Google Business Profile Checklist: Setup, Optimization and Monthly Maintenance

This is the working checklist we use when we take on a Google Business Profile, new or neglected. It is arranged in phases: do the one-time setup in order, then switch to the weekly, monthly and quarterly routines that keep the profile accurate and visible in the local pack and on Google Maps.

Each item is a checkbox, with a one-line why underneath where the reason is not obvious. For the full explanation behind any item, our pillar guide on how to optimize your Google Business Profile covers every field in depth.

How to use this checklist

Before you start, run the free Google Business Profile Optimizer on your listing. It scores the public profile out of 100 and lists the missing or weak fields, which tells you where to spend your time. Re-run it when you finish.

Work through phases 1 to 6 once, in order, because later items depend on earlier ones (attributes and products only appear after categories are set). Then move the recurring items into your calendar. Print this page if a paper list helps.

Printable summary

Phase	Focus	Items	When
1	Claim and verify	6	Once
2	Core information	12	Once, then keep accurate
3	Categories and services	6	Once, review quarterly
4	Visual assets	9	Once, add monthly
5	Reviews and engagement	8	Once, then weekly
6	Website alignment	7	Once, review quarterly
Weekly	Replies, questions, posts	5	Fifteen minutes
Monthly	Photos, hours, Performance	6	One hour
Quarterly	Categories, rankings, audit	6	Half a day

Phase 1: Claim and verify

• Search Google Maps for your business name and address before creating anything.

  Why: an unclaimed listing usually already exists; a second one is a duplicate, which hurts rankings and can lead to a suspension.

• Claim the existing listing or add the business once, from a Google account the business controls.

  Why: agencies and employees leave, and a profile tied to a personal account is one you may have to fight to get back.

• Complete verification with whatever method Google offers: video, phone, email, postcard or live call.

• Set the business type correctly: storefront, service-area or hybrid, and hide the address if customers never visit you.

  Why: showing an address customers cannot visit breaks Google’s rules for service-area businesses. Our service-area business guide covers the edge cases.

• Add a second owner or a manager so nobody is a single point of failure.

• If a former employee or agency owns the listing, request access and wait for Google’s response window.

Phase 2: Core information

• The business name matches your signage and website exactly, with no keywords, cities or slogans added.

  Why: the guidelines for representing your business on Google treat added words as a violation, and a name suspension takes the whole profile offline.

• The address is formatted the same way as on your website and in major directories.

  Why: inconsistent name, address and phone data makes it harder for Google to connect your mentions across the web. See our guide to NAP consistency for local SEO.

• The map pin sits on the entrance customers actually use.

• The primary phone is a local number; if you use call tracking, the real line is listed as an additional number.

• The website field points to the page for this location: the homepage for a single site, the location page for a branch.

• An appointment or booking link is added where your category allows one.

• Regular hours are correct, including split shifts and lunch closures.

• Special hours are set for the next three or four public holidays.

  Why: when holiday hours are unconfirmed, Google tells visitors that hours might differ, and they call the competitor who confirmed.

• “More hours” are added where relevant: delivery, drive-through, senior hours, kitchen hours.

• The opening date is filled in.

  Why: Google can display how long you have been in business, a small trust signal at no cost.

• A description of up to 750 characters is written: what you do, where, for whom, what makes you different, how to take the next step.

  Why: nothing suggests it affects ranking, but it is what an undecided customer reads. Structure and examples are in our description guide.

• Every attribute that is true has been selected, and nothing aspirational.

  Why: attributes power filters and AI summaries; a false accessibility claim produces a bad review. See our attributes guide.

Phase 3: Categories and services

• The primary category is the most specific true description of your core business.

  Why: in our experience it moves rankings more than any other field; our categories guide explains how to choose between close options.

• Your categories have been compared with those of the businesses ranking for your main searches, using the free GBP Category Optimizer.

• Secondary categories, up to nine, cover only services you actually deliver.

  Why: an irrelevant category attracts the wrong calls and dilutes what the profile is about.

• Every service you offer is listed under the right category with a one-sentence description.

• Products, or the menu for food businesses, are added where the category supports them, each with a photo and a price or range.

  Why: they display on the profile and in some searches. Setup is in our products and services guide.

• A quarterly reminder exists to re-check categories.

  Why: Google renames, merges and adds categories throughout the year.

Phase 4: Visual assets

• A logo is uploaded: square, and legible at thumbnail size.

• A cover photo is chosen, the image you want shown first.

• Exterior photos are taken from the directions customers approach, including the signage, so a first-time visitor knows they are at the right door.

• Interior photos show what a first visit looks like.

• The team appears at work, not in stock-style poses.

• The product, the work or the results are photographed, because that is what people compare.

• At least one short video is uploaded (up to 30 seconds).

• Every file meets Google’s photo and video guidelines: JPG or PNG, well lit, no heavy filters, no stock imagery.

• Customer-uploaded photos have been reviewed and any that break policy have been flagged.

  Why: you cannot delete customer photos, only report them, so your uploads set the tone; our photos guide covers sizes and ordering.

Phase 5: Reviews and engagement

• The review link has been copied from the profile’s “Ask for reviews” button.

  Why: Google explains where to find it in ask for reviews.

• A QR code and poster have been generated with the free Google Review Link and QR Code Generator and placed where people pay, with the link added to invoices and receipts.

• Asking for reviews is part of the routine: who asks, at what moment, in what words.

  Why: reviews arrive steadily only when asking is a habit, not a campaign.

• Every existing review has a reply, negative ones first.

  Why: replies are public and read by the next customer, not only the reviewer; our guide on how to respond to Google reviews has templates.

• Reviews that break Google’s prohibited and restricted content policy have been reported.

• The Q&A section is seeded with five to ten real questions and official answers.

  Why: anyone can answer public questions, and a wrong answer from a stranger looks official until you replace it.

• The first Google Post is published and a weekly slot is booked in the calendar.

  Why: one post a week is enough to look current and a pace an owner can keep; ideas are in our Google Posts guide.

• Chat via WhatsApp or SMS, where Google offers it, is enabled only if someone will answer within the hour.

Phase 6: Website alignment

• Name, address and phone on the website match the profile character for character, in the footer and on the contact page.

• Opening hours on the website match the profile, including holiday changes.

• The page linked from the profile actually describes the services behind your categories.

  Why: Google reads the landing page to confirm what the business does; a category with no matching content on the site is a weaker signal.

• LocalBusiness schema markup is added to that page, using the free LocalBusiness Schema Markup Generator.

  Why: it states your name, address, hours and type in a form machines read reliably; our local business schema guide explains what to include.

• A Google Maps embed or link sits on the contact page.

• The landing page and the booking page load fast on a phone.

• Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp and your industry directories show the same name, address and phone.

Weekly

• Reply to every new review.

• Answer every new question.

• Publish one post.

• Check for edits you did not make to the name, hours, categories or address.

  Why: Google applies some public suggestions automatically, and you find out only by looking.

• Glance at the Performance view for a sudden drop in views or calls.

  Why: a sharp drop is often the first sign of a suspension, a merged duplicate or a hijacked field.

Monthly

• Upload a handful of new photos.

• Confirm special hours for the coming month.

• Read the Performance report: search terms, calls, direction requests, website clicks.

  Why: the search terms list, described in Google’s Performance metrics page, shows whether new services and categories are matching real searches; our insights guide explains the rest.

• Re-run the Google Business Profile Optimizer and fix anything that dropped.

• Compare review count and rating with last month and adjust how you ask if the flow slowed.

• Refresh offers, products and prices that changed.

Quarterly

• Re-run the Category Optimizer against the businesses currently ranking, and adjust categories if the picture has changed.

• Review services and products; remove anything you no longer offer and add what is new.

• Re-read the description and update it if the offer or the team has changed.

• Run a rank grid for your main keyword with the free Local Rank Checker and compare it with last quarter’s.

  Why: Maps rankings change block by block; a single search from your desk tells you little about the neighborhoods you serve.

• Audit the whole profile against this list, using the process in our Google Business Profile audit guide.

• Review who has owner and manager access, and remove former staff and agencies.

Worked example: a bakery opening its second location

Marigold Bakery is a fictional neighborhood bakery in Raleigh, North Carolina, with a healthy five-year-old profile for its Five Points shop and a second shop opening in North Hills. Here is how the checklist played out for the new location.

Phase 1. The owner’s first instinct was to add the new address to the existing profile. We stopped that: it would have moved five years of reviews to a place those customers do not know. We created a new profile from the bakery’s company Google account, added the owner and the new shop manager, and passed video verification by filming the street sign, the storefront, the ovens and the register showing the business name.

Phase 2. The sign says “Marigold Bakery” with no neighborhood descriptor, so both profiles carry the identical name. We moved the pin to the side-street entrance, added the shop’s own local number and pointed the website field at the North Hills location page. Hours differ because the new shop opens early for commuters, with special hours set for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The description was written fresh, mentioning North Hills, early breakfast and custom cakes with their lead time.

Phase 3. The primary category is “Bakery”, as at Five Points, with “Cake shop”, “Wedding bakery” and “Dessert shop” copied across. The Category Optimizer showed the businesses ranking in North Hills also carried “Coffee shop”; the new shop serves espresso all day, so we added it. Custom cakes went in as a product with a starting price and a link to the order form.

Phase 4. We resisted reusing the Five Points photos, because the interiors look nothing alike and customers would notice. We shot the exterior from the parking garage approach, the counter and pastry cases, the team during the morning bake, and a twenty-second video of the first trays coming out.

Phase 5. The new profile starts with zero reviews, so the QR poster went beside the register on opening day and the link onto receipts. We seeded the Q&A with parking, gluten-free options, pre-ordering and whether the Five Points loyalty card works here. The first post announced opening-week hours.

Phase 6. The North Hills location page carries the exact name, address, phone and hours, an embedded map, the photos and LocalBusiness schema, and the site footer lists both shops. Apple Maps and Yelp listings were created with the same details.

From opening week the monthly routine watches the new shop’s Performance search terms, and the first quarterly review will compare a rank grid around North Hills with the one around Five Points.

Common mistakes when running the checklist

• Adding a second address to the first profile instead of creating a new one. You lose the history and mislead customers of both locations; our multi-location guide explains the right structure.
• Ticking the name item while leaving a keyword in it. Matches signage means matches.
• Treating Phase 4 as done after a logo and one photo. Visual assets are a set, not a single item.
• Copying the description and photos between locations. Each profile is a place; describe and show that place.
• Skipping the website phase. A landing page with different hours and a different phone number undermines the profile.
• Finishing setup and never opening the calendar. The value is in the weekly and monthly items being done for years, not in a perfect launch.
• Judging progress from one search on your own phone. Use the Performance view and a rank grid instead.

Do this now: if you only have 20 minutes today

1. Run the Google Business Profile Optimizer and note the three lowest-scoring items.
2. Check the name against your sign and remove anything that is not on it.
3. Confirm the primary category is the most specific true one.
4. Set special hours for the next three holidays.
5. Reply to the last three unanswered reviews.
6. Generate your review QR code and print one copy for the counter.
7. Put the weekly and monthly items in your calendar as recurring events.

Everything else can wait for the phases, done in order over the next two weeks.

What to do next

Once the setup phases are complete, the Google Business Profile Optimizer becomes your monthly check. For the reasoning behind each item, read the full optimization guide, and when you are ready to look beyond the profile, our local SEO checklist covers the website, citations and reviews that build prominence.