Audit a Google Business Profile in four passes: first anything that can hide it (verification, suspension, duplicates), then edits Google or the public made without you, then the core facts, and only then the parts that win clicks, such as categories, reviews and photos. Every check below can be done for free from the profile itself, a private browser window and Google’s own help pages.
Most audit tools score a profile on completeness. That misses the problems that cost the most: a duplicate listing hiding yours, or a phone number Google swapped in from a directory. So the checklist is ordered by damage, not by where each field sits in the editor.
The Google Business Profile audit checklist
Copy this into a doc or sheet and mark each line pass, fix or not applicable. You’ll need owner or manager access for the parts marked “signed in”. If you don’t have it yet, get added as a manager before you start.
Pass 1: can people see the profile?
- Verified. Open the profile signed in and check its status. Performance data is only available for verified profiles. If it isn’t verified, stop and verify it first.
- Not suspended or disabled. A suspension notice in the dashboard means the rest of the audit can wait. Our suspension guide covers the appeal.
- No duplicate. Search Google Maps for the business name, the phone number and the street address separately, in a private window. Google says a profile flagged as a duplicate “won’t show on Google Search or Maps”, and that two profiles at one address or one business with a profile per service can trigger the flag.
- Shows as open. Not marked temporarily or permanently closed.
If the listing doesn’t appear at all for its own name, work through why a profile isn’t showing up before going further.
Pass 2: has anyone changed it without you? (signed in)
- Blue fields. In the editor, Google’s help page on updates says blue text “shows info changed by Google”, with a notification at the top of the page. Check every blue field against the truth.
- Suggested edits. The same page says you have 4 days to accept or reject a suggested edit, after which Google may publish it if other public information, such as your website, supports it. Make sure the notification emails reach someone who reads them.
- Collected info. Under Edit profile, then Collected info, you can see details Google confirmed with you by automated call, text or WhatsApp.
Pass 3: are the core facts right?
- Name. It should match the sign on the door. Google’s guidelines ban marketing taglines, service descriptions, location details, phone numbers and URLs in the name field.
- Address or service area. Businesses that serve customers at the customer’s home, such as a plumber, should hide the address and set a service area, which generally shouldn’t reach beyond about 2 hours of driving from the base. P.O. boxes and virtual offices aren’t eligible.
- Map pin. Zoom in on Maps. The pin should sit on the building, not the middle of the street or a neighbor’s lot.
- Hours. Regular customer-facing hours, plus holiday hours before each US holiday. Appointment-only businesses shouldn’t list hours at all, per the same guidelines.
- Phone. A local number you control. Google says numbers and links must not redirect to other numbers or pages, and prefers local numbers over call centers.
- Website. The link loads, isn’t redirected through a tracking domain, and lands on the page for this location. A UTM tag on the URL is fine.
- Same details everywhere. Compare the name, address and phone with your website footer and your main directories. The citation audit covers that part in depth.
Pass 4: does it win the click?
- Primary category. The most specific one that describes the core business. Google’s categories help says categories affect local ranking and that editing one may trigger re-verification, so change it only for a clear reason. Our categories guide shows how to see what competitors use.
- Additional categories. A few, for real departments or services. Google says not to add one for every product or service.
- Services and products. Listed with plain names customers use.
- Description. Under 750 characters, no URLs or HTML, and per the guidelines no promotions, prices or sales offers.
- Search terms. In the performance report, read the searches metric. It updates at the start of each month and can take up to 5 days to appear. If people find you for services your categories and services don’t mention, that’s a gap.
- Reviews. Note the count, the average and the date of the newest review, then do the same for the top three competitors in the map pack. Check that replies exist and are recent. Only verified businesses can reply, and replies can take from 10 minutes to 30 days to go live.
- How reviews are requested. Google’s contribution policy bans incentives such as discounts for reviews, and bans selectively asking only happy customers. If the business does either, that is the most urgent fix in this pass.
- Photos and video. Recent photos of the real premises, team and work. Google’s photo guidelines want JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, at least 250 by 250 pixels (720 by 720 recommended), and videos up to 30 seconds. See our photo size guide for the rest.
- Posts. A recent post helps someone deciding whether to call, but don’t expect a ranking change. Our posts guide covers why.
Where to spend your fix time
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, that complete and accurate info makes a business more likely to show, and that there’s no way to pay for a better ranking. It doesn’t rank the fields. The best public evidence is Whitespark’s survey of local search experts, which scores 187 factors.
The Whitespark 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey puts the primary category first, with a score of 227, and accurate hours, ratings, review count, pin placement and review recency all in the top 11. Those are the fields to fix first when the audit turns up problems.
Keywords in the business name sit third, at 223. That doesn’t make them a fix: adding a keyword your real name doesn’t contain breaks Google’s guidelines and puts the profile at risk. Use it the other way round. If a competitor ranks with “Best Emergency Plumber Sacramento” as a name, suggest an edit on their listing in Maps with the real name from their sign.
How to run the audit in about an hour
- Get access. Ask for manager access, so you can see blue fields, collected info and the performance report.
- Capture the public view. Open a private browser window, search the business name and the main service plus city, and screenshot the listing on Search and Maps.
- Hunt for duplicates. Search Maps by phone number and street address, as well as by name. Note every listing that could be the same business.
- Work through the checklist. Pass by pass, marking each line pass, fix or not applicable, with a screenshot of anything you’ll change.
- Benchmark three competitors. Note their primary category, review count, newest review date and photo count. The free GMB Everywhere browser extension shows competitor categories, a feature it says is always free.
- Fix in order. Visibility blockers first, then wrong facts, then everything else. Make category and name edits one at a time, because either can trigger re-verification.
Step 3 is the one people skip. To fix a duplicate, Google says you can suggest a merge through Google Maps when both listings are the same business with the same info. Merged profiles keep both sets of reviews, but replies to reviews may be lost. If you created the duplicate yourself, you can remove it instead, though that deletes all its content and managers, so double-check which one you’re removing.
When a paid audit tool is worth it
For one location, the free route covers everything in the checklist. A paid tool earns its cost when you manage many profiles or need rankings across a service area, which a private window can’t show. BrightLocal, for example, tracks rankings on Google Search, Google Maps and Bing alongside citations, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed. Our guide to local SEO reporting covers rank grids. Treat any single “profile score” a tool gives you as a prompt to look, not a result to report.
How to adapt the checklist
- Service-area businesses. Skip the pin check, and check the service area and hidden address instead.
- Several locations. Run pass 1 and pass 2 on every location each quarter, since those cause the worst damage. Run the full checklist on the weakest locations first.
- Agencies. Turn the checklist into columns, one row per location, and add the date of each check so the next audit only reviews what changed.
- New profiles. Most of pass 4 won’t have data yet. Fill every field once and come back in 60 days.
FAQ
How often should you audit a Google Business Profile?
Check the blue fields and suggested edits monthly, because you only get 4 days to reject a suggested edit. Run the full checklist every three months, and again after a move, a rebrand or a sudden drop in calls.
Is there a free Google Business Profile audit tool?
The free tools are Google’s own: the profile editor, the performance report and a private browser window. Free extensions such as GMB Everywhere add competitor categories. Many free score-style audit sites focus on completeness, which is one part of pass 4.
Should the audit still check the Questions and answers section?
Mostly not. Google discontinued the Q&A API on November 3, 2025, and Whitespark reported in January 2026 that legacy Q&A no longer appears on profiles, with an AI question feature in the Google Maps app in its place for many US listings. Put your common questions and answers on your website and keep the profile’s facts complete instead.
Book the next audit before you close this one
The audit only pays off if the fixes go live and stay live. Put the monthly check of blue fields on the calendar now, write down the three competitor numbers you benchmarked, and compare against them in three months. If calls and direction requests haven’t moved by then, the problem is likely outside the profile, in reviews you aren’t getting or a website that doesn’t convert.
