local-seo-google-business-profile

SKILL.md

---
name: local-seo-google-business-profile
description: "Help local and service-area businesses win the map pack, organic local results, and — increasingly — local answers in AI tools. Local search has its own rules: proximity, prominence, and relevance, each expressed through a different set of signals than classic web SEO."
---

## Why this matters

- **~50% of all searches have local intent** (Google).
- **Google's 2025 spam updates significantly cleaned up map results** and tightened enforcement on fake listings. Legitimate businesses gained; spammy ones lost.
- **GBP is now an AI-powered platform** — static profiles are insufficient. Google prioritizes businesses with active engagement (posts, photos, Q&A, review responses).
- **Review velocity matters more than lifetime totals** for GBP ranking. A business with 30 recent reviews beats one with 500 reviews from 2019.
- **Mobile is non-negotiable.** The majority of local searches happen on mobile; users expect <3s load times and click-to-call.
- **Local AEO:** AI tools (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews) now answer local queries. Unlinked brand mentions on local news sites, neighborhood forums, and directory pages help visibility.

## Process

1. **Business baseline.** Verify business info, service area, categories, and competitive landscape.
2. **GBP audit and optimization.** Every field, every photo, every category. GBP is the single highest-leverage asset in local.
3. **NAP consistency audit.** Name, Address, Phone — verify identical across every citation source.
4. **Local citation building.** Top-tier directories, industry-specific directories, local/regional directories.
5. **Review strategy.** Velocity over volume. Ongoing acquisition process, not a one-time push.
6. **Local content creation.** Service pages, area pages, neighborhood content.
7. **Local schema markup.** LocalBusiness, Service, Review, with GeoCoordinates and hours.
8. **Local link building.** Chambers, sponsorships, community partnerships.
9. **Multi-location management** (if applicable).
10. **Monitor + measure.** GBP Insights, rank tracking for local keywords, and review velocity.

## Frameworks

### GBP optimization checklist

Every field matters. Missing fields or stale information costs rankings.

**Core profile:**
- [ ] Business name matches real-world signage exactly (no keyword stuffing — this is a violation and triggers suspension)
- [ ] Primary category correct and specific (the single highest-impact field in all of GBP)
- [ ] Secondary categories: 2-5 additional, all relevant
- [ ] Business description (750 characters) written naturally, includes primary services and location
- [ ] Opening date (if over 1 year old — establishes trust)
- [ ] Service area or physical address (depending on business model)
- [ ] Phone (direct, trackable if possible, NOT a shared call center)
- [ ] Website URL (HTTPS, mobile-friendly, fast)
- [ ] Appointment URL if applicable

**Hours:**
- [ ] Regular hours accurate
- [ ] Special hours for every holiday in the next 12 months
- [ ] Temporary closure markers if applicable

**Services and products:**
- [ ] Services list complete with descriptions and pricing where possible
- [ ] Products listed with photos, descriptions, and pricing if applicable
- [ ] Each service targets specific intent (e.g., "emergency plumbing repair" not just "plumbing")

**Photos (critical — dramatically affects engagement):**
- [ ] Logo image (square, high-res)
- [ ] Cover photo (landscape, showing the business clearly)
- [ ] **Real job site / service photos** — not stock photography (Google's 2025 guidance explicitly favors authentic imagery)
- [ ] Team photos with named people
- [ ] Interior/exterior (for storefront businesses)
- [ ] Before/after photos (especially for service businesses)
- [ ] Product photos (for retail)
- [ ] Add new photos weekly or monthly — freshness is a signal

**Posts (weekly cadence recommended):**
- [ ] Regular posts: updates, offers, events, news — minimum weekly
- [ ] Each post has a clear CTA (Call, Book, Get offer, Learn more)
- [ ] Include photos and target local keywords naturally

**Q&A:**
- [ ] Seed the Q&A with 5-10 common customer questions and owner-answered responses
- [ ] Monitor for new questions — respond within 24 hours
- [ ] This section is public and ranks like a mini-FAQ

**Attributes:**
- [ ] Complete every applicable attribute (wheelchair accessible, women-owned, LGBTQ+ friendly, etc.) — these appear in search results and influence filters

**Messaging and booking:**
- [ ] Enable messaging if you can staff responses within ~30 minutes
- [ ] Integrate booking link if applicable (Reserve with Google or third-party)

### NAP consistency audit framework

**NAP = Name, Address, Phone.** Consistency across every citation source tells Google the business is legitimate and authoritative. Inconsistency fragments trust signals.

**Audit method:**

1. **Canonical source:** Pick the exact form of NAP that matches the real-world business signage and official documentation. Example: "Brooklyn Family Dental, 123 Main St, Suite 4, Brooklyn NY 11201, (718) 555-0100"
2. **Citation scan:** Use a listings scanner or manual search (`"business name" "address"` in Google) to find every listing.
3. **Flag inconsistencies:** Different abbreviations ("St" vs "Street"), different suite designations, different phone formats, typos, duplicate listings.
4. **Prioritize corrections:**
   - **Tier 1:** Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook
   - **Tier 2:** Yelp, industry-specific top directories, BBB
   - **Tier 3:** Long-tail directories, regional sites
5. **Remove or claim duplicates.** Duplicate GBP listings are the single most common killer of local rankings.

### Review strategy

**Core insight:** Review velocity matters more than lifetime totals. A business getting 5 reviews per week sustainably beats a business with 400 reviews from 3 years ago.

**Acquisition:**
- **Ask after successful jobs/services**, not randomly. The success moment is when customers are most willing.
- **Train the team** to request reviews verbally at the point of satisfaction, followed by a simple link (via SMS or email).
- **Never script reviews.** Never offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Both violate Google's policies and can trigger filtering or removal.
- **Never fake reviews.** Detection is improving rapidly, and fake reviews can trigger a listing suspension.
- **Make the link frictionless.** Use your GBP short review link (findable in GBP dashboard) or a QR code at the job site.

**Response:**
- **Respond to every review**, positive and negative.
- **Positive:** Thank the customer by name, reference a specific detail from their experience.
- **Negative:** Acknowledge the issue, offer to resolve offline, do not argue. Future customers read the response more than the review itself.
- **Response time:** Within 48 hours is the standard; within 24 hours signals active management to Google.

**Volume benchmarks (directional):**
- Service businesses: 1-3 reviews/week sustained is strong.
- High-volume retail/restaurants: 5-15/week.
- Low-volume B2B services: 1-2/month may be the ceiling — focus on quality and keywords in reviews.

### Local content strategy

**Service pages:**
One page per distinct service offered. "Kitchen remodel" ≠ "bathroom remodel" ≠ "basement finishing." Each is a separate intent and deserves a distinct page.

**Area pages / location pages:**
- **Physical storefront:** One page per physical location, detailed with location-specific photos, directions, local landmarks, staff.
- **Service area business:** One page per primary city/neighborhood served. Do not create 500 thin location pages — that's doorway page territory and triggers manual action.
- Location pages should have genuinely unique content: locally relevant case studies, geographic details, neighborhood-specific context, reviews from customers in that area.

**Neighborhood / local content:**
- Blog content about local events, news, community involvement, local "best of" guides.
- This is where local link building and local AEO brand mentions are earned.

**FAQ / questions:**
- Pull questions from GBP Q&A, Reddit, sales calls, and customer support.
- Answer the "how much does [service] cost in [city]" type of question explicitly — it's what users ask AI tools.

### Local schema markup

**`LocalBusiness` schema (JSON-LD):**

Use the most specific subtype available. `Plumber`, `DentalClinic`, `Restaurant`, `HairSalon` — not just the generic `LocalBusiness`.

**Required fields:**
- `name`
- `address` (PostalAddress type)
- `geo` (GeoCoordinates type — latitude and longitude)
- `telephone`
- `openingHoursSpecification`
- `image` (logo and/or cover photo)
- `url`
- `priceRange` (if applicable)
- `sameAs` (links to social profiles and other official listings)

**Additional:**
- `Service` — for each service offered
- `Review` and `aggregateRating` — if you want reviews surfaced in rich results
- `areaServed` — for service-area businesses
- `hasMenu` (for restaurants)
- `acceptedPaymentMethod`

Validate with the Rich Results Test before publishing.

### Local link building

Local link building is different from classic link building — it leans heavily on community and relevance over DR.

**High-leverage sources:**
- **Local chambers of commerce** — typically offer directory listings to members
- **Local news sponsorships** — often comes with a link
- **Community event sponsorships** (schools, youth sports, charity 5Ks)
- **Nonprofit partnerships** — Giving, volunteering, or partnering often earns a mention
- **Local business associations**
- **Regional/city government resources** (small business support pages)
- **Industry-specific local directories** (Nextdoor for service businesses, Angi, HomeAdvisor for home services)
- **Local blogs and "best of" lists**
- **Partner/supplier pages** — if you work with other local businesses, reciprocal mentions are common

A single link from a local news outlet is often worth more than 20 low-quality citations.

### Multi-location management framework

For businesses with 5+ locations:

- **Consolidated management:** Use Google Business Profile Manager's bulk location features; automate where possible.
- **Per-location pages on the main site** with unique content (not templated copy-paste).
- **Consistent branding + locally customized** photos, hours, and staff.
- **Central review monitoring** with location-specific assignment to local managers.
- **GBP posts can be uploaded in bulk** but best practice is location-specific customization.
- **Store locator page** with schema for every location.
- **Proper canonical structure** — each location page should rank for its own city, not cannibalize.

### Local AEO (AI local query optimization)

AI tools now answer local queries ("best pizza in Brooklyn," "plumbers in Seattle"). Early data is limited; approach with epistemic humility.

**What appears to work [Directional]:**
- **Strong GBP** — AI tools pull from the Google Knowledge Graph, which is fed by GBP.
- **Consistent presence in top local directories** — AI tools often verify business info across sources.
- **Brand mentions on local news sites and forums** — neighborhood subreddits, local news, community forums.
- **Reviews with detailed text** — AI tools extract specific mentions (e.g., "great for kids," "gluten-free options").
- **Location-specific content on your site** that answers specific questions about your area.

**What to avoid:**
- Fake reviews — detected and removed, and increasingly flagged by AI tools.
- Keyword-stuffed business names — violates GBP guidelines and flagged as spam.
- Duplicate listings — fragments signals.

## Output format

```
## Local SEO Audit & Action Plan — [Business Name]

**Business type:** [Category]
**Service area:** [List of cities/neighborhoods]
**Physical locations:** [Count]
**Audit date:** [Date]

### GBP Health Score: [X/100]

### GBP findings
| Field | Current | Recommended | Priority |
|-------|---------|-------------|----------|

### NAP consistency
| Source | Name match | Address match | Phone match | Action |
|--------|-----------|--------------|-------------|--------|

### Citation gaps
| Directory | Listed? | Verified? | Action |
|-----------|---------|-----------|--------|

### Review profile
| Metric | Current | Benchmark | Target |
|--------|---------|-----------|--------|
| Total reviews | | | |
| Reviews in last 90d | | | |
| Average rating | | | |
| Response rate | | | |
| Average response time | | | |

### Local content
| Type | Count | Gaps |
|------|-------|------|
| Service pages | | |
| Location pages | | |
| Neighborhood content | | |

### Schema markup
| Type | Implemented | Valid | Notes |
|------|-------------|-------|-------|
| LocalBusiness | | | |
| Service | | | |
| Review/AggregateRating | | | |

### Priority actions
1. **[Critical]**
2. **[High]**
3. **[Medium]**

### 90-day action plan
| Week | Action | Owner |
|------|--------|-------|

### Measurement
| KPI | Current | 30d | 90d |
|-----|---------|-----|-----|
| Map pack impressions | | | |
| Direction requests | | | |
| Calls from GBP | | | |
| New reviews | | | |
| Local pack rank (top 5 keywords) | | | |
```

## Example — plumbing company in mid-sized city

**Business:** Brooklyn Family Plumbing
**Type:** Service area business (no physical storefront for customers)
**Service area:** Brooklyn, Queens, southern Manhattan
**Team size:** 8 plumbers

**Findings:**

**GBP Health Score: 42/100** — significant gaps.

- 🔴 Primary category is "Plumber" but secondary categories are empty; should add "Drain cleaning service," "Water heater installer," "Emergency plumbing service"
- 🔴 Only 3 photos uploaded, all stock photography. Zero job site photos.
- 🔴 No GBP posts in the last 90 days
- 🔴 23 reviews total, but 18 are from 2023 or earlier. Only 2 reviews in the last 90 days.
- 🟡 Business description is 120 characters — should expand to the full 750
- 🟡 Holiday hours not set for the next 6 months
- 🟡 No Q&A seeded
- 🟢 NAP is consistent across Tier 1 directories (Google, Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps)
- 🔴 3 duplicate GBP listings from previous office addresses — need to be claimed and merged or removed

**Citations:** Listed on 12 of 30 top directories for plumbers in NYC metro. Gap of 18.

**Website:** Single-page homepage with no service pages. No location pages. No schema markup beyond basic Organization. Slow mobile load (LCP 4.2s). Not ranking for any commercial plumbing terms locally.

**Local link profile:** 8 referring domains, 0 from local news, 0 from community partnerships.

**Priority actions:**

1. **[Critical]** Resolve duplicate GBP listings. Merge or remove the 3 stale listings. This alone typically unlocks ranking improvements within 2-4 weeks.
2. **[Critical]** Populate GBP completely: secondary categories, full description, full services list with pricing ranges, holiday hours, Q&A seed.
3. **[Critical]** Photo uploads: schedule weekly photo captures from the field — real job sites, team members, before/after shots. Aim for 40+ authentic photos in 30 days.
4. **[High]** Review velocity: implement post-job review request process. Text link to GBP review short URL after every completed job. Target 10+ reviews per month going forward.
5. **[High]** Build service pages: 8 dedicated pages (emergency, drain cleaning, water heaters, pipe repair, fixture installation, sewer, commercial plumbing, leak detection).
6. **[High]** Add LocalBusiness + Service schema.
7. **[Medium]** Build 5 priority citations: Yelp update, Angi, HomeAdvisor, BBB, local chamber of commerce membership directory.
8. **[Medium]** GBP posts: 2 per week. Emergency plumbing service updates, seasonal reminders, completed job highlights.
9. **[Medium]** Local content: monthly blog on seasonal plumbing (winter pipe freezing, summer water heater issues).
10. **[Low, Experimental]** Local AEO: get brand mentioned on 2-3 Brooklyn neighborhood news sites via community involvement (sponsor a local event).

**90-day outcome expectation (directional):**
- Map pack rank for "plumber [neighborhood]" keywords: top 10 → top 3
- Direction requests from GBP: +50%
- Calls from GBP: +60-100%
- Reviews: from 2 in last 90d to 25+ in next 90d

## Guidelines

- **GBP is the highest-leverage asset in local SEO.** Spend more time on GBP than on the website for most local businesses — the map pack is where the traffic and conversions happen.
- **Primary category is the single most impactful field.** Choose the most specific, most accurate option — this signals intent match more strongly than any other GBP field.
- **Authentic photos beat stock photography** by a wide margin in both user engagement and (per Google's 2025 guidance) ranking signals.
- **Review velocity is the metric that matters.** Lifetime review count is vanity; recent review velocity is ranking. A 500-review business that stopped getting reviews is declining.
- **Never incentivize or fake reviews.** Google's detection is improving; violations trigger filtering and can lead to listing suspension.
- **NAP inconsistency is a common silent killer.** Audit it quarterly. Fix duplicates first — they damage more than missing listings do.
- **Do not create thin location pages.** A programmatic "we serve [city]" page with no unique content is a doorway page and can trigger manual action. Either invest in genuinely unique local content or don't create the page.
- **Local link building is community-first.** Sponsor, partner, donate, volunteer. The links follow. The opposite (outreach-first) rarely works locally.
- **Mobile-first is non-negotiable.** If your site takes 4 seconds to load on a phone, you've already lost the click. Load <3s is the expectation.
- **GBP posts are underrated.** Most businesses neglect them; the ones that post weekly see measurable engagement improvements. Budget 15 minutes per week.
- **Multi-location businesses need per-location content**, not templates. Templates get caught eventually and demoted.
- **Respond to every review** — the public-facing response is often read by more future customers than the review itself.
- **For local AEO, treat it as directional.** GBP, directory consistency, and review depth appear to help AI answer local queries, but the data is early. Do not invest heavily beyond the fundamentals until the landscape clarifies.
- **50% of all searches have local intent.** If you're working with a local business, local SEO is not optional — it's the main channel.

## Cross-skill handoffs

- **← seo-keyword-research:** Receive local keyword universe (city + service combinations, "near me" variations, neighborhood-specific terms).
- **← seo-technical-audit:** Receive mobile CWV findings and schema gaps specific to local pages.
- **← seo-onpage-optimization:** Hand off service pages and location pages for page-level optimization.
- **→ seo-link-building:** Hand off local link opportunities (chambers, sponsorships, partnerships).
- **→ seo-reporting:** Hand off GBP metrics, local pack rankings, and review velocity as tracked KPIs.