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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.
Learn · DIY guide
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.
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Why this guide matters: Local traffic, directory leads, calls, or quote requests are not becoming booked jobs. Lead costs rise while bad-fit inquiries, weak follow-up, or trust gaps block booked work. Use the guide to check the pattern before buying another local lead source.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If your GBP dropped overnight or you cannot identify which signal is the gap, the Conversion Audit (scoped after intake) runs the structural marketing audit in 72 hours.
Order the Marketing Audit →Marketing path
Marketing issue. The useful question is where this topic touches spend, visibility, conversion, trust, or buyer action.
Buyer friction. Most weak marketing paths fail because the buyer lacks proof, context, urgency, or a clear next step.
Next move. Match the issue to the service lane before adding traffic, tools, or another campaign.
When to use SC. Use SC when the marketing system has traffic, calls, carts, or leads, but the buyer path still leaks.
| Signal | What it usually means | Next path |
|---|---|---|
| Channel issue | Ads, SEO, AI visibility, email, or local search may need a tighter service path. | Match service |
| Page issue | The page may need clearer proof, offer context, and a stronger action path. | Fix pages |
| Budget issue | The next step should be context before more spend. | Send context |