If you run a local business in London and you haven’t fully optimised your Google Business Profile, you are leaving an extraordinary amount of free marketing value on the table. This is not an exaggeration.
Google Business Profile (GBP) formerly Google My Business is the system behind Google Maps, the local pack (the map with three listings at the top of local search results), and the knowledge panel that appears when someone searches for your business directly. Businesses with fully optimised profiles receive significantly more website visits, phone calls, and footfall than those with incomplete listings.
The good news: optimising your GBP is free, and this guide will walk you through every step.
Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Profile
If you haven’t already claimed your profile, go to business.google.com and search for your business. If it appears, click ‘Claim this business’. If it doesn’t, click ‘Add your business to Google’.
Verification typically happens via postcard (sent to your business address, arriving in up to five working days), phone call, or email. In some cases, Google may offer instant verification. Complete this step an unverified profile cannot be fully managed and will not rank as well.
Step 2: Complete Every Section
Google explicitly states that profiles with complete information are more likely to appear in relevant searches. Work through every section methodically:
Business Name
Use your exact trading name no additional keywords. Google considers keyword-stuffing in business names (e.g., ‘Smith’s Plumbing Plumber London Emergency’) a violation of guidelines and will penalise your listing.
Category
Your primary category is one of the most important ranking factors in local search. Choose the category that most accurately describes your core business. Then add secondary categories for additional services. A management consultancy, for example, might have ‘Management Consultant’ as primary and ‘Business Development Service’ and ‘Training Centre’ as secondaries.
Address
Enter your full, accurate address. If you’re a service-area business (you travel to customers rather than having them come to you), do not enter your home address instead, hide your address and set your service areas.
Phone Number
Use a local London number where possible it reinforces local relevance. Ensure this number matches the phone number on your website and other directories exactly.
Website
Link to your main website homepage. Ensure the URL is correct and the page loads properly.
Hours
Set your opening hours accurately. Add special hours for bank holidays Google will prompt you for upcoming holidays. Customers who find you outside your stated hours are more likely to call or visit during business hours if you’ve been upfront.
Step 3: Write a Compelling Business Description
You have 750 characters for your business description. Use every one of them well. Your description should:
- Explain what your business does clearly and specifically
- Include your primary and secondary keywords naturally
- Mention the areas you serve
- Highlight what makes you different
- Avoid calls to action (Google does not allow these in descriptions)
Example for a London accountancy firm: ‘Smith & Partners is a Chartered Accountancy firm serving small and medium-sized businesses across Central and South London. We specialise in tax planning, business growth advisory, and management accounts for professional services firms, creative agencies, and e-commerce businesses. Founded in 2008, we combine deep technical expertise with a straightforward, jargon-free approach that our clients consistently cite as our defining difference.’
Step 4: Add Your Products and Services
The Services and Products sections are significantly underused by London businesses. Adding your full service range with descriptions and pricing where appropriate gives Google additional keyword signals and gives potential customers the information they need before they even visit your website.
Be thorough. A cleaning company might list: office cleaning, carpet cleaning, window cleaning, end-of-tenancy cleaning, deep clean services, and washroom services. Each entry is an additional keyword opportunity.
Step 5: Upload Compelling Photos and Videos
Google data shows that businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for directions and 35% more clicks to their websites than businesses without photos. This alone should be motivation enough.
Priority photos for every London business:
Exterior photo: Help customers recognise your premises. Ideally taken from the street at eye level, in good daylight.
Interior photos: Show your space reception area, working environment, restaurant dining room, retail floor. Multiple angles.
Team photos: People buy from people. Photos of your team (with their permission) build trust and warmth.
Product/service photos: Whatever you sell or deliver show it. Before-and-after photos are particularly powerful for trades, cleaning, and property businesses.
Your logo: Upload a clean version of your logo for your profile icon.
Add new photos regularly Google favours active profiles. Set a reminder to upload at least one new photo per week.
Step 6: Build Your Review Strategy
Reviews are both a ranking factor and a conversion factor. A profile with 60 reviews averaging 4.7 stars will outrank and outpervert a profile with 3 reviews averaging 5 stars in most circumstances.
Build reviews systematically: ask every satisfied customer, make it easy with a direct link, and respond to every review both positive and negative. Your response to a negative review is often more trust-building for prospective customers than the negative review itself.
Step 7: Use Google Posts Actively
Google Posts are short content updates that appear directly on your GBP listing. Use them for:
- Promotions and offers (these can include a direct call-to-action button)
- News and updates about your business
- Events you’re hosting or participating in
- New products or service launches
- Blog posts or guides you’ve published
Posts expire after seven days (except event posts, which expire when the event ends). Aim to post at least weekly this signals to Google that your profile is actively managed, which is a positive ranking signal.
Step 8: Use Q&A to Address Common Questions
The Questions and Answers section of your GBP allows anyone to ask and answer questions about your business. You can and should proactively add common questions and answers yourself.
Think about the questions you get asked most often before someone commits to using your services. ‘Do you offer free parking?’, ‘What payment methods do you accept?’, ‘Do you work with both commercial and domestic clients?’ Add these proactively and you’ll both serve potential customers better and add more keyword-rich content to your profile.
Maintaining Your Profile
An optimised GBP is not a one-time project. Keep it current: update your hours, add photos, respond to reviews, and post updates regularly. Google rewards active profiles with better visibility.
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