Google Business Profile (GMB) Guide 2026: Remove Negative Reviews, Improve Local Ranking & Post Updates That Convert

If a friend tells you "your GMB looks bad," they mean Google Business Profile. Google renamed it in late 2021, but most owners, marketers, and even Google support agents still say GMB. The dashboard says Google Business Profile. Search volume in India still leans toward "GMB." Five years on, the rebrand is half-landed at best.

This guide walks through three things every business owner asks about Google Business Profile, in roughly the order they start asking:

1. How do I get a fake or unfair negative review taken down?
2. How do I rank higher when someone searches for what I sell near me?
3. How do I use posts to actually bring in customers, instead of filling space?

We have helped clients across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and as far as London and New Jersey clean up their profiles since the GMB days. A lot of what is written about this topic online has been recycled from 2018. Local search has changed since then. Here is what works in 2026.

A quick word on the GMB vs Google Business Profile naming

There is no functional difference. GMB was the old "Google My Business" app and dashboard. Google killed the standalone app, folded the management interface into Google Search and Maps, and renamed it to Google Business Profile (GBP) in November 2021.

Today, you manage your profile by:

• Searching your business name on Google while logged in as the owner. The management panel appears at the top of the search results.
• Or searching "my business" while logged in.
• The old business.google.com URL still redirects to a basic dashboard that handles bulk management for chains.

Same data, same reviews, same posts, different name and a different way in. Most of this guide says Google Business Profile, but if your team calls it GMB, fine. We will too in places.

Why your profile matters more in 2026 than it ever has

For most local businesses today, the GBP profile does more work than the website does. A few reasons:

• AI Overviews lean heavily on local results. When Google's AI Overview answers "best chartered accountant in Hyderabad," it pulls from Business Profiles first, not random websites.
• Maps gets more traffic than most home pages. A typical local business in India sees 5 to 10 times more views on its Google Maps listing than on its website home page. Most owners do not realise this.
• Voice search and Gemini both pull from GBP. "Hey Google, find a 24-hour clinic near me" returns Profile results, not website results.
• Zero-click searches. A growing share of customers get your phone number, address, and hours directly from Google without ever clicking through to your site. The profile IS the customer experience for them.

If your profile is incomplete, has fake one-star reviews, or has not been touched in a year, you are invisible exactly where customers are looking for you. Now to the three problems.

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PART 1: How to remove a negative Google review

This is the question we get asked most, usually with some urgency. Someone has posted a one-star review that is fake, written by a competitor, or written by a person who was never even a customer. Sometimes it is a real customer who has been unfairly harsh. Either way, it is hurting business and the owner wants it gone yesterday.

Here is the honest answer most blogs will not give upfront: Google rarely removes reviews. Their default position is that reviews represent the customer's opinion and stay up unless they clearly break a specific rule. Knowing what those rules are, and how to argue the case, is most of the battle.

When Google WILL remove a review

Google publishes a list of prohibited content. A review qualifies for removal only if it falls into one of these categories:

1. Fake engagement — the reviewer was paid, incentivised, or never actually visited
2. Spam — the same review posted multiple times, irrelevant content, or auto-generated text
3. Off-topic — talking about something unrelated to the business (politics, the owner's religion, a product the business does not sell)
4. Restricted content — alcohol, gambling, regulated medical claims, weapons
5. Illegal content — anything against the law in the country the business operates in
6. Sexually explicit content — obvious
7. Offensive content — slurs, harassment, hate speech
8. Dangerous and derogatory content — threats, encouragement of self-harm or violence
9. Impersonation — the reviewer pretending to be someone they are not (a different person, a brand, a public figure)
10. Conflicts of interest — current or former employees, owners reviewing their own business, competitors reviewing yours

Notice what is NOT on this list: "the review is unfair," "the customer is wrong," "this hurt my feelings," "we offered a refund." None of those qualify, no matter how much you want them to.

So before you flag a review, identify which of the 10 categories you are claiming. If it is none of them, save your energy for responding well instead.

Step by step: how to flag a review for Google to look at

The flagging process is short. The arguing that comes after can take weeks.

Step 1. Find the review on Google Maps. Open Google Maps on a desktop browser. Search your business. Click the Reviews tab. Find the review you want flagged.

Step 2. Click the three-dot menu. Next to the review, click the three vertical dots and choose "Report review" (sometimes labelled "Flag as inappropriate").

Step 3. Pick the violation category. Pick the closest match from the list, and only from the list. If you say "off-topic" when it is actually impersonation, the reviewer at Google will not reinterpret your reason for you.

Step 4. Wait. Google's automated systems scan it within hours. If they agree it is a clear violation, the review disappears within a few days. If they do not act, you escalate.

When the first flag fails: the manual escalation path

This is the bit most blog posts skip. The vast majority of legitimate flag requests get auto-rejected the first time. Here is how to escalate properly.

Option A. Submit a manual review through GBP support.

1. Go to support.google.com/business
2. Click "Contact us"
3. Choose "Customer reviews and photos" and then "Manage customer reviews"
4. Select your business from the dropdown
5. Pick "Email" or "Chat." Chat is faster, email creates a paper trail.
6. Provide the direct link to the review, a screenshot, the exact prohibited-content category you are claiming, and specific evidence. Something like "this person was never a customer; attached enquiry log shows no record of this name or email" is the kind of thing that lands.

Option B. Use the legal removal tool.

For reviews that are defamatory, infringe a trademark, or violate Indian IT Act provisions, use the Google legal removal request form. This is a separate path from the standard review flag. It goes to Google's legal team rather than the consumer support team, and they take it more seriously.

What works in a legal request:

• Cite the specific law (Section 79 of India's IT Act, defamation under IPC Section 499/500, or applicable trademark act)
• Include identifying details if you can prove the reviewer is a competitor or impersonator
• Attach any cease-and-desist correspondence you have already sent
• Be specific about the false statement. "The review claims we sold them counterfeit goods, which is factually false; here is our sales record showing they never purchased from us" works far better than "the review is wrong."

Option C. Court order (last resort, India-specific).

If a reviewer is making false, defamatory claims and Google will not remove it through the routes above, you can file a defamation suit and obtain a court order to compel removal. This is expensive and slow, but it works. We have seen it used successfully against organised review-bombing campaigns where the same actor leaves false reviews across multiple competing businesses.

What to do when the review is real and just unflattering

Most of the time the review is real. The customer had a bad experience. Maybe it was your fault, maybe it was not, but they are allowed to write what they wrote. In that case the goal is not removal. It is response.

A response template that works:

Hi [Name], thanks for taking the time to share this. I am sorry [specific thing] did not go well. That is not the experience we want anyone to have. [Brief acknowledgement of what went wrong, without making excuses]. We have [specific action you have taken or will take]. If you are open to it, please reach out at [direct email or phone] so we can make it right. — [Your name], [Your role]

Things that work in this template:

• Personal name in the response, not "Team [Brand]"
• Acknowledgement of the specific issue, not generic "we are sorry"
• A concrete action you have taken (changed a process, retrained someone, refunded, replaced)
• An offline channel for follow-up that keeps the conversation off Google
• Owner-level signature, which signals you take it seriously

Things that do not work and actively make it worse:

• Arguing with the reviewer in public
• Calling them a liar
• Posting a long defence of your business
• Asking them to remove the review (Google may flag this as review-gating)
• Copy-paste responses, which other readers will spot

A good owner response to a bad review can do more for your conversion rate than removing it. Customers do not expect every review to be 5 stars. They DO judge how you respond when things go wrong.

Burying negative reviews with positive ones

If a review cannot be removed and the response is in place, your next move is to push it down with volume. Google's review feed defaults to "Most relevant," but the most recent reviews carry weight too.

Practical tactics:

• Ask every happy customer for a review at the moment they are happiest. Right after a successful project handover, right after a meal they enjoyed, right after a problem you solved. Do not wait a week.
• Send a direct review link, not "search for us on Google." Generate your short link from the GBP dashboard. It looks like g.page/r/yourBusiness/review. One tap, the review form opens.
• Make it part of your delivery process. Bake the review request into invoices, follow-up emails, and WhatsApp messages. Wherever your customer interaction naturally ends.
• Do not offer incentives. Discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews violate Google's policy and risk getting your profile suspended.
• Do not ask only your happy customers. That is review-gating, and Google penalises it. Ask everyone, and trust that your good ones will outnumber the bad.

Realistic timeline: 20 to 30 fresh 5-star reviews over 60 days will push a single 1-star review off the top of the feed and dilute its impact on your average. If you have only 12 reviews total, one 1-star review drops you from a 4.8 to a 4.5. If you have 200, the same review barely registers.

For deeper strategy, our ultimate guide to online reputation management covers the broader playbook beyond just Google.

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PART 2: How to improve your Google Business Profile ranking

Now to the long game. Negative review removal is reactive. Ranking is what brings customers in over the next twelve months.

Google ranks local results on three factors and has been transparent about this for years:

• Relevance — how well your profile matches the search query
• Distance — how close you are to the searcher (or to the location term in their query)
• Prominence — how well known and trusted your business is, online and offline

You cannot change distance much. You can heavily influence relevance and prominence. Here is how.

Profile completeness — every field, no exceptions

Google's algorithm rewards complete profiles. Half-filled ones get pushed down. Rule of thumb: if a field exists, fill it.

Run through this checklist on your own profile:

• Business name — exactly as it appears on your signage, your invoices, your registered business name. No keyword stuffing like "Aapta Solutions — Best Web Design Company Bangalore." That is a violation and gets profiles suspended.
• Primary category — the single most accurate match. We will cover this in detail below.
• Secondary categories — up to 9 more, each genuinely relevant.
• Address — exact, formatted the way India Post expects, including PIN code. Service-area businesses hide the address but still must enter one.
• Service area — the cities or PIN codes you actually serve, not "all of India."
• Phone number — local number ideally, not just a toll-free.
• Website URL — pointing to a relevant landing page, not always the home page (more on this below).
• Hours — accurate, kept current, including special hours for festivals (Diwali, Eid, Christmas, etc.).
• Business description — 750 characters, written for humans, naturally including your main service keyword once.
• Opening date — adds legitimacy, especially if you are a long-established business.
• Logo and cover photo — high resolution, on-brand.
• Products and services — list every service you offer with descriptions and prices where possible.
• Attributes — wheelchair accessible, women-owned, free Wi-Fi, accepts UPI, and so on. Tick everything that genuinely applies.
• Booking link — if you take appointments, connect a booking system (Calendly, Google Reserve partner, etc.).
• Messaging — turn on chat from the GBP dashboard if you can respond within hours.

A common pattern we see: the owner set the profile up in 2019, added the basics, never went back. Half the fields above did not exist then. Going through this list once, properly, is often the single biggest one-day ranking improvement available to most businesses.

Categories — the most under-used ranking lever

Categories are how Google decides what kind of business you are, and they directly determine which searches you can show up for.

Primary category rules:

• Pick the single most accurate category, even if it does not include all your services
• Test it against an incognito Google Maps search for that category in your area. Those are the businesses you are competing with.
• Do not optimise for the highest-volume category. Optimise for the one that matches what you actually want to be found for.

Secondary category rules:

• Add up to 9 more, but only ones that genuinely apply
• Do not add a category just because it is high-volume. Google can detect mismatch and demote you.
• Review every six months. Google adds new categories regularly. In 2025 they added several AI-related ones; in 2024, EV charging categories.

A worked example, web design agency in Hyderabad:

• Primary: "Website designer"
• Secondary (relevant ones to add): "Internet marketing service," "Software company," "Computer consultant," "E-commerce service," "Marketing agency," "Graphic designer," "Search engine optimization company"
• Do not add: "Computer repair service," "IT support and services" unless you actually do these

That single category change can shift you from page 3 to page 1 for the right query.

Photos and videos — fresh, frequent, real

Google rewards profiles with consistently fresh photos. The algorithm reads "active business" from photo upload activity in the same way it reads "active website" from blog post frequency.

Targets that work:

• 3 to 5 new photos per month, minimum
• A mix of categories: exterior, interior, team, products, work in progress, finished work, behind the scenes
• Real photos, not stock. Google's image classifier flags stock and reduces ranking weight.
• Add geo-tagged photos when possible. Most modern phones embed GPS data; do not strip it.
• Short videos under 30 seconds carry more weight than photos in 2026. Google's Maps team has flagged this in their 2025 product updates.

Common mistake: business owners only upload photos of finished work. Add the messy stuff. Your team in action, the workshop, the prep, a customer interaction. It signals authenticity to Google's image AI and to humans browsing your profile.

Reviews — volume, recency, keywords

Reviews are the biggest "prominence" signal Google uses. The metrics that matter:

• Total volume. More is better, with diminishing returns past about 100.
• Average rating. Anything above 4.3 is competitive; below 4.0 hurts.
• Recency. Reviews older than 12 months count for very little. You need new ones constantly.
• Velocity. A steady drip of reviews ranks higher than a sudden burst. Google flags suspicious bursts.
• Response rate. Google tracks whether you respond and uses it as a quality signal.
• Keywords in review text. When reviewers mention the service they bought ("they did our wedding photography in Goa"), it boosts your rank for those terms.

That last point matters more than most owners realise. When you ask for a review, gently nudge the reviewer toward mentioning what you did for them. Not "please write XYZ," because that is manipulation. Something like "we would love it if you could mention what we worked on together" is fine. The keyword density of your reviews is a real ranking input.

For a deeper playbook on review generation that does not cross into review-gating, see our 5 strategies for effective online reputation management.

Citations and NAP consistency

Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites. They have become less important as a ranking factor than they were five years ago, but consistency still matters.

The basics:

• NAP consistency. Your business name, address, and phone must match exactly across every directory: Justdial, IndiaMart, Sulekha, Yelp, Yellow Pages, your own website, your social profiles, and any industry-specific directories.
• Indian directories worth claiming: Justdial, IndiaMart, Sulekha, TradeIndia, Yellow Pages India.
• International directories worth claiming if you serve abroad: Yelp, Yellow Pages, Bing Places, Apple Maps Connect, Foursquare.
• Industry-specific directories. These often carry more weight than general ones. For restaurants, Zomato and Swiggy listings; for clinics, Practo.

Do not pay for "1,000 citations" services. They list you on junk directories that hurt more than they help. Pick the 15 to 20 directories that actually have traffic in your category and claim them properly.

Website connection and local landing pages

The website you link from your GBP profile matters. Two principles:

1. Link to a relevant page, not always the home page. A multi-service business should link different categories to different landing pages. A clinic with branches in Bangalore and Hyderabad should have a /bangalore page and a /hyderabad page, each linked from the matching profile.
2. The landing page must reinforce the profile. Same business name, same NAP, embedded Google Map, schema markup (LocalBusiness type), photos that match those on the profile.

Our piece on WordPress SEO in India goes deep on local landing page structure if you want to dig further.

Q&A — the section nobody touches

The Questions & Answers section of your GBP profile is publicly editable. Anyone can ask a question. Anyone can answer one. Most owners ignore it and let it fill up with random or wrong information.

Two ways to use it as a ranking and conversion lever:

• Seed it yourself. Have a colleague (or yourself, from a different account) ask the 5 to 7 questions you are most often asked, then answer them properly from the owner account. This becomes a mini-FAQ that shows up directly on Google.
• Monitor it weekly. Anyone can answer, including competitors and pranksters. Wrong answers stay up unless you reply with the correct one. Set a calendar reminder.

The keywords in your questions and answers also feed Google's relevance algorithm, just like review text does.

Service area vs storefront — different tactics

If customers come to you (a restaurant, a clinic, a salon), you are a storefront business. Show your address; rank for "near me" searches based on physical distance.

If you go to customers (a plumber, a wedding photographer, a home tutor), you are a service-area business. Hide the address; declare your service areas; rank for "near me" searches based on the searcher's location relative to your declared area.

Do not do both unless you genuinely serve customers both ways. Mixed signals confuse the algorithm. We have seen profiles tank because the owner switched between the two settings repeatedly.

Multi-location strategy when you serve India + abroad

If your business has locations in multiple cities or countries (a common pattern for our own clients in IT services and consulting), you need a separate GBP profile for each location, not one profile listing all of them.

Rules:

• One profile per physical location. Even if it is a serviced office or co-working desk, if a real customer can meet you there, it gets its own profile.
• Do not create profiles for cities you do not have an address in. That is spam and gets profiles suspended.
• Use the bulk management tool (business.google.com/groups) once you cross 10 locations.
• Link each profile to a unique landing page on your site, not the home page.
• Get reviews per location. Reviews do not transfer between profiles. A 200-review headquarters and a brand-new 0-review branch will perform very differently.

For an Indian business that has, say, an India office and a representative office in Dubai, manage them as two profiles, two sets of reviews, two sets of posts. They are separate businesses in Google's eyes.

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PART 3: How to post updates that actually convert

Google Posts are short updates that show up directly on your Business Profile in search and Maps. They look like miniature social media posts: image, headline, short body text, optional CTA button. Most businesses either do not use them or use them badly. Used well, they outperform almost everything else you can do in 30 minutes a week.

The four post types and when to use each

Google Business Profile supports four post types in 2026:

1. Updates (formerly "What's New"). General news, behind the scenes, announcements. The default post type. Use for: a new service launch, a recent project, a team update, a milestone (e.g. "1,000 customers served").

2. Offers. Time-bound discounts or specials. They display a prominent "View offer" button. Use for: festive sales (Diwali, Republic Day, year-end), limited-time discounts, first-customer offers. Must include start and end dates.

3. Events. Upcoming events at your business or hosted by you. Webinars, in-store demos, openings, workshops. Must include date and time.

4. Products. Individual product or service listings with photo, price, and description. Useful for product-led businesses (retail, ecommerce). Less relevant for service businesses; use the Services field on your main profile instead.

A balanced posting calendar uses all four. A practical mix: one update per week, one event or offer per month, products kept current as inventory changes.

Frequency — what Google rewards in 2026

Google's official line is that there is no minimum posting frequency. The reality, based on what we have measured across client accounts in 2025-2026:

• Profiles with weekly posts rank measurably higher than those with monthly posts.
• Posts older than 6 months no longer display by default. They are archived.
• The first post after a long gap underperforms. Google seems to weight a consistent posting cadence.
• More than 3 posts per week shows diminishing returns and clutters your profile.

A reasonable cadence: 1 to 2 posts per week, every week, indefinitely. Calendar it in.

Anatomy of a high-converting post

After running A/B tests on hundreds of posts across client accounts, here is what consistently outperforms:

The image (or video):

• Square format (1:1) renders best across surfaces
• Short videos (15 to 30 seconds) outperform photos by roughly 2x on click-through
• Real photos beat stock by a wide margin
• Add the headline as text overlay; the post crops aggressively in some surfaces

The headline:

• Maximum 58 characters before truncation
• Lead with the benefit, not the brand. "Save 30% on Diwali sweets" beats "Aapta Sweets Diwali Sale."
• Numbers and specifics outperform vague language

The body text:

• Maximum 1,500 characters but the first 100 are what most people see
• Short paragraphs, line breaks, no walls of text
• One clear point per post; do not try to say three things
• End with a call to action even if you also have a CTA button

The CTA button:

• Pick the most relevant option: Book, Order online, Buy, Learn more, Sign up, Call now, Get directions
• "Learn more" is the safest fallback
• The button URL should match the button. Do not send "Book" to a generic home page.

The Q&A trick for FAQ-style posts

A pattern we have seen work consistently: turn frequently asked customer questions into posts. Each post addresses one question with a clear answer, an image of the relevant product or service, and a CTA to book or buy.

Examples for a tax consultant:

• "Can I file ITR after the deadline? Yes, with these conditions..."
• "What is the penalty for late GST filing in 2026?"
• "Do I need an accountant for my freelance income?"

These posts double up as content marketing, get indexed by Google, and often pull in long-tail search traffic that would not have hit your website at all.

Post mistakes that get rejected or hurt ranking

Google rejects posts that include:

• Phone numbers in the body text (use the Call CTA button instead)
• All-caps headlines
• Misleading claims like "Best in India" without substantiation
• Links to non-secure (HTTP) sites
• Watermarks or contact info on images
• Sexual, violent, or hate content (obvious)
• Promotional language for prohibited products (alcohol, gambling, weapons, regulated medical claims)

Posts can also under-perform without being rejected. The common quiet killers:

• Posting the same content as a Facebook or Instagram update without adapting it
• Auto-posting via third-party schedulers that strip image quality
• Posting on auto-pilot with no eye on engagement metrics
• Never updating the CTA button; using "Learn more" for everything

A 30-day posting plan you can actually run

If you are starting from zero, this is what we would suggest:

• Week 1: 1 update introducing the team, 1 product or service post for your top offering
• Week 2: 1 update sharing a customer outcome (with permission), 1 event or upcoming activity
• Week 3: 1 FAQ-style post answering a common question, 1 update with a recent project photo
• Week 4: 1 offer (limited time, with clear dates), 1 update reflecting on the month or sharing a stat

By week 4 you will have 8 posts live, a clearer sense of what your audience clicks on, and the rhythm to keep going at 1 to 2 a week from there.

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Bonus: GBP suspension recovery

If your profile gets suspended, and it does happen, here is the recovery playbook.

Why suspensions happen:

• Keyword stuffing in the business name
• Address mismatch (the address on your profile does not match what Google's data says)
• Multiple profiles for the same business
• Business name change without updated supporting documents
• Listed as a service-area business but added a storefront photo with a sign that does not match
• Customer complaints about misleading info
• Account-level issue, where other profiles you manage were flagged

The recovery process:

1. Log in to your GBP dashboard. The notification will tell you whether it is a soft suspension (you can still see the profile but customers cannot) or a hard suspension (the profile is gone).
2. Click "Reinstate" or go to the reinstatement form.
3. Provide verification documents (business registration, GST certificate, utility bill at the address, lease), a clear explanation of what changed and why, and photos of the storefront with signage if applicable.
4. Wait 3 to 14 business days for review.
5. If denied, appeal once with additional documentation. Do not appeal repeatedly. It can blacklist the profile.

The most common reinstatement rejection reason is the business name not matching the supporting documents. If your business is registered as "Aapta Web Solutions" and the profile says "Aapta — Web Design Hyderabad," Google will reject reinstatement. Match exactly.

A note for businesses operating across India + abroad

If you are like many of our clients, with an India office and one or more representative offices abroad (US, UK, UAE, Singapore), your GBP setup needs three things most templates miss:

1. Country-specific phone numbers per profile. Do not put your India number on your US profile. American customers will not call international.
2. Local time zones in hours. GBP detects time zone from address, but it is worth double-checking, especially if you display 24/7 hours.
3. Localised reviews. Encourage your US clients to leave reviews on the US profile, your India clients on the India profile. Cross-leaving dilutes both.

The product roadmap for GBP in 2026 leans heavily into multi-location features: a separate dashboard view for chains, AI-suggested posts customised by location, centralised review management. If you have more than 3 locations, claim the bulk management dashboard now before the upgrades roll out.

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Frequently asked questions

How long does it take for a flagged review to be removed? Auto-removal happens in 24 to 72 hours if the violation is clear. Manual escalations take 7 to 14 days. Legal removals can take 30 days or more. There is no SLA Google publishes.

Can I sue someone for a fake Google review in India? Technically yes, under the IT Act and IPC defamation provisions. The hard part is identifying the reviewer in the first place. Google does not hand over reviewer identity without a court order. In our experience most of these cases settle before they reach litigation. Once the other side gets a legal notice and realises what they have done, they usually back off.

Will responding to a bad review make it worse? Not if the response is calm and signed by the owner. People reading your reviews care more about how you handle problems than about the original complaint. The thing that hurts is a defensive or argumentative reply.

How many Google reviews do I need to rank well? Volume is less important than other factors, but as a rough benchmark: in competitive Indian metro categories you typically need 50+ reviews to rank on page 1, and you need new reviews coming in continuously. In smaller cities or less competitive niches, 10 to 20 active reviews can get you to the top.

Why did my GBP ranking drop suddenly? Common causes: a change in business hours (especially marking yourself temporarily closed), a category change, address change, a flood of negative reviews, a suspended sister profile, or a Google algorithm update. Check your Insights tab for the date the drop happened, then look at your edit history for that date.

Should I use a third-party tool to manage GBP? For a single location, no. The native interface is enough. For 5+ locations, tools like BrightLocal, Whitespark, or Yext can save time on bulk updates and citation monitoring. Do not use any tool that posts auto-generated content. Google detects and demotes it.

Can I have a GBP profile without a physical address? Only as a service-area business, and you still need to enter an address (usually your home or office) and then hide it. You cannot have a profile for a purely virtual business with no real-world presence anywhere.

What is the difference between Google Business Profile and Google Maps? GBP is the dashboard you use to manage what shows up about your business. Google Maps is one of the surfaces where that information appears. Reviews, photos, and posts you add to GBP show up on Maps automatically. Same underlying data.

How often should I post updates? 1 to 2 posts per week, every week. More than that shows diminishing returns. Less than weekly and you will lose ranking ground to competitors who post more.

Can someone take over my profile if I lose access? Yes, through the GBP ownership transfer process. You will need to verify ownership through documents (registration, utility bill at the address, photos of signage). It takes 5 to 7 days. If someone else has falsely claimed your profile, Google has a separate dispute process that takes longer.

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Need help with your Google Business Profile?

Worked through this and want a second pair of eyes? Or dealing with a review crisis, a suspended profile, or a multi-location rollout you do not have the bandwidth to handle? That is the kind of work we do for clients in India, the US, and UK. We have been at it since 2007, and Google Business Profile is now part of almost every local SEO engagement we run.

Get in touch for a profile audit, or have a look at our WordPress SEO services and our online reputation management work.