How to audit a Google Business Profile: the 30-point method we run on multi-location brands

Most Google Business Profile "audits" are a screenshot and a gut feeling. That does not scale past one store, and it misses the issues that actually move local-pack rankings. This is the method we run in production for multi-location Indian brands — thirty checks, each tied to a visibility or conversion outcome.

Why audits matter for the local pack

Google's local ranking documentation names three factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. You cannot move distance, but relevance and prominence are largely a function of listing quality — complete data, accurate categories, healthy review velocity, and consistency across your locations. Google's own guidance states that businesses with complete and accurate information are easier to match with the right searches.

A Google-commissioned Ipsos study found that complete Business Profiles get significantly more direction requests and website clicks than incomplete ones. For a forty-store chain, an unmanaged listing estate quietly leaks customers in every city.

The six categories we check

1. Basic information

Phone number present and in valid +91 format, full street address, website URL, and a description of at least 50 characters. A missing phone number is a critical trust gap — customers calling ahead is still the dominant pre-visit behaviour in Indian retail.

2. Business hours

Hours set for all seven days, and no stale holiday overrides. "Hours unknown" listings get demoted in the local pack, and wrong hours generate the angriest review category there is: the customer who travelled to a closed door.

3. Reviews

Star rating above the category median, review count depth, review recency, and owner response rate. Review signals are among the strongest prominence factors, and response rate is one of the few you control directly.

4. Photos

At least ten photos per location, with fresh uploads in the last 90 days. Listings with recent photos earn more clicks to the website and more direction requests.

5. Categories

Primary category matches what the location actually is, and secondary categories cover real services without spam. Wrong primary category is the single most common reason a listing ranks for nothing.

6. Cross-location consistency

Name format drift ("Peps Mattress Baner" vs "Peps - Baner Pune"), duplicate pins competing against each other, and category mismatch across the estate. These only surface when you compare listings side by side — which is exactly why manual audits miss them.

Scoring: from thirty checks to one number

Every location starts at 100 and loses points per miss, weighted by severity. A missing phone number or a permanently-closed flag costs the most; a thin photo gallery costs less; an informational note costs least. Per-location scores roll up to a single Brand Health Score, with extra deductions for cross-location drift.

The point of one number is organisational, not technical: it gives the marketing lead something the whole team can track monthly, and the ranked issue list underneath tells operations exactly what to fix first.

Run it yourself

You can run this checklist by hand with our free 30-point checklist — budget about ten minutes per location. Or run the free automated audit, which applies all thirty checks to every location Google shows for your brand and returns a scored report in about a minute.