencies can run profile audits at scale.
An incomplete profile tells Google you're not serious. It tells customers the same thing.
Run through these 10 fields in your GBP dashboard. Every unchecked item is a ranking opportunity sitting on the table.
Completeness checklist:
⚠️ Common Mistake: Adding keywords to your business name, "Joe's Plumbing, Best Plumber in Austin TX", directly violates Google's name guidelines and is one of the most common triggers for profile suspension. Your name in GBP must match your signage exactly. Nothing added, nothing removed.
💡 Pro Tip: Google's "Suggestions" panel on the right side of your GBP dashboard actively tells you what's missing. Read every suggestion. Each one is a signal that Google wants more data from you, and that your competitors who filled it in have an edge.
Related reading: our guide to GBP playbooks by industry covers industry-specific playbooks for Google Business Profile.
Your primary category is the single most important ranking signal in your entire profile. It determines which searches you're eligible to rank for, and getting it wrong means no amount of optimization elsewhere will fix your rankings.
Category checklist:
How to check your competitors' categories:
⚠️ Common Mistake: Using a broad primary category to "cast a wider net." A "Restaurant" never outranks an "Italian Restaurant" for "Italian restaurant near me." Specificity wins every time.
🔥 Quick Win: Right now, search your #1 target keyword in Google Maps and look at the category shown under the top-ranking result. That's the exact category you should be using.
Your business description (750 characters max) influences how Google's AI summarizes your business in search results and AI Overviews. A blank or generic description is a wasted opportunity every day.
Description checklist:
Strong description example:
"Austin Family Dentistry has provided gentle, comprehensive dental care to families in South Austin since 2009. We specialize in pediatric dentistry, Invisalign, and emergency dental services. We accept most major insurance plans and offer same-day emergency appointments."
This hits the primary keyword, mentions the service area, lists specific services, and includes a practical differentiator. That's everything Google's AI needs to summarize and surface it.
Weak description example:
"We are a professional dental practice committed to excellence. Our team is dedicated to providing the best dental care with a smile."
No location. No specific services. No differentiator. This description could belong to any dental office anywhere, which is exactly the problem.
Photos are the highest-engagement element on a GBP listing. More photos, better quality, and recent uploads all correlate directly with higher local ranking factors and more customer actions.
Photo audit checklist:
Photo targets by business type:
📊 Flento Data: Profiles with 10+ photos receive 42% more direction requests and 35% more website clicks than profiles with fewer than 5 photos.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Using stock photography. Google can detect stock images and they generate far less engagement than real photos. Use photos of your actual business, your actual team, and your actual work, even smartphone photos taken this week beat outdated professional stock images.
🔥 Quick Win: Upload 3–5 new photos this week. Fresh uploads signal activity to Google and can produce a small rankings boost within days.
Reviews are the second most important ranking signal after your primary category. This section covers both volume and management quality, both matter.
Reviews audit checklist:
Why response rate is a direct ranking signal: Google interprets owner responses as a signal that your business is active and engaged. A business that responds to every review is more likely to be legitimate and operating than one that ignores them. I've seen profiles jump 4–5 positions in the Local Pack within 60 days of committing to 100% response rate, no other changes made.
💡 Pro Tip: Reply to every review, including old ones. A simple "Thank you for the kind words, we love serving customers in [City]!" on a 2-year-old 5-star review takes 30 seconds and signals engagement to Google.
Action Step: Sort your reviews by "Newest" today and respond to every unanswered review. Then set a recurring 24-hour maximum response window going forward.
Google Posts let you publish updates, offers, events, and product highlights directly on your profile. Active posters consistently outrank inactive ones at the same level of completeness.
Posts audit checklist:
Post types and when to use them:
⚠️ Common Mistake: Posting once and abandoning it. Standard Google Posts expire after 7 days. If you posted once six months ago and never followed up, your profile shows no active posts, which reads as inactive or neglected.
📊 Flento Data: Profiles that publish at least one post per week generate 22% more profile views than non-posting competitors in the same ZIP code.
The Q&A section is one of the most overlooked parts of a GBP, and one of the riskiest to leave unmanaged. Anyone can post a question on your profile, including competitors, unhappy customers, and people with wrong information.
Q&A audit checklist:
How to seed your Q&A section:
Questions worth adding to every business profile:
💡 Pro Tip: If a competitor or bad actor posts a misleading question on your profile, report it using the flag icon immediately. Misleading Q&A content violates Google's guidelines and can be removed when flagged.
Your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) must be consistent across every directory, listing, and website on the internet. Google cross-references your GBP data against hundreds of external sources, and inconsistencies lower its confidence in your listing.
NAP audit checklist:
A real example of what NAP inconsistency costs: A restaurant in Dallas, TX had "2847 Commerce St, Suite 100" on Google, "2847 Commerce Street #100" on Yelp, and "2847 Commerce St" (no suite number) on their own website. They were stuck at position 11 on Google Maps for two years. Fixing the NAP inconsistency across 23 directories moved them to position 4 within 6 weeks.
🔥 Quick Win: Search your exact business name on Google right now. Look at the first 10 results. Are your phone number and address consistent across Google, Yelp, Facebook, and your website? Fix any discrepancy you find today.
Your rankings exist relative to your competitors. An audit that only looks at your own profile misses half the picture.
Competitor audit checklist:
How to run a competitor gap analysis in 10 minutes:
Action Step: After this section, identify your single biggest gap vs. the top-ranking competitor. That becomes your #1 priority fix for the next 30 days.
Running this 35-point audit manually takes 45–60 minutes. Flento's Google Business Profile Optimizer does it automatically, scanning your profile against every factor in this checklist and returning a prioritized fix list in seconds.
What Flento's automated audit covers:
For multi-location businesses, Flento runs audits across every location simultaneously, flags which locations are underperforming, and prioritizes fixes by ranking impact.
Profile Completeness (10 points)
Categories & Attributes (4 points)
Photos & Video (6 points)
Reviews & Responses (5 points)
GBP Posts (4 points)
Q&A (3 points)
Citations & NAP (4 points)
Competitor Comparison (3 points)
How long does a GBP audit take? A manual audit using this 35-point checklist takes 45–60 minutes for most US businesses. Flento's automated audit covers all 35 factors in under 60 seconds.
How often should I run a GBP audit? Run a full audit every 90 days. Do a quick check monthly. Run an immediate audit after any business change (address, phone, hours) or after a noticeable ranking drop.
What's the most important factor to fix first? Fix your primary category first if it's wrong or too broad, it has the biggest single-point impact on which searches you're eligible to appear for. After that, prioritize review velocity (are new reviews consistently arriving?) and photo recency.
Do I need a paid tool to run a GBP audit? No, this checklist is completely free to use manually. Flento also offers a free automated audit covering all 35 factors in under a minute, with no credit card required.
What happens if my profile fails the audit? You get a prioritized list of what to fix. Most issues take less than 2 hours to resolve. Rankings typically improve within 2–4 weeks of making fixes, though larger improvements (category corrections, NAP consistency across 50+ directories) can take 6–8 weeks to fully register.
Can I audit competitor profiles using this checklist? Yes, all publicly visible information (category, photos, reviews, posts, Q&A) can be checked on any public GBP listing. Competitor audits are one of the fastest ways to find your gaps.
Is there a free GMB audit tool? Yes. You can run a full GMB (now Google Business Profile) audit for free two ways: manually with the 35-point checklist in this guide, or automatically with Flento's free GBP audit, which scores all 35 factors in under a minute with no credit card required. The manual checklist is best when you want to learn each factor; the free automated tool is best when you want a prioritized fix list fast or need to audit several locations.
Does a GBP audit help my business appear in AI Overviews and ChatGPT? Yes, indirectly. AI answers pull from the same profile signals a GBP audit checks, category accuracy, complete information, recent reviews, and active posting. A profile that passes the audit gives AI systems clean, consistent, current data to quote, which is what makes them name your business when someone asks for a local recommendation.
Your Google Business Profile is actively competing right now, with or without your attention. A 35-point audit every 90 days takes less than an hour and gives you a clear, prioritized action list that compounds over time.
The businesses that consistently appear in the Local Pack aren't doing anything magical. They're doing fewer things, more consistently, than their competitors.
Run the audit. Fix what's broken. Repeat.
Get started with Flento free →
