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SEO

Your Google Business Profile, done properly

The listing that appears in Google Maps and in the three-result box at the top of a local search. It is a separate thing from your website, it is free, and for most local service businesses it produces more phone calls than the website does. Most profiles are set up once and never touched again.

How it runs

What actually happens, in order

  1. Claim and verify

    Days 1–14, depending on how Google chooses to verify

    If the profile was never claimed, or was claimed by a former employee or a previous agency, that is fixed first. Nothing else can be changed until it is.

  2. Categories

    Day 1

    The primary category has more influence on which searches you appear in than anything else on the profile, and it is the field most often left on whatever was picked at signup. Secondary categories broaden reach without diluting the primary.

  3. Every field, deliberately

    Week 1

    Services with descriptions, attributes, hours including holidays, service area, opening date, and a description written for a reader rather than stuffed with keywords. Empty fields are missed matches.

  4. Photographs that are yours

    Week 1, then monthly

    Real photographs of the work, the team and the vehicles, geotagged and added regularly. Profiles with recent photographs get more engagement, and engagement feeds ranking.

  5. Posts, questions and reviews

    Ongoing

    Seeding the Q&A section with the questions customers actually ask, replying to every review, and posting when there is something real to say. All three are ranking and conversion signals.

Scope

What is included — and what is not

Both lists, because the second one is where projects go wrong and almost nobody publishes it.

  • Claiming or recovering access to the profile
  • Category selection with the reasoning explained
  • Every field completed
  • Photo strategy and initial upload
  • Q&A seeded with real questions
  • Review response templates your team can use
  • Monthly insights: how people found you, and what they did next

Straight answers

Questions people actually ask

Is this not the same as SEO?
No, and confusing them is why many local businesses spend on the wrong thing. Your website ranks in the ordinary results; the Business Profile ranks in the map. They influence each other, but the profile is where most local phone calls come from and it is free to optimize.
Someone else controls my listing. Can that be fixed?
Usually. Google has a request-access process, and if the current owner does not respond within a week you can claim it. It is tedious rather than difficult, and it is the first thing to sort out because nothing else can proceed.
Why did my profile get suspended?
Most often a keyword-stuffed business name, an address that is a virtual office or a home used as a storefront, or a category that does not match what the business does. Reinstatement is possible but slow, and prevention is considerably cheaper.
How often should I post?
When there is something real to say — a finished job, a seasonal reminder, a genuine offer. Weekly is plenty. Posting filler to appear active does not help and takes time you could spend asking for reviews, which does.

Related

Usually bought alongside

Getting found by people nearby, right now

Local search for service businesses in Marion County: map pack, service areas, citations and reviews, handled as one program.

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Ranking in the map pack

Getting into the three-result map pack for searches that matter, and staying there.

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Consistent listings across the directories that count

Accurate, consistent business listings on the directories that influence local ranking — and cleanup of the duplicates hurting you now.

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Start with the free audit. It takes two seconds and it is honest about what it cannot see.

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