Forty-three items, every one explained — not a list of headings you already knew. Tick them off as you go; your progress is remembered on this device. Nothing is held back for an email address.
Before you start
A Google Business Profile is not a directory entry you fill in once. Google decides local rankings on relevance, distance and prominence — and two of those three you influence directly through the profile. Optimization is making it complete and accurate (relevance) and keeping it demonstrably active with posts, photos and reviews (prominence). The setup half is a weekend. The active half is forever, and it is where the movement comes from.
The checklist
The order matters. Fixing categories before you write posts means the posts land against the right business. Doing it backwards wastes the posting.
The honest part
The one-time items above take roughly four to six hours if your photos and service details are already to hand. The recurring items take two to three hours a week, indefinitely — and that recurring half is where ranking movement actually comes from. Almost everyone does the setup, posts enthusiastically for three weeks, and then stops. Google notices the gap long before you do.
Questions
Making your profile complete, accurate and active so it ranks in the Map Pack and converts the people who see it — right categories and services, correct location data, real photos, populated Q&As, a steady flow of reviews, weekly posting. Not a one-off setup: Google rewards profiles that stay active.
The setup section is non-negotiable — wrong categories or a duplicate listing actively hold you back. The ongoing section is where movement comes from. Doing setup and skipping the weekly work is the most common mistake there is, and it gets you a tidy profile that does not climb.
Because a checklist you have to trade an email for is usually a checklist that is not worth it. This is the whole thing. If you work through it yourself and never speak to us, that is a fine outcome.
Run a geo-grid scan before you start and again 30 days later. A single rank check from your own desk will tell you almost nothing, because local results change with the searcher’s location. There is a real before-and-after on the case studies page.
Book a free 15-minute call. We will audit your profile against this exact checklist and tell you which items are actually costing you calls right now.
No card. No commitment. Just a plan.
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