The profile is the ranking entity for local queries, not the website. Most profiles are half-filled and mis-categorised, and the primary category alone decides which query set the listing is even eligible for. This skill rebuilds the profile around that eligibility rather than around completeness for its own sake.
google-business-profile-optimisation.md
---
name: google-business-profile-optimisation
description: Use when a business is visible on its own site but absent or weak in the map pack, and the profile has been left on whatever defaults were set when it was claimed.
---
# Google Business Profile optimisation
The profile is the ranking entity for local queries, not the website. Most profiles are half-filled and mis-categorised, and the primary category alone decides which query set the listing is even eligible for. This skill rebuilds the profile around that eligibility rather than around completeness for its own sake.
## What you need first
- Admin access to the Google Business Profile
- The current primary and secondary categories
- A list of the services and queries the business actually wants to win
- Competitor profiles ranking in the target map pack
## Method
1. Extract the primary category of the top three map pack results for each target query. If yours differs from all of them, no other optimisation will compensate.
2. Set one primary category that matches the highest-value query set, then add secondary categories only for services you genuinely deliver - each extra category dilutes relevance and invites suspensions.
3. Fill the services and products sections with named entries that match query language, since these are indexed text and most profiles leave them empty.
4. Set the service area or the address, never both loosely: a storefront with a hidden address and a 50-mile radius is treated as a service-area business and loses storefront proximity weight.
5. Add photos with real EXIF-free originals rather than stock, and keep opening hours and special hours accurate - hours contradicted by user reports trigger a confidence drop.
6. Track map pack position from several points across the service area on a grid, not from one office postcode, because a single-point rank tells you nothing about coverage.
## What this produces
A rebuilt profile with a justified primary category, populated services, and a baseline grid of map pack positions across the service area.
## Where this goes wrong
- Stuffing keywords into the business name, which is the fastest route to a suspension and to competitor redressal reports
- Adding every plausible secondary category, which spreads relevance instead of concentrating it
- Judging results from one location, where proximity flatters the ranking
---
From the QuQi skill library - https://www.quqi.io/skills/google-business-profile-optimisation
Free to download · no account, no email
A rebuilt profile with a justified primary category, populated services, and a baseline grid of map pack positions across the service area.