If you have time to fix exactly one thing about your local marketing this quarter, fix your Google Business Profile. It is free, it is the primary source Google uses to decide whether to show you in the local pack, it is one of the inputs ChatGPT and other AI assistants increasingly read when they recommend businesses, and it is almost universally underbuilt by local businesses in the Greenwich–Westchester corridor.

"Underbuilt" is generous. Most profiles we audit are 30–50 percent complete, with a primary category that is wrong, no secondary categories, services not enumerated, photos from 2019, no posts in over a year, attributes empty, and Q&A questions sitting unanswered for months. Each of those is a documented ranking signal. Fixing them moves rankings.

What we build during onboarding

  • Primary category set correctly. This is the single highest-impact field on the entire profile. Picking "Plumber" vs. "Drain cleaning service" vs. "Septic system service" can change your local pack positioning meaningfully. We audit your trade against the full taxonomy and pick the one that ranks you for the queries you want.
  • Every relevant secondary category added. Up to nine. We use them all when applicable.
  • Services enumerated individually, each with a clean description and (where applicable) a price or price range. Not "we do everything" — specific services that match how customers search.
  • Service area defined precisely to the zip codes you actually serve. Vague service areas dilute relevance scoring.
  • Photo library populated and tagged: exterior, interior, team, work-in-progress, finished projects, equipment, vehicles, logo. Real photos, not stock. Geotagged where possible.
  • Attributes set to match your category (women-owned, veteran-owned, free Wi-Fi, wheelchair accessible, kid-friendly, online booking, etc.). Each one is a small ranking and conversion signal.
  • Hours, holiday hours, special hours, and links all current and consistent with the rest of your web presence.

What we do weekly, in perpetuity

  • Posts: 1–3 per week. Offers, updates, events, new services, seasonal content. Google rewards profiles that stay fresh.
  • Photos: new uploads monthly, ideally from recent jobs.
  • Q&A: we monitor and respond within hours. We also seed the questions customers ask most often so the answers are pre-positioned.
  • Reviews: we monitor and respond to every one, positive and negative, within 24 hours.
  • Insights review: monthly we look at the GBP analytics (search queries, calls, direction requests, photo views) and tune.
  • Category and service refresh: quarterly, as Google adds new categories and you add new services.

What it costs

GBP management can be part of a broader local-marketing engagement or a lighter maintenance plan after the profile is rebuilt. Standalone GBP-only upkeep is available in the $200-$500/month range depending on posting cadence, photos, Q&A, services, and review response. The free visibility check includes a full GBP audit so you see exactly where yours stands today.

Get your free GBP audit

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