Google Business Profile Optimization: 2026 Checklist

This is the deep dive on Google Business Profile optimization itself, the profile behind the relevance signal in the Map Pack guide. That guide covers Google's three ranking factors. This one goes field by field: verification, categories, photos, posts, reviews, suspensions and a routine that keeps the profile accurate.

Every hard number here, from character limits to photo sizes and review times, comes from Google's own Business Profile help pages. Where Google doesn't say something, I say that too, because a lot of GBP advice online presents agency folklore as Google policy.

Google Business Profile vs. Google My Business

Same product, new name. Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile in November 2021 and retired the separate GMB app in 2022. You now manage the profile directly in Google Search and Maps. People still search for the old name more often, so you'll see both in tutorials.

The profile is the free local listing Google shows when someone searches for your business by name or for your category nearby. It appears in the local results on Search, in Google Maps and in the business panel for branded searches.

How Verification Works

Google says verification tells it you're authorized to represent the business, which makes the profile more likely to show up in results. Which methods you get depends on the business type, the country and your account history, and Google doesn't let you pick freely.

For video verification, Google wants one unedited recording of at least 30 seconds, made and uploaded from a phone through your profile. A storefront business shows the location, proof the business exists (signage, equipment) and proof of management, for example opening an employee-only area. A service-area business shows where it operates, its tools and itself doing the work. Coworking desks and mailboxes don't pass, and Google's guidelines don't allow them as a business address anyway.

Categories: Primary and Additional

You choose one primary category and, according to Google's category page, up to 9 more. That's 10 in total. Google's own rules are short: categories describe what your business is, not keywords or features.

Most local SEO practitioners treat the primary category as the strongest relevance lever you control, though Google doesn't publish weights. Pick the most specific category that describes the core business. "Dental clinic" says more than "Medical clinic", and "Italian restaurant" more than "Restaurant".

Add further categories only for things you actually are or offer. A dentist who does cosmetic work can add "Cosmetic dentist". A marketing agency that doesn't build websites shouldn't add "Website designer" to catch more searches, because that's exactly the misuse Google's rules name.

To see what competitors use, open their profile in Maps: the primary category shows under the business name. There are roughly 4,000 categories, and the picker only autocompletes, so it helps to know the exact name you're looking for. Google adds and renames categories from time to time, which makes a yearly re-check worth doing.

Photos and Videos

Google's local ranking page lists photos and videos as a way to show customers what you offer. It doesn't say how much they count for ranking. What's clear is that a profile without real photos gives a searcher little reason to pick it over the next result.

The technical requirements are simple:

• Photos: JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, at least 250 × 250 px. Google recommends 720 × 720 px.
• Photos should be in focus, well lit and without heavy filters or significant alterations.
• Videos: up to 30 seconds, up to 75 MB, 720p or higher.

What to upload: a logo and cover photo, the exterior with signage so people recognize the place, the interior, the team, and your actual work or products. Real photos, not stock. Add new ones when something changes, like a renovation, a new service or new staff, rather than on a fixed schedule for its own sake.

Posts, Reviews, and What Replaced Q&A

Posts

There are three post types: updates, offers and events. Offers and events run for the dates you set. Posts older than six months are archived unless they have a date range. You can schedule posts and set them to repeat weekly or monthly.

Google doesn't list posts on its local ranking page, so treat them as something for the people who look at your profile, not as a ranking lever. A current offer, a seasonal note or an event is useful.

Q&A is gone

Google shut down the Q&A API on November 3, 2025, according to its developer changelog, and has been removing the public Q&A section from profiles since. Industry reporting describes AI-generated answers in Maps taking its place, drawn from the profile, reviews and the business website.

That changes the advice. You can't seed questions anymore. What you can do is make sure the sources those answers draw on are complete and correct: hours, attributes, services, the description and the FAQ on your own website.

Reviews and replies

Reviews are the part of prominence you influence most directly. Google's ranking page names the number of reviews, and says replies show you value feedback and that positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out. Reply to reviews, especially the negative ones, and write replies that address what the customer actually said. Ask happy customers for a review with the link from your profile, and never pay or offer incentives for reviews, which Google's policies prohibit.

Services, Attributes, Description, Products

These fields are where most profiles stay half-filled.

Services. List the services you offer, each with a description of up to 300 characters. A dentist whose categories are "Dental clinic" and "Cosmetic dentist" can still list teeth whitening, implants and root canal treatment individually, which covers the specific searches the categories don't.

Attributes. Which attributes you can set depends on the category: accessibility, payment options, amenities and owner-identity attributes, for example. Google's ranking page names attributes like parking or Wi-Fi as part of complete business information. Fill in every one that's true.

Description. Up to 750 characters. Say what the business does, where, and what's different about it, in plain language. Keyword stuffing is against Google's guidelines and doesn't read well to the person deciding whether to call you.

Products. Retail and product businesses can add products with photos, prices and descriptions. Service businesses usually don't need this section.

Common Suspension Triggers and the Appeal

Most suspensions come from breaking one of Google's guidelines for representing a business. The patterns local SEOs see most often:

• Keywords in the business name. "Best Denver Plumber 24/7" instead of the real business name. Use the name you use on signage and documents.
• An address customers can't visit, for a storefront profile. Virtual offices, mailboxes and addresses you don't staff aren't eligible. If you visit customers instead, set up a service-area business and hide the address.
• Categories for things you don't do. They misrepresent the business and invite user reports.
• Duplicate profiles. A second profile for the same location, often created because nobody could access the first one. Request access to the existing profile instead.
• Large changes to name, address or category at once. They can trigger a new review. Make necessary changes deliberately and keep your documentation ready.

A Maintenance Routine (Weekly / Monthly / Quarterly)

Profiles drift: hours change, services get added, staff leave, reviews come in. This routine keeps the profile accurate in about an hour a week for one location. It's a working routine, not a schedule Google has said it rewards.

Weekly (~20 min)

• Reply to new reviews.
• Check for updates Google or users suggested to your hours, phone or address, and accept or correct them.
• Post if there's something worth saying: an offer, an event, a change.

Monthly (~30 min)

• Add photos when something has changed.
• Check the services list and attributes against what you actually offer now.
• Open the Performance report and note which searches and actions (calls, directions, website clicks) are growing or shrinking.
• Check that name, address and phone match on your main directory listings.

Quarterly (~60 min)

• Re-check the primary and additional categories against competitors and against what the business does today.
• Re-read the description and the FAQ on your website, since both feed what Google can say about you.
• Set holiday hours for the coming months.
• Check your Map Pack position across the service area with Local Geogrid and compare it with last quarter.

FAQ

Where to Start

Five steps, about 90 minutes, then the routine above: