- Owner
- Listings lead
- Cadence
- Monthly check, plus any change to the fact sheet
- Time box
- Two hours per location
- Output
- Match sheet and change log
Why the Google profile comes first
Google Business Profile is the record Google shows in Maps and local results, and it is the record Google's own assistants lean on. Gemini draws on Google's index and Business Profile data when it names local businesses, and AI Overviews for a local question often summarize the same places that appear on the map. A profile with the wrong hours or a vague category hands those systems a weak or contradictory fact at the start of every answer.
The profile is also the easiest listing to get right, because Google exposes nearly every field to the owner. That makes it the place to set the pattern the other listings copy.
Confirm ownership before editing
Sign in with the account that owns the profile and confirm the business is verified. If nobody at the business has owner access, request it through Google's own ownership process; do not create a second profile, because duplicates split reviews and confuse the record. Add the listings lead as a manager so edits do not depend on one person's login. Write the owner and manager addresses on the fact sheet.
The field match sheet
Work down the sheet one field at a time with the fact sheet open beside it. Tick the last column only when the two values are identical, character for character.
| Field on Google | Copy from the fact sheet | Watch for | Match? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business name | The legal or storefront name | Added city names or service keywords, which Google's guidelines prohibit | ☐ |
| Primary category | The one category that best describes the core service | A broad category where a specific one exists, such as a general contractor listed in place of a roofing contractor | ☐ |
| Additional categories | Up to nine more, only for services actually offered | Categories added for reach that the business does not do | ☐ |
| Address or service area | Street address, or the list of cities served for businesses that travel to customers | Service-area businesses showing a home address | ☐ |
| Hours and special hours | Regular hours plus every holiday on the calendar | Holiday closures left blank, which reads as open | ☐ |
| Phone and website | The fact sheet number and the canonical URL | Call-tracking numbers that differ from every other listing | ☐ |
| Services and products | Each service from the fact sheet, with its one-line description | Empty sections | ☐ |
| Description | Up to 750 characters: what the business does, for whom, where | Slogans with no facts in them | ☐ |
| Attributes | Every attribute that is true: accessibility, payment, languages, amenities | Attributes left unanswered | ☐ |
Procedure
- Screenshot the current profile
Capture every section before touching anything, and file it as the starting state with today's date.
- Fix identity fields first
Name, category and address or service area go first because Google may ask for re-verification when they change. Make those edits in one session.
- Fill the service detail
Add services in the wording customers use. A dentist writes "emergency dental visits" and "Invisalign," which is how patients ask.
- Set the calendar
Enter special hours for every holiday in the next twelve months. Assistants answering "open on Sunday?" read these.
- Add photos with context
Upload current photos of the storefront, the team and the work. Name the files plainly before upload.
- Log and wait
Write each edit into the change log. Google reviews some edits before they go live; check again after three business days and note the result.
CHANGE LOG ENTRY
Write one line per edit, in this order: date, platform, field, old value, new value, who made the change, and the fact sheet version it follows. Example: 2026-11-03 · Google · Special hours · blank · Closed 27 Nov · listings lead · fact sheet v3
After the edits go live
Search for the business by name in Google Maps on a phone and on a desktop, logged out, and compare what shows with the fact sheet. Then ask Gemini one panel question that should name the business and note whether the description uses the new facts. The full measurement waits for the monthly re-test, but a quick check catches edits Google rejected.
Watch for suggested edits from the public. Google sometimes applies changes proposed by users or pulled from other sources. A monthly look at the profile, with the match sheet in hand, catches these before they spread to answers. If an edit reappears after correction, the source is usually another listing still carrying the old value, which the directories SOP finds.
Done when
How this fits the agency's service
Bay Area AEO's entity and listing cleanup makes a business's name, hours, services and details consistent everywhere AI looks, and Google is the first place it looks. The same match sheet then runs against Bing, Apple Maps and Yelp in the next three procedures.
Choosing categories
The primary category decides which searches the profile is eligible for, so choose it from what customers ask. A Walnut Creek practice that does mostly cosmetic work picks the dermatologist category that matches its license and adds cosmetic services under Services, where the wording can follow the prompt panel. Re-read the category list each quarter; Google adds new categories, and a closer match may appear.