Your Google Business Profile is the most visible thing your small business has in local search. Before someone visits your website, reads your reviews, or calls your number, they see your Business Profile - and Google uses the quality of that profile to decide whether to show it at all.
Most Brisbane small businesses claim their profile, fill in the basics, and then ignore it. That’s enough to appear in search results sometimes. But the businesses that appear consistently - in the map pack at the top of the page, for multiple related searches, in multiple suburbs - are doing something more deliberate.
Google holds around 93% of Australia’s search engine market share, and 76% of people who search locally on mobile visit a business within a day. Your Google Business Profile is often the first and only impression you make before they decide whether to call or walk in. Here’s how to optimise it properly.
Why Google Business Profile Optimisation Matters for Local Rankings
Google uses your Business Profile as a primary signal for local search rankings. A complete, active, and accurate profile tells Google that your business is real, operating, and relevant to the search query. An incomplete or stale profile - missing category, no photos, no recent activity - signals the opposite.
There are three factors Google uses to rank local results:
- Relevance - does your profile match what the searcher is looking for?
- Distance - how far is the business from the searcher’s location?
- Prominence - how well-known and trustworthy does Google think the business is?
You have direct control over relevance and prominence through your profile. Distance is fixed. Google Business Profile optimisation is, in effect, improving every factor you can actually change.
A quick note on names: if you still call it Google My Business, you’re not alone. Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile in 2022, but it’s the same tool - so Google My Business optimisation and Google Business Profile optimisation mean exactly the same thing, and everything in this guide applies either way.
Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile
If you haven’t claimed your profile at business.google.com, that’s the first step. Search for your business name - Google may have already created a basic listing from publicly available data. If so, claim it. If not, create it from scratch.
Verification usually takes one of three forms:
- Phone or email verification - instant for most businesses
- Postcard verification - Google mails a code to your business address (5-7 days)
- Video verification - Google may request a short video of your premises
Until your profile is verified, it won’t appear in Maps results and you won’t be able to manage its content. Verification is the only prerequisite to everything else.
How to Choose the Right Google Business Profile Categories
Your primary category is the single most impactful decision in your entire Business Profile. It determines which searches your business is eligible to appear for.
Be as specific as possible. “Italian Restaurant” ranks better than “Restaurant.” “Emergency Plumber” ranks better than “Plumber.” “Personal Injury Lawyer” ranks better than “Lawyer.” Choose the most accurate, specific category for your primary service.
You can add up to nine secondary categories. Use these for genuine secondary services - a café that also does catering could add “Caterer.” A plumber who also does gas fitting could add “Gas Installation Service.” Don’t add categories that don’t reflect your actual services - this can trigger spam flags.
Check what categories your best-ranked competitors are using. If a competitor consistently appears above you and offers similar services, their primary category choice is worth examining.
Google Business Listing Optimisation: Complete Every Field
Google rewards completeness. A profile with every field filled in ranks higher than an identical business with gaps. Work through each section:
Business name - Use your exact trading name. No keywords stuffed in (“Smith Plumbing Brisbane 24/7 Emergency” violates guidelines and risks suspension). Just the name customers know.
Address and service area - If you serve customers at your location (retail, café, office), enter your address. If you’re a service-area business (tradie, mobile service), hide the address and define your service area by suburb or postcode instead. Don’t enter a residential address if you don’t see clients there.
Hours - Keep these accurate, including public holidays. Google shows “closing soon” warnings to searchers, and incorrect hours lead to bad reviews when someone arrives to a closed business.
Phone number - Use a local number with the area code if you have one. 07 numbers for Brisbane businesses signal local presence. Avoid 1300 or 1800 numbers as your primary contact.
Website - Link to your homepage, or to a specific location page if you have multiple branches.
Description - Write 250-750 characters describing what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different. Include your primary service and suburb naturally. This doesn’t directly affect rankings but does affect click-through rates when your profile appears.
Services and products - List your specific services with descriptions. This feeds into the relevance algorithm and also appears on your profile card.
Attributes - These vary by business type and include things like “Women-led business,” “Wheelchair accessible,” “Free WiFi,” or “Accepts Google Pay.” Fill in every applicable attribute.
Photos, Posts, and Regular Updates
Photos are one of the most underused ranking signals in Google Business Profile optimisation. Google data shows that businesses with more than 100 photos receive significantly more direction requests and website clicks than businesses with few or none. Add photos of:
- Your storefront or premises
- Your team (with their permission)
- Your work in progress and completed jobs
- Your products or service outcomes
- Any certifications, awards, or recognitions
Use real photos, not stock images. Google can detect stock imagery and it reduces trust signals. Add new photos monthly - an active profile signals an operating business.
Google Posts let you publish short updates directly to your profile. Use them for promotions, events, new services, or recent work. Posts expire after seven days by default, so publishing monthly is a minimum. Regular posting signals to Google that the business is active.
How to Get More Google Reviews - and How to Respond
Reviews directly affect your local ranking and your click-through rate. More reviews, and a higher average rating, correlate with better map pack visibility.
The most effective way to get more reviews: ask directly, at the right moment. For a trade business, that’s at job completion. For a retail or hospitality business, it’s when a customer expresses satisfaction. Send a follow-up text or email with a direct link to your review page (found in your Business Profile dashboard under “Get more reviews”).
Responding to every review is as important as getting them. Google treats response activity as a signal that the business is engaged. Respond to:
- Positive reviews - thank them specifically (not a generic “thanks for the review”), mention a detail
- Negative reviews - acknowledge the issue professionally, offer to resolve it offline, never argue
Businesses with 20+ recent reviews consistently outrank those with fewer, regardless of overall star rating. Recency matters - a flow of recent reviews beats a large volume of old ones.
Google Business Profile Optimisation Cost: What You Should Expect to Pay
DIY optimisation - free in cash, but time-intensive. Initial setup and optimisation takes 4-8 hours to do properly. Ongoing maintenance - responding to reviews, adding photos, publishing posts, updating information - takes around 1 hour per month.
Professional one-off optimisation - an agency or specialist will audit, complete, and optimise your profile for $500-$1,500 depending on scope. This includes category research, competitor analysis, full profile completion, photo guidance, and review strategy setup.
Ongoing management - if you want your profile actively managed (posts written, reviews responded to, updates made), expect $200-$400 per month in Brisbane. This is worthwhile when your business generates significant revenue from local search.
If you want to understand where your profile sits against best practice before spending anything, our free digital audit covers Google Business Profile as part of the review. For a full breakdown of pricing tiers, what you should get at each level, and the red flags to avoid, see our guide to Google Business Profile optimisation costs.
How Long Does Google Business Profile Optimisation Take to Show Results?
Most businesses see improvements in local search visibility within 4-8 weeks of a thorough profile optimisation. This is faster than most other SEO work because the changes are direct inputs into Google’s local ranking algorithm - not dependent on crawling delays or link building.
Review velocity and response activity accumulate over months. A profile that’s been consistently active for six months - regular posts, recent photos, ongoing review responses - will consistently outperform one that was optimised once and then abandoned.
For a broader view of your SEO foundations beyond your Business Profile, our small business SEO checklist covers all 30 items that affect your Google rankings.
If you’d like help optimising your Google Business Profile or improving your local search visibility in Brisbane or across Australia, get in touch to find out how YourStuff can help you today.
Photo by Steph Quernemoen on Unsplash
