A clearer starting point for local search.

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Review a real customer journey

Start with one important service and a person who might need it. Follow the route from your business profile to the relevant page and enquiry method. The spreadsheet asks for a status, owner, evidence and next review date so a check becomes an actionable task. Use “needs work” or “not applicable” where that is more accurate than marking everything complete.

What the checklist covers

• Business accuracy: real-world name, category, location or service area, normal and special hours, and a working website link.
• Website usefulness: distinct service information, readable page titles, clear contact routes, descriptive internal links and a phone-width usability check.
• Trust and freshness: current photographs you can use, honest review invitations, appropriate replies and correction of outdated details.
• Measurement: an initial dated record, relevant queries and enquiries where tools are available, a change log and a review date.

Use the evidence column

Record the page or profile checked and what you found. For an illustrative service-area business, a useful note might be “website names Lake Country; profile service area needs owner confirmation.” The next action is to verify the actual coverage, not automatically add another location. Keep private customer information and account passwords out of the file.

Choose a small number of corrections you can finish, then verify them from the customer's perspective. Open the right page, follow the link and check the visible result. A submitted change or a saved draft is not always the same as an update a visitor can see.

Use current official guidance for policy questions

Check Google's business representation guidelines before changing profile identity or location details. Use its review guidance for review invitations and its SEO Starter Guide for website fundamentals. The checklist points to these sources so you can revisit the rules when needed.

Results vary with the query, location, competition and the usefulness of your information. Track evidence over comparable periods rather than treating completion of a checklist as proof of a ranking improvement. Do not create near-identical town pages or fictitious locations to fill perceived keyword gaps.