Almost everything a customer sees about your business on Google, a competitor can see too. Both of them are looking at the same screen. Scoring that screen yourself takes about twenty minutes, and it usually turns up work you were losing without knowing you had a shot at it.
Why you should grade your own profile first
There is a simple way people pick which local business is easy to take work from. They open Google Maps, look at one trade in one town, and keep only the businesses where four things are true at once. Good star rating. A real pile of reviews. No way to book or get a quote without calling. And an owner who never replies to anything.
Read what that list actually says. The star rating says the work is good. The review count says there is money coming in. The missing booking link and the silent review replies say nobody is watching the front door. Strong business, neglected front end.
You are taking that test whether you sit down for it or not. So take it on purpose. Write a number next to each part of your profile, then work on the lowest one. In our experience across 2,300+ profiles, the lowest number is hardly ever the hard thing. It is the thing nobody got around to.
The five things to score
- Reviews. How many you have, what the average is, and how long ago the newest one came in.
- Replies. What share of your reviews have a reply from you. The good ones count too.
- Photos. How many, how recent the newest one is, and whether they show the real work or just a logo.
- The basics. Hours, phone number, service area, your main category, your list of services, and a booking or quote link if Google offers one for your type of business.
- Your response time. How long it takes you to answer a call, a form, or a message, including after hours.
That last one is not on your profile at all, and it is the one that costs the most. A customer who called at 6pm and got voicemail is not waiting for you to call back in the morning. They are already talking to the next business on the list.
How to run the audit in twenty minutes
- Pick up your phone and search your business name plus your town, the way a stranger would. Look at what shows up before you touch anything.
- Count your reviews and note the date on the newest one. Then count how many have a reply from you.
- Open your photos. Note how many there are and the date of the most recent one.
- Read your hours, your category, and your services out loud. Anything wrong or missing gets a mark.
- Have a friend call your main number this evening, after you close, and tell you what happened.
- Fill in your own contact form and time how long the reply takes to arrive.
Write the six answers on one sheet of paper. That sheet is your audit. You do not need software for this.
Score each one from one to ten
Be honest and be quick. A ten means a customer could not ask for more. A one means it would push someone to the next business. Most owners land somewhere in the middle on reviews and photos, and near the bottom on replies and response time.
Do not average the scores. The average hides the problem. You are looking for the single lowest number, because that is the one a customer runs into first.
Fix the cheapest gap first
Almost every low score has a free fix that takes under an hour.
- No replies? Start with your most recent ten reviews and write one short line to each. Thank the good ones by name. Answer the rough ones calmly and offer to sort it out.
- Old photos? Take six pictures on your next job. Before, during, after, the van, the team, the finished work.
- Thin services list? Add every job you actually do, in the words your customers use for it.
- Slow after hours? Put a real voicemail greeting on the line that tells people when you will call back, and then call back.
Then put a reminder in your phone for ninety days out and run the same six steps again. A profile drifts. Hours change, a service gets dropped, the photos go stale. The check is small when you do it often.
Then let your customers do the rest
Here is the part that makes all this worth it. Once your profile is clean and you are answering people, the reviews and photos your customers leave start doing the heavy work. Their words describe your services better than any page you could write. Their photos prove what the job looks like. That is the Local Guide Method in one line: your customers do your SEO for you.
Your job is to keep the front door open and keep asking. The audit just tells you which part of the door is stuck.
If you would rather have someone else score it, we will do it for free and send you the list. Request a profile audit here.
Idea spark: Chris Koerner on The Koerner Office podcast.
Quick answers
- How long does a Google Business Profile audit take?
- About twenty minutes if you just want the five scores. Fixing what you find takes longer, but most of it is small jobs you can do from your phone.
- How often should I audit my profile?
- Every ninety days is plenty for most local businesses. Check it sooner if your hours change, you add a service, or your calls drop off for no clear reason.
- Do I need a tool to audit my Google Business Profile?
- No. Your phone is enough. Search your own business the way a customer would, write down what you see, and score it honestly.
- What should I fix first?
- Whatever scored lowest and costs you nothing. Replying to old reviews and adding fresh photos are usually the two quickest wins.