Fill out every section: Ensure your profile is 100% complete. This is the foundation of GMB ranking.

Business Name: Use your exact, legal business name. Avoid keyword stuffing, which can lead to suspension.

Categories: Choose the most relevant primary category for your business (Research what competitors use), and add secondary categories as applicable. Be specific but don’t overdo it with irrelevant categories.

Address and Service Area: Provide a physical address if you have one where customers visit. For service-area businesses (SABs), specify the areas you serve.

Contact Information: Be meticulous with your phone number and website URL, ensuring they are consistent across all online listings (citations). This is known as NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) consistency.

Hours of Operation: Accurately list your regular business hours and update them for holidays or special events.

Business Description: Write a concise, engaging description (up to 750 characters) of your business, its values, and what sets it apart. Naturally incorporate relevant keywords.

Attributes: Select all applicable attributes (e.g., “LGBTQ+ friendly,” “Wi-Fi available,” “outdoor seating”). This helps customers find your business based on specific needs.

Solicit reviews: Actively encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. Reviews are one of the most important ranking factors.

Respond to all reviews: Respond to every review, both positive and negative, in a professional and timely manner. This shows potential customers that you value their feedback and are an engaged business.

Use keywords in responses: Subtly and naturally incorporate keywords into your review responses when appropriate.

Monitor review volume and recency: Google favors businesses with a steady stream of recent reviews.

Google Posts: Publish regular Google Posts (updates, offers, events, news). Posts keep your profile fresh and relevant, and are an opportunity to use keywords and calls-to-action (CTAs).

Add Photos and Videos: Upload high-quality photos and videos of your business, products, and services. You can also geo-tag photos to further indicate your location.

Answer Q&A: Monitor and respond to questions asked by customers in the Q&A section. You can also “seed” the section by posting and answering your own frequently asked questions.

Citations: Ensure your business information (NAP) is consistent across all online directories, social media profiles, and other websites. These citations act as a vote of confidence for your business.

Backlinks: Build high-quality backlinks to your website from local, authoritative websites. Backlinks are a significant ranking signal for your website, which in turn influences your GMB ranking.

On-page SEO: Optimize your website for local keywords and ensure your content is relevant and helpful. Use local business schema markup to help search engines better understand your business information.

Keep information up-to-date: Regularly check and update your GMB profile to ensure all information is accurate, especially if there are changes to your hours, address, or services.

Monitor insights: Use the GMB dashboard to track performance metrics like views, search queries, and customer actions (website clicks, direction requests, phone calls).