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OctHow to boost your local SEO with Google Business Profile?
- Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free tool offered by the web giant to businesses. An essential part of a local SEO strategy, it allows you to:
- Gain visibility
- Attract local customers;
- Strengthen the online presence of a business or brand.
But creating a profile isn't enough to take advantage of its digital opportunities. You need to optimize this profile, configure it properly, and update it to make it a powerful local SEO and marketing tool. There are also a few tips for improving your visibility in Google search results, which we'll reveal in this article!
What is Google Business Profile?
This tool is intended for all businesses, with or without a website. It is available free of charge to all owners of businesses, establishments, and brands who want to:
- Improve their positioning in SERPs
- Improve their local SEO
This business listing appears in Google search results and provides users with essential information, including opening hours, address, and customer reviews.
It is therefore a professional profile that can be updated and supplemented with photos and various other information. It's a kind of online showcase that allows you to promote products or services locally.
Creating a Google Business Profile (GBP) applies to all establishments and professionals, regardless of the company's size or sector of activity. While a website is not mandatory, you must have a physical presence (a point of sale, for example) since you must provide an address that users can visit.
Why create a Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile is a very useful tool for businesses looking to develop their local customer base and improve their local SEO.
Indeed, we now know that many Internet users use geolocation searches when looking for professionals or businesses near them (a restaurant, a hairdresser, a plumber, a real estate agency, etc.). With this Google business profile, a business's visibility is enhanced since it appears directly in search results. But that's not its only advantage. Generally speaking, it helps a business grow its business, without the need for a website (although it is strongly recommended).
Improving Online Reputation
Nowadays, online reputation plays a role in the consumer purchasing journey and business strategy. Therefore, before visiting a store, restaurant, or hair salon, for example, Internet users first research information online. They consult the website (or failing that, the Instagram or Facebook page) and customer reviews, most of which are available on Google.
With Google Business Profile, customers of a business or establishment can leave reviews and comments, and give it a star rating out of five. The more positive ratings and reviews there are, the better the business's or establishment's online reputation, and the more likely it is that Internet users will want to visit.
As for negative reviews, moderation is essential to limit their impact. Although they aren't necessarily pleasant to read, they should be left—when justified, which isn't the case with insults, for example—and responded to.
Optimize Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
For establishments with a local clientele, creating a Google Business Profile listing can boost their visibility in SERPs and their local SEO. This allows them to communicate about their business to local users who make a geolocated query. The traffic generated on their website and/or in-person is more qualified. It's also a way to stand out from competitors who don't have a GBP listing, and to move up in search results, thanks in particular to geolocation.
Increase the attractiveness of an establishment
A well-completed Google Business Profile listing, with reliable and useful information for internet users, can make an establishment more attractive by creating a climate of trust. It's no secret that today's internet users are in a hurry and want to quickly find the information they're looking for. If an establishment's hours, opening days, address, and phone number are mentioned in a GBP listing, they can find them quickly, without needing to visit the website. And an internet user
A well-informed user is a happy user, who can become a future customer.
Project a positive image
A GBP profile can be illustrated with photos and videos of an establishment, its products or services, and its team. It is highly recommended to add these to make the profile more attractive and encourage users to visit. The presence of photos and/or videos piques their interest and can also reassure them as they get a first glimpse of an establishment. It also gives a modern image of a business, in line with new consumer habits.
Be listed in Google Maps
Having a Google Business Profile listing offers another advantage—and not an insignificant one for local SEO: being geolocated in Google Maps. This free mapping service from Google is used by users to find their way (and locate places), create itineraries, and as a GPS. Integrating various features, including geolocation, it is available on desktop and mobile, via an app. And now, establishments with a GBP listing are listed in Google Maps. They appear on a map and are easily located by Internet users. They can then calculate their route, on foot or by car, for example, to reach the establishment.
How to optimize Google Business Profile to improve local SEO?
A GBP establishment listing is essential for working on and improving a company's local SEO. It must therefore be optimized to rank well in Google search results and thus generate quality traffic. To optimize it, several elements must be worked on to make it attractive and comprehensive.
Add the right information
An optimized Google Business Profile listing is a well-completed listing, which includes useful information for Internet users:
- Name of the establishment;
- Precise address (street, but also the neighborhood or location "near the train station," "city center," for example);
- Opening hours and days;
- Phone number;
- Link to the website (if it exists).
You should also indicate the establishment's category (its activity) when creating the listing so that it can be more easily found by Internet users during their online searches.
In a GBP listing, it is also possible to specify the services offered (for example, a terrace for a restaurant, dine-in and/or takeaway options, or parking for a hotel). Since these attributes are an establishment's strengths, they must be highlighted to stand out from the competition.
This information contributes to the reliability of a listing and builds trust among Internet users.
Choosing the Right Category
As previously mentioned, an establishment's category is a key element of a Google Business Profile listing. It allows you to describe your business and inform Internet users. It must therefore correspond to the services and products provided by the company. It can also be supplemented with secondary categories.
To find the right category, you need to consider the company's main activity (or, if it has several, the activity generating the highest revenue). It's also worth looking at what competitors are reporting on their GBP.
Add quality photos
This Google listing is a true digital showcase. As we mentioned in a previous paragraph, it must be attractive to Internet users. To achieve this, adding photos is essential. They must be:
- Relevant to the company's activity;
- Of good quality;
- Useful to Internet users.
In short, they must make people want to visit the establishment while still reflecting reality. If this isn't the case, Internet users who have made the trip will be disappointed and will not hesitate to let Google know in reviews and comments.
Similarly, you should include photos of the exterior of an establishment to show Google that it actually exists. A restaurant, for example, shouldn't limit itself to just photos of its dishes and decor.
Adding videos is also recommended, as they are highly valued by Internet users. However, they must meet the same criteria as photos.
Encourage Internet users to leave reviews
User reviews and ratings are taken into account by Google when ranking an establishment's profile in its search results. Therefore, a business should not hesitate to encourage customers to post reviews. For example, it can ask them at the checkout, or by text message, email, or by displaying a QR code in its window, on the cashier's counter, etc.
To be effective, customer reviews must be left regularly. There's no point in having 50 at once, then none at all for two months.
Responding to Customer Reviews
Reviews and comments left by customers are not always positive and complimentary. Some may be unhappy and express this publicly. In this case, you must respond. This is essential for maintaining a company's online reputation. However, it must be done properly.
For example, there's no point in responding aggressively. You must respond courteously, professionally, and constructively, addressing the points raised by customers. You should also remember to thank them by explaining that their feedback will help improve the quality of service, for example. You can also suggest that they contact customer service by email to discuss the matter.
On the other hand, false negative reviews left by people mentioned or linked to spam campaigns can be deleted, as they are unjustified.
But it's always important to remember that reviews and ratings are customer testimonials.
Update Regularly
A well-optimized Google Business Profile listing must be updated. You should consider:
- Modifying contact information when it changes (new phone number, new owner, etc.);
- Adding new photos;
- Updating information related to services and products offered (a new menu for a restaurant, extended opening hours during the summer, or exceptional closing dates, for example).
It simply needs to be kept alive so that it remains visible to Google's algorithms, and therefore to Internet users. Of course, there's no need to do this every day. Once a month or every two months, for example, is sufficient.
Add a Call to Action (CTA)
Finally, it's important to include a Call to Action button in a GBP listing to encourage Internet users to click and visit the establishment. For example: "Reserve" for a restaurant or hotel, "Call" or "Appointment" for a hair salon or beauty salon.
This button is added when creating or editing the listing.
Optimizing Google Business Profile takes a little time, but it pays off for a business by improving its visibility in SERPs and its local SEO. And since creating this listing is free, it would be a shame to miss out. Especially since in 2025, a new feature is coming that should improve communication between businesses and their customers.
WhatsApp, the new feature available on Google Business Profile in 2025!
It's official: Google Business Profile listings can be enhanced with a new button: the WhatsApp button! First rolled out in the United States, this new feature arrived in France in early February 2025. Thanks to this new feature, businesses can directly integrate their WhatsApp account with their GBP and communicate with their customers via this very popular messaging service.
Visible on mobile devices, this feature strengthens conversational commerce. By clicking this "WhatsApp" button, users can contact a business without having to fill out a form or call a phone number. This allows users to:
Create a more instant and seamless connection, reflecting current consumer habits, who prefer to communicate via messages rather than by phone;
Better manage user requests by automating certain responses and responding more quickly.
For now, this WhatsApp button is not yet deployed on all Google Business Profile listings, as its rollout is gradual. To benefit from it, businesses must activate the option from their GBP account.
This new feature enhances a local business's customer relationship and can help it:
Stand out from competitors by leveraging an app that is highly valued by consumers;
Improve the user experience for users.
Creating and optimizing a Google Business Profile listing helps increase an establishment's visibility in SERPs and improve its local SEO. To properly configure it and take advantage of its many benefits, our experts put their expertise at your disposal. If you need personalized advice on how to properly manage your profile, don't hesitate to contact our agency! Experts in digital strategy, and particularly in local SEO, our team will support you and help you optimize your Google Business Profile.