Google Business Profile audit: a field-by-field checklist
A Google Business Profile audit is a pass over every field of the listing, comparing what Google shows customers with what is true today and with what Google’s guidelines allow. Open the public listing in a private window, not your dashboard, and read it the way a customer would. Check the name, categories, address, phone, website, hours, services and attributes in that order, then look for duplicate listings. It takes under an hour for one location, and most profiles turn up at least one field that is wrong or has quietly drifted.
The reason to audit the public view is simple. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results, and that an inaccurate profile might not show up for relevant searches in your area (Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”, as of October 2026). Your dashboard shows what you last saved. The public listing shows what Google decided to display, and those two can differ.
This guide is for an owner auditing their own listing and for a freelancer or agency auditing a new client before quoting. If you want the wider checklist that also covers reviews, the website and rankings, see the free local SEO audit. This one goes deeper on the profile itself.
Before you start: set up the audit
Three minutes of preparation make the rest faster.
- Write down the truth first. On a sheet of paper or in a note, list the legal-world facts: the name on your signage, the street address, the phone number you answer, the website you want customers on, and your real opening hours including next month’s holidays. This is your reference. You compare the profile against it, not against memory.
- Open the listing as a stranger. Search for the business name and city in a private browser window, so you see the public result and not the owner view. Do it on a phone as well, because most local searches happen there.
- Keep a simple table. One row per field, one column for what Google shows, one for what is true, one for the verdict.
| Field | What Google shows | What is true | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | |||
| Primary category | |||
| Address or service area | |||
| Phone | |||
| Website | |||
| Hours, including holidays | |||
| Services and attributes |
Check 1: the business name
Google asks you to represent the business as it is consistently shown in the real world, across signage, stationery and other branding. Its guidelines say that including unnecessary information in the name isn’t permitted and could result in the suspension of the profile, and they list phone numbers and website addresses among the things that do not belong in it (as of October 2026).
What to look for:
- A name that differs from your signage, for example with a keyword or a city added.
- A phone number, URL or tagline inside the name.
- An old name left over from a rebrand.
If the name is wrong, the fix is an edit to the profile. The steps and the cases where Google refuses are in how to change a business name on Google.
Check 2: categories
Categories tell Google what you are, so they matter more than most owners expect. The guidelines ask you to use as few categories as possible to describe the core business, choosing ones that are as specific as possible while still representing your main business. They also say that all locations of a business must share the one category that best represents it.
What to look for:
- A primary category that is broader or different from what you mainly sell.
- A long list of secondary categories added in the hope of ranking for more searches.
- Locations of the same brand with different primary categories.
Categories are also one of the fields that can change without you touching them. A suggestion from the public can swap one, which is why an audit that checks it once is only a snapshot.
Check 3: address or service area
Google’s guidelines call for a precise, accurate address and say that P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren’t acceptable. If you travel to customers instead of receiving them, the profile uses a service area, and the same accuracy rule applies to it.
What to look for:
- An old address after a move.
- A pin on the map that sits on the wrong building or the wrong side of the street.
- A service area that lists towns you no longer cover, or omits the ones you do.
A wrong address sends customers to the wrong door, so it is the field to fix first. The full process is in how to change a business address on Google.
Check 4: phone and website
The guidelines ask for a phone number that connects to your individual business location, or a website that represents your individual business location. For a multi-location business, that means the profile of one branch should not point at a head-office switchboard or a generic home page if the branch has its own.
What to look for:
- A phone number that rings a call centre, a former owner or nobody.
- A number on the listing that differs from the one on your website.
- A website link that returns an error, redirects to an old domain or lands on the wrong page.
Click the website link and call the number yourself. It takes one minute and finds the most expensive errors on the profile.
Check 5: hours, including the odd days
Hours are the field customers act on most directly. A listing that says open when you are closed costs a wasted trip and often a one-star review.
What to look for:
- Regular hours that no longer match, especially after a seasonal change.
- Holiday and special hours that were never set, or were set last year and never cleared.
- A listing marked closed, temporarily or permanently, when you are open.
Compare each day against your reference sheet, not just today. The steps to fix them are in how to update business hours on Google.
Check 6: services, attributes and description
Google’s ranking tips list details such as parking or Wi-Fi availability among the information that makes a profile complete, and suggest keeping the hours, address and category up to date as well (as of October 2026). Attributes and services are the fields most often left empty.
What to look for:
- Empty services, or services you stopped offering.
- Attributes that are wrong, such as a claim of wheelchair access you cannot support.
- A description that is a list of promotions or prices. Google’s guidelines say the description should not focus on special promotions, prices and sales, and should describe the products, services, mission and history instead.
Check 7: duplicates
The guidelines say there should only be one profile per business, as more can cause problems with how your information displays on Google Maps and Search. Search for your phone number and your old address as well as your name, because duplicates often carry an earlier name or a previous location.
What to look for:
- A second listing at the same address with a slightly different name.
- A listing for a previous location that still shows as open.
- A listing created by a former employee or agency that nobody manages.
Score the audit and fix in order
Fix by cost to the customer, not by how easy the edit is.
| Priority | Fields | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First | Address, phone, hours, website | A mistake here sends a customer to the wrong place or to nobody |
| Second | Name, primary category | They decide what Google thinks you are |
| Third | Services, attributes, description | They make the listing complete |
| Last | Duplicates | Slow to resolve, so start early and let it run |
Every edit you make goes through Google’s review before it shows, so give it time and recheck the public view afterwards. The guide to editing business information on Google covers how long it takes and how to see the status.
Why one audit is not enough
An audit is a photograph. Google also updates profiles from other sources and from suggestions by the public, so a field you verified on Monday can be different on Friday. If you suggest an edit yourself, you know how easy that is for anyone with a Google account.
Three ways to catch drift, from free to automatic:
| Method | Cost | What it catches | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeat the audit monthly | Your time | Anything you check carefully | Changes between audits |
| Google’s own notifications | Free, once the profile is verified | Suggested edits Google asks you to review | Updates Google applies without asking |
| Listing Guard | A small monthly rate per listing | A change to the name, categories, address, phone, website or hours, with the before and after | Photos, services and description. It alerts after the change, and it cannot tell who made it |
Listing Guard works from the public listing, so you search for the business by name and city and pick the Google listing, with no Google sign-in. The first check records the listing as it is. A check every 24 hours compares against that record, and when anything moved you get one email with each field, what it said before and what it says now. That is an audit of the six fields that matter most, run daily without you. It does not stop a wrong edit from appearing, so you still fix the field in Google Business Profile yourself. See pricing for the current rate.
When the manual audit is enough
Do it by hand and skip any tool if:
- You manage one listing and you look at it anyway every week.
- Your details rarely change, and you have never found a surprise on the profile.
- You are auditing a prospect once, to show them what is wrong, and will not be watching it afterwards.
Add a monitor when you look after several listings, when a wrong phone number or closed-on-Saturday would cost you real business, or when the first audit turned up a change you did not make.
Quick checklist
- Write the true name, address, phone, website and hours down first.
- Read the public listing in a private window, on a phone too.
- Name: matches your signage, with no phone, URL or tagline inside.
- Categories: as few as possible, specific, and the primary one correct.
- Address: precise, no P.O. box, pin on the right building.
- Phone and website: call the number, click the link.
- Hours: every day, plus holidays.
- Services and attributes filled in, description without promotions or prices.
- One profile per business: search your phone number and old address for duplicates.
- Repeat monthly, or get told the day a field changes.