Google Business Profile and local visibility in 2025

• 9 Apr 2018|
• SEO|
• Posted by Martyn East

Have you got a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)? If not, you are losing local leads

Google Business Profile plays a direct role in how local businesses appear in search results and on Google Maps. If your profile is missing, poorly managed, or out of date, Google is far less likely to show your business when people search for services in your area.

This is not a theory. We see it daily when auditing local performance for clients. Two businesses can offer the same service in the same town, yet one appears consistently in map results while the other is effectively invisible. In most cases, the difference sits inside Google Business Profile.

What a Google Business Profile actually does

Google Business Profile controls how your business appears across Google Search and Google Maps. It provides Google with the core information it uses to decide whether your business is relevant for local searches.

This includes your location, service areas, opening hours, categories, reviews, images, and how people interact with your listing. Google assesses this information alongside your website to judge trust, relevance, and proximity. The platform was previously called Google My Business. The name has changed, but its influence on local visibility has increased.

Why this matters more now than it did in 2018

Local search has tightened. Google is far less forgiving of incomplete or inactive profiles than it was a few years ago.

Profiles that are not maintained gradually slip out of map results, local packs, and branded searches. Visibility rarely drops overnight. Instead, impressions reduce, calls slow, and competitors with better-managed profiles take the space.

At the same time, Google is giving more prominence to businesses that actively manage their listings. Regular updates, accurate service information, real photos, and review engagement all feed into how visible a business becomes. This is especially true for service-led industries, trade businesses, and location-based services.

The connection between your profile and your website

A common mistake is treating Google Business Profile as a standalone tool. It is not.

Google cross-checks your profile against your website content, contact details, service pages, and third-party listings. If your website says one thing and your profile says another, Google does not guess. It reduces trust.

When your profile and website work together, local rankings tend to stabilise. When they do not, performance becomes inconsistent and difficult to recover.

Reviews are no longer optional

Customer reviews influence visibility as well as trust. Google expects businesses to receive reviews and to respond to them.

A profile with unacknowledged reviews, especially negative ones, sends a signal that the business is inactive or disengaged. Responding properly shows that the business is real, current, and customer-facing. This directly affects click-through rates, call volume, and map visibility. Ignoring reviews is now a competitive disadvantage.

What actually improves Google Business Profile performance

Simply having a Google Business Profile is not enough to stay visible. Google looks for ongoing signals that show a business is active, accurate, and relevant to people searching locally. Profiles that perform well tend to reflect what is happening in the business right now, not what was true a year ago.

In practice, this means your profile needs to match your website, your services, and the way customers interact with you. When service information is unclear, images are outdated, or reviews go unanswered, Google quietly reduces exposure. The result is fewer map views, fewer calls, and less branded search visibility over time.

Well-maintained profiles support effective Google Business Profile optimisation by showing clear service information, real and recent imagery, regular engagement through reviews, and consistent business details across the web. These signals help Google decide which businesses are reliable enough to show when local intent is high. When those signals weaken, competitors with better-maintained profiles take the space.

About the Author – Martyn East

I’m an SEO Executive at Purplex. I help businesses improve Google Business Profile visibility and local search performance by fixing on-page issues, tightening location signals, and aligning content with how people actually search. If you want more calls and enquiries from local search, speak to our SEO services team. Connect with me on LinkedIn or read more of my articles: Martyn East.

Published on: 9 April 2018 at 08:30. Updated on: 5 January 2026 at 15:25 to reflect current Google Business Profile guidance and local SEO best practice.

This entry was posted in SEO