GEO · Local Google Business Profile optimisation: the basis for local AI recommendations

Why the profile matters for AI answers

Questions like “Which dentist in Manchester is open on Saturdays?” or “Good joiner near Bath?” have a local core. Google answers them with the map, business profiles and more and more often an AI Overview. Other AI systems rely on map services, directories and review sites. Your Google Business Profile is the most widely read source for your basic details.

A complete, up-to-date profile ensures that your name, address, opening hours, services and reviews arrive correctly wherever an answer is created. An outdated profile, on the other hand, spreads wrong information.

How Google ranks local results

In its help pages, Google names three factors for local ranking:

• Relevance: how well does the profile match the search? Complete, accurate details on category and services help.
• Distance: how far is the location from the searcher or from the place mentioned? You cannot influence this.
• Prominence: how well known is the business? This includes links from other websites and the number and rating of reviews.

The checklist: ten points

• The profile is verified, and you have access yourself, not only a former agency.
• The business name is your real name, without added keywords or slogans.
• The primary category fits exactly, and additional categories cover further services.
• Address or service area, phone number and website match your website.
• Opening hours are up to date, including bank holidays and closures.
• Services and products are listed individually with short, clear descriptions.
• The description says in a few sentences what you offer, for whom and where.
• Recent photos show your team, premises, vehicles or work.
• New reviews come in regularly, and each one gets a reply.
• Questions and posts on the profile are answered and kept current.

How to get more reviews

1. Choose the right moment: ask for a review straight after a successful job, when satisfaction is highest.
2. Make it easy: Google provides a link and a QR code that lead directly to the review form. Use them in emails, on invoices and on site.
3. Ask everyone, not just happy customers: collecting reviews only from selected customers distorts the picture and breaks the rules of many platforms.
4. Give nothing in return: Google explicitly prohibits discounts, gifts or prize draws for reviews, including for changing or removing negative reviews.
5. Reply to every review: briefly, personally and factually. With criticism, you show how you handle problems. Future customers read along.

Do not forget the other profiles

Google is not the only source. Keep the same details in:

• Bing Places: the basis for Bing, Microsoft Copilot and other services that use the Bing index.
• Apple Business Connect: for Apple Maps and Siri.
• Industry directories and professional bodies: for example trade association listings, medical and legal registers or trade portals.
• Review sites in your industry: wherever your customers actually compare.

What matters is not the number of listings but that they match. One wrong entry in a widely read directory can do more harm than ten missing ones. So check your ten most important listings once a year and keep a note of where you have login details and who manages them.

Common mistakes

• Keywords in the business name: “Example Ltd Electrician Leeds Cheap” breaks Google’s guidelines and can lead to suspension.
• Duplicate profiles: after a move or a name change, the old profile lives on and confuses customers and machines.
• Wrong category: a primary category that is too general costs relevance for specific searches.
• Unanswered criticism: a negative review without a reply looks worse than the review itself.

When help pays off

You can work through the checklist yourself. Help pays off with several locations, after a move with many outdated listings or when you want to know which directories AI systems actually cite in your industry. The Location Analysis for €229 plus VAT shows exactly that. We sort out profiles and directories as part of our GEO work from €390 plus VAT. More on generative engine optimization page.