When a profile audit makes sense
An audit is the right first step in four situations:
- Before you pay for ongoing work. An audit shows what actually needs fixing, so you do not pay for tasks that will not move results.
- After a sudden drop in calls, views or rankings. Drops usually have a specific cause, such as a category change, a suggested edit Google accepted, a duplicate listing or a suspension.
- After a move, rebrand or phone number change. These changes often leave old details scattered across Google and other sites.
- When a competitor overtakes you and you want to know what they are doing differently.
The audit covers one profile. If you have several locations, each one gets its own audit, because each competes in a different local market.
What we check
We review the profile in six areas. Each finding is recorded with evidence, such as a screenshot, so you can verify it yourself.
1. Ownership and access
We confirm who owns the profile and who has manager access. A surprising number of Phoenix businesses find that a former employee, a previous agency or a website builder still controls their listing. We list every user and recommend removing anyone who no longer needs access.
2. Guideline compliance
We check the profile against Google's guidelines for representing your business. The main risks are a name with added keywords, an address that is a virtual office or mailbox, a storefront address shown by a business that does not serve customers there, and categories that do not describe the business. Any one of these can cause a suspension, so they go to the top of the fix list.
3. Profile completeness and accuracy
We review every field: categories, services, hours, holiday hours, phone number, website link, attributes, description, opening date, photos and products. We note what is missing, what is wrong and what is weaker than it could be. We also check whether Google has accepted edits suggested by the public that changed your details without your knowledge.
4. Reviews
We look at total reviews, the average rating, how many arrived in the last 90 days, how quickly and how well the owner replies, and the words customers use most. We compare those numbers with the top three businesses in your local pack. A gap in recent reviews is one of the most common reasons an otherwise good profile falls behind.
5. Visibility across your service area
We run a rank grid for your main searches. A rank grid checks your position at many points spread across the area you serve, for example a 7 by 7 grid covering central Phoenix, or a wider grid that reaches from Peoria to Chandler. The result is a map that shows where you appear in the top three, where you drop lower, and where you do not appear at all.
6. Duplicates and consistency
We search for duplicate profiles under old names, addresses or phone numbers. We also check that your name, address and phone number match on your website and on major listings such as Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, Yelp and the Better Business Bureau. Mismatches here weaken trust in your details.
Competitor comparison
For each main search, we look at the three businesses in the local pack and record their primary and secondary categories, review counts and ratings, distance from the searcher, photo counts and the page their profile links to. This shows which gaps you can close and which advantages, such as a closer location, you cannot copy and must offset in other ways.
| What we compare | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Primary category | Shows which category Google rewards for the search |
| Review count and recency | A large gap in recent reviews often explains a ranking gap |
| Distance to searcher | Explains results you cannot change by editing the profile |
| Linked landing page | Shows whether competitors send profile visitors to a matching page |
| Service list | Reveals services they list that you offer but do not show |
What you receive
You receive a written report with three parts:
- A summary in plain language: what is working, what is broken and the three changes that will matter most.
- The findings, grouped by the six areas above, each with evidence.
- A fix list sorted by impact and effort. Fixes that remove suspension risk come first, then fixes that affect relevance, then improvements that take longer, such as reviews.
The fix list is written so your team can work through it on its own. If you prefer us to handle it, the fixes become the first month of profile optimization or ongoing management.
How we rank the fixes
Not every finding deserves the same attention. We score each one on two scales, impact and effort, then sort the list so the highest-impact, lowest-effort fixes come first.
| Priority | Type of fix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Urgent | Removes a suspension risk | Remove keywords added to the business name |
| High | Changes which searches you appear for | Switch to a more specific primary category |
| High | Corrects wrong information customers see | Fix hours, phone number or a wrong address pin |
| Medium | Strengthens trust and choice | Reply to old reviews, add real photos |
| Ongoing | Builds prominence over time | Start a review request process for every job |
Urgent fixes protect the listing itself. A suspended profile disappears from Maps and the local pack until it is reinstated, so no other improvement matters until that risk is gone. High-priority fixes change visibility. Medium and ongoing fixes improve how many viewers become customers and how well the profile holds its position over the following months.
How a profile audit differs from a full local SEO audit
A profile audit looks at the listing and the signals closest to it. A local SEO audit goes wider: it also covers your website's location and service pages, technical issues, citations across the web, links and lead tracking. If the profile audit finds that the profile is in good shape but you still are not ranking, the cause is usually one of those wider factors.
What a typical audit finds
Every profile is different, but certain findings come up again and again in Phoenix audits:
- A primary category that is too broad for the business's main service.
- Fewer than half the business's real services listed.
- Hours that were never updated for summer schedules or holidays.
- Reviews left without replies for months.
- An old phone number still showing on directories, linked to a previous office.
- A website link pointing to a page with no mention of the service area.
Most of these take minutes to fix once found. The value of the audit is finding them all and fixing them in the right order.
How long it takes and what we need
We need manager access to your profile, a list of the services you offer, the areas you serve and the searches you care most about. Manager access lets us see the performance data while you stay the owner, and you can remove us at any time. If you are unsure which searches matter, we use your call history and Google's own performance data to choose them.
We agree on a delivery date before the audit starts. The findings are walked through on a short call, so you can ask questions before deciding what to do next.
Self-check before you book
If you want a quick look on your own first, open your profile and ask:
- Does the business name match your sign exactly, with nothing added?
- Is the primary category the most specific one that fits your main service?
- Are all your real services listed under Services?
- Did you receive and reply to reviews in the last month?
- Do your hours, including holiday hours, match reality?
If you answered no to any of these, the profile has room to improve, and a full audit will find the rest.