Google Business Profile Optimization: The 2026 Checklist for Local Businesses
Your Google Business Profile is the most powerful free marketing tool for local businesses. Here's how to optimize it to capture the 76% of local searchers who visit within 24 hours.
Most small business owners set up their Google Business Profile once, never touch it again, and wonder why competitors keep beating them in local search.
We've audited dozens of GBPs in the Texoma area. The pattern is almost always the same: hours filled out, photos never added, services section either blank or copy-pasted from the website, zero posts in 18 months, and reviews from 2022 that haven't been responded to.
Meanwhile, the competitor two miles away is posting monthly, responding to every review — good and bad — and actively updating their services list. That business shows up first. Not because they spent money on ads. Because they treated their GBP like a live marketing asset instead of a one-time form to fill out.
Here's how to actually do it right.
Completeness Isn't Optional
Google has been direct about this: complete profiles outperform incomplete ones in local rankings. The numbers back it up.
What a Complete Profile Gets You
The Checklist
Business information: Your name, address, and phone need to be exactly consistent everywhere — your GBP, your website footer, Yelp, BBB, any directory listing. Even small inconsistencies (abbreviating "Street" to "St" in one place) can confuse Google.
Primary category: This is one of the strongest ranking signals you have. Be specific. "Roofing Contractor" beats "Contractor." "HVAC Contractor" beats "Home Services." Take five minutes to look at what your top-ranking competitors are using.
Service area: List every city you actually serve. Denison, Sherman, Pottsboro, Durant, Gainesville — if you'll take jobs there, add it.
Services section: Don't just list service names. Add a one or two sentence description for each. "Roof Replacement — We handle complete tear-off and replacement for residential roofs in the Texoma area, including insurance claims." That description is searchable.
Photos: Real job photos. Before and after. Your truck at a job site. Your crew. Not stock photos — actual evidence of your work. Add at least five to start, and keep adding them. Frequency matters.
Posts: Once a month, minimum. Completed a big job? Post about it. Running a seasonal special? Post about it. Google actively uses post recency as a freshness signal.
Reviews: The Part Most Businesses Get Wrong
The goal is not a 5.0 rating. Seriously. A perfect score with 10 reviews often looks more suspicious to consumers than a 4.6 with 80 reviews.
What actually builds trust: a high volume of genuine reviews, responded to consistently by the owner. A negative review you responded to professionally — acknowledging the issue, explaining what you did to fix it — is often more persuasive than ten positive ones you never responded to.
The ask is simpler than most people make it. After a job is done, send a text: "Hey, really appreciate you trusting us with this — if you have a minute, a Google review goes a long way for our small business. Here's the direct link." Most people who had a good experience will do it if you make it easy.
What to Measure
Log into your GBP monthly and check the insights: how many people searched for you, how many viewed the profile, how many requested directions or called. If those numbers are flat or falling, something needs attention.
Need help getting your profile into shape? Reach out — we handle GBP optimization as part of our local SEO service for businesses across the Texoma area.
Founder, Polygon Digital
Justin Crump is the founder of Polygon Digital, a web design and SEO agency based in Denison, TX. He works with contractors and service businesses across the Texoma area to build fast, conversion-focused websites and local SEO strategies that generate real leads.
