Map Labs has audited more than 10,000 businesses over the years, and almost none of them were getting full value out of their Maps profiles. Not because their teams weren’t working hard, but because nobody told them what the channel actually rewards.
We know what it rewards. Below are the five moves we’d make first to maximize your profile performance – the same ones we use to turn visitors into customers.
TL;DR: Your Google Business Profile is the easiest win in local marketing – the highest-traffic, highest-intent page your business already owns. Most businesses set them up once and move on, leaving customers (and growth) on the table. This post walks through five simple ways to fix that, with no extra budget or resources.
What you’ll learn:
- Who’s actually on your profile (and why)
- How to show up in more searches
- What moves the needle the most on your profile
- Why replying to every review matters
- And the metrics you should be paying attention to
Why most businesses leave growth on the table
Many businesses overlook their Google Maps profile for one simple reason: you can win on Maps by default. People are already finding you; they can get to your business. That makes it look like the profile is handled, doing its job – so you move on to the things that feel like they need more work: social, ads, your website.
But there’s a big difference between being found and being chosen. The profiles that just “work” are usually the ones with the most growth still sitting in them, unnoticed. That’s the opportunity: real growth, waiting to be turned into more customers.
Here’s how to make sure you’re not just found, but chosen.
1. Know who’s actually on your profile
Most assume that the people landing on their GBP are already sold, just looking for directions or hours.
But think about how you actually use Maps. How often do you open it already knowing exactly where you’re going? Most of the time, you know what you need: a coffee shop, a dentist, a place for dinner, but not who you’re choosing yet. And the times you do know? If a profile looks empty and vague, do you still trust that business?
Most of the people landing on your profile – around 75% – are in discovery mode. They typed “coffee near me” or “urgent care near me,” and they’re deciding between you and everyone else that showed up in that search.
So your profile isn’t a confirmation screen for people who already picked you. It’s where they decide if they pick you (or don’t).
The real measure isn’t “are people finding me?” You already know they are. It’s “when they find me, do they choose me?“
You can’t answer that until you know who’s showing up and why. Map Labs pulls real search data from Google, so you can see exactly what people are searching when they land on your profile, and build everything else around it.
This is the foundation. Everything below works better when you know who’s showing up.
🎥 Watch the video below to learn more about your Maps audience:
2. Fix your categories
Categories are the number one ranking factor, and your primary category carries about twice the weight of every additional category combined with it. It’s the single most consequential field on your profile, and it’s the one most businesses get wrong.
Your primary category decides which searches you’re eligible for. Change a profile from dentist to restaurant and the searches Google shows you for change completely. That’s why it matters so much. Not because the right category floats you to the top, but because it decides which races you’re entered in.
So pick your primary for reach, not for how perfectly it describes you. Most people searching Google haven’t decided what they want yet. “Restaurant” gets searched far more than “Mexican restaurant.” “Laundry” gets searched more than “laundromat.” Run your options through Google Trends, compare search interest over the last few years, and set the highest-volume category that still describes your business as your primary category. Then use the other nine to get specific.
You get 10 categories total, one primary and nine additional. Most businesses use one or two. Every relevant category you add is another set of searches you can show up for. A dentist who adds cosmetic dentist, teeth whitening service, and emergency dental service becomes visible to people they were missing entirely.
🚨 Only add categories you could actually win. If someone searching that term saw your profile, would they choose you? If yes, add it. If not, leave it. Categories you can’t convert won’t help you, and they can make you look less relevant for the ones that count.
- Not sure which categories fit your business? That’s exactly the kind of thing our team of experts can identify in our free GBP Analysis.
3. Add photos, posts, and complete your menus and services
Once your categories are right, this is where you extend the gap between you and the competition.
Here are the three things that move the needle most:
- Photos – fresh, plentiful photos give someone a reason to choose you over the listing next to yours with three blurry shots from 2019. Google also reads the objects and keywords in your images, so what you post (and how often) signals freshness and shapes how visible your profile is.
- Posts – publish consistently. Every post tells Google that your profile is active, and gives customers more reasons to pick you today: offers, happy hour, whatever sets you apart. You can even set recurring posts so your profile stays fresh without the manual work.
- Menu and services – not just filled in, but complete and accurate. List every service you offer and every item, with descriptions. This is what someone scans right before they decide, and half-built menus lose the sale. Plus, when you don’t manage your menu, Google or customers can fill the gaps, and if they add the wrong information, it can hurt your business.
Don’t just check the box – get the most out of it. Most profiles are technically complete and still forgettable. The businesses that win treat every detail on their profile as a chance to be the obvious choice the moment a customer is comparing.
4. Generate and reply to reviews – all of them
Everyone knows reviews matter. More reviews, more trust. So getting them comes down to one thing: asking. Most businesses are just afraid to. But the people who love you will leave a review if you ask, and it won’t change how they feel about you. Ask consistently, ask close to the experience, and you’ll get them.
Here’s the part almost everyone misses: responding to reviews is a ranking factor. Response ratio and response time are baked into how Google sorts and surfaces your reviews – and most businesses skip it entirely.
And there’s a trap in how they skip it. They only reply to negative reviews, because those feel urgent. But since replying to a review can boost how prominently it shows, replying only to the bad ones can push them to the top of your reviews section, making a great business look like they have more negative reviews than they actually do.
So, the rule is simple: reply to every review. Positive, negative, neutral. Old ones and new ones. A five-star reviewer wants to know you saw them. A future customer wants to see you’re paying attention. Aim for a 100% response rate – it’s a signal to the algorithm and to every person reading before they decide.
🎥 Learn how to respond to reviews in the video below:
5. Measure what actually matters
You can’t improve what you don’t measure, and businesses are often measuring the wrong thing: where they “rank.” But rank tracking is an outdated and unreliable way to measure profile performance. It moves constantly, it’s different for every searcher, and it never tells you whether anyone actually did anything.
Actions tell you that. Direction requests that become foot traffic. Phone calls that turn into leads. Bookings, reservations, website clicks. Those are the moments your profile earns you a customer, and they’re what you should be watching closely.
The average profile converts about 5% of its views into actions. A well-optimized one hits 10% or more. That gap is the opportunity: the same traffic you already have, twice the customers, just by making the profile better at converting the people already looking.
Optimize for actions instead of rankings, and the results show up in the real world. Arc’teryx grew direction requests 42% across 75 locations with Map Labs, from 281,000 to 399,000 over a six-month period compared to the same six months a year earlier. That number isn’t an arbitrary (and inaccurate) ranking. It’s people walking through the door.
🎥 See how Arc’teryx turned Maps optimization into real store visits:
- Learn more about the Map Labs Coaching program.
Leveraging Your Most Visible Landing Page
None of these five changes require a bigger budget or another hire. They’re not about building something new; they’re about getting more out of the most valuable asset you already own.
Because that’s what your Google Business Profile is: your highest-traffic, highest-intent landing page. It gets around 10x more views than your website. More customers act on it than any social channel – with 200x more engagement than your social channels. And most businesses are running their Maps profile at a fraction of what they could.
You wouldn’t leave your best landing page half-built. Why leave your profile that way?
That’s how you turn the easiest win in local marketing into your biggest one.
🎥 Watch the video below to understand why your profile is your highest-performing landing page:
Not sure where to start? We’re here to help
You don’t have to figure it out alone. Map Labs can show you exactly where your profile is leaving customers behind: the categories you’re missing, the ones you’re invisible for, and the actions you’re not converting.
- Get started with a free Google & Apple Maps Analysis – our team will show you what’s working, what’s missing, and where your growth is hiding.
- Want to learn it yourself? Our free GBP Masterclass walks you through every part of your Google Business Profile step by step.
Either way, you’ll walk away knowing how to turn your easiest marketing win into your biggest one.
Want to know more?
🎥 Watch the videos below!
