Service · Local Visibility Management
Google Business Profile Management
Your Google Business Profile kept accurate, complete and current, with review management included, in one package called Local Visibility Management.
What’s included
Local Visibility Management is Google Review Management plus ongoing management of your Google Business Profile, the listing customers see on Google Search and Maps. It includes Google Review Management and replaces it, so you pay one monthly fee per location, not two.
Local Visibility Management
per location
Included, not added: you pay $499, not $299 + $499.
Google Review Management (included)
Every review request, reminder, reply and monthly report, exactly as in the review service.
Plus
- Business Profile management
- Listing checks
- Profile reporting
| Item | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Google Review ManagementEvery request, reminder, reply and report in the review service, at its standard scope. | Included | Every request, reminder, reply and report in the review service, at its standard scope. |
| Profile informationCategories, services, hours and business details, checked against what you’ve approved. | Kept current | Categories, services, hours and business details, checked against what you’ve approved. |
| PhotosPhotos of your work, premises or team that you have the right to use. | As you supply them | Photos of your work, premises or team that you have the right to use. |
| Profile updatesShort posts about something customers should know, such as a seasonal service or changed hours. | When relevant | Short posts about something customers should know, such as a seasonal service or changed hours. |
| Listing consistencyName, phone, website and hours compared across a small set of important listings agreed with you. | Initial check | Name, phone, website and hours compared across a small set of important listings agreed with you. |
| Spot checksFor changes you didn’t make, on the profile and on those listings. | Periodic | For changes you didn’t make, on the profile and on those listings. |
| Profile reportingThe interaction figures Google makes available, with what we changed, alongside the review report. | Monthly | The interaction figures Google makes available, with what we changed, alongside the review report. |
Worth knowing
Google Business Profile is free. The fee is for managing it.
Google doesn’t charge for a Business Profile, and you can create and update yours yourself. What you’d pay us for is the work: keeping it accurate every month, checking what changes, and reporting it plainly. Google asks agencies that charge a management fee to say this up front, and we’re glad to.
The profile work
A profile goes stale quietly: holiday hours nobody added, a category that no longer fits, photos from years ago. The work is mostly unglamorous upkeep, done every month and checked against the facts you’ve approved.
- Categories and services. Your primary category is the most specific one that describes the business, with additional categories only where they’re accurate. Services are listed plainly, in the terms customers use.
- Hours. Regular hours kept current, and holiday or special hours added ahead of time when you tell us about them, so the profile never says you’re open when you aren’t.
- Name and details. Your real-world business name, without added keywords (Google’s guidelines don’t allow them), plus the phone number, website link and address or service area you’ve approved.
- Photos and updates. The photos you supply, added and kept current, and relevant updates posted with your approval.
- Suggested edits. Google can update a profile from other sources, and people using Google can suggest edits. Spot checks catch these changes, and we check each one with you before accepting or correcting it.
- A record of every change. Everything we change on the profile is listed in that month’s report. Nothing is changed or switched off without your agreement.
What you provide
- Accurate business facts, and approval of changes to them.
- Photos of your work, premises or team that you have the right to use.
- Owner access to the profile. You own it; we are added as a manager.
Who’s eligible
Google decides which businesses can have a profile, not us. Its guidelines require a business to make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, either at its own location or by traveling to them.
Usually eligible
In-person contact during stated hours
- A storefront or office that customers visit
- A service-area business that travels to customers
- A storefront that also travels to customers
- A seasonal business with permanent signage
Not eligible
Examples from Google’s guidelines
- Online-only businesses
- Lead-generation companies and agents
- Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes
- A virtual office, or a P.O. box in place of a real location
Service-area businesses hide their address. If you travel to customers and don’t receive them where you work, Google’s guidelines say your address shouldn’t show on the profile; a service area is shown instead. A plumber working from home is the usual example, and we set profiles up that way.
We can’t promise a profile for every business. If you’re not sure yours qualifies, the Visibility Review is the place to find out before you commit to anything.
Ownership and access
The profile is yours, and it stays yours. We work on it as a manager you invite, and everything we do happens with your knowledge.
- You stay the owner. If you already have a profile, you add us as a manager from your own Google account. If one needs creating, it’s set up with you as the owner. We never ask for your password.
- Manager access only. A manager can edit the profile, post updates and reply to reviews, but can’t add or remove users or delete the profile. Those stay with you.
- Your approval for replies. Google requires a business’s explicit approval (verbal consent isn’t enough) before an agency replies to reviews on its behalf, so we collect it in writing at onboarding.
- Leave whenever you like. You can remove our access from your account at any time. Everything we added stays on your profile.
Google has rules for agencies that manage profiles: clients keep ownership, changes are communicated, management fees are disclosed and nobody may promise top placement. It also publishes a short notice for businesses thinking of hiring help, worth reading before you hire anyone, us included.
Google: Tips for working with third parties (opens in a new tab)
What the report shows
Each month you get the review activity report, plus a profile section: what we changed, and the interaction figures Google makes available for your profile, reported separately from any other data.
Those figures count taps and views. A call in Google’s report is a tap on the call button, not an answered call, and a website click isn’t an inquiry. They aren’t qualified leads or sales, so the report never calls them that. Google’s figures can also include activity from ads as well as unpaid results.
Profile and review report · {Month}
{Business} · one location
Profile changes
- Changes made
- No data
- Photos added
- No data
- Updates posted
- No data
Interactions Google reports
- Profile views
- No data
- Calls1
- No data
- Direction requests
- No data
- Website clicks2
- No data
Reviews
- Requests sent
- No data
- New reviews observed3
- No data
- Response coverage
- No data
- Taps on the call button.
- Clicks, not inquiries.
- Observed, not claimed.
Not part of this service
Excluded, whatever the scope
- An unlimited SEO retainer, unlimited articles or link building.
- Ongoing paid advertising management.
- Suspension recovery or complex duplicate-profile disputes.
- Guaranteed rankings or map placement.
- A guaranteed profile for every business. Google sets eligibility rules, and some online-only businesses don’t qualify.
Price and other costs
per location
How the price works
- Google Review Management
- Included. This plan replaces it: you pay $499 a month per location, not $299 plus $499.
- Upgrading from review management
- Any incremental setup is confirmed in your written scope rather than charging the full setup fee again.
- Google Business Profile
- Free from Google. The fee pays for the management work.
- Messaging and carrier registration
- Can apply if review requests go out by text. Disclosed and agreed separately, before setup.
- More than one location
- The monthly fee is per location. The scope for each is confirmed in writing before anything starts.
Prices are in U.S. dollars. There’s no checkout: every engagement starts with a Visibility Review and a written scope.
Reviews only
Only need the review process?
Google Review Management on its own covers review requests, replies and the monthly report, without the profile work.
per location
Questions about profile management
Isn’t Google Business Profile free?
Yes. Creating and managing a Business Profile costs nothing, and you can do the work yourself. Our fee pays for doing it consistently: keeping categories, services, hours and photos accurate, posting updates, checking a small set of important listings and reporting what changed. Google asks agencies that charge a management fee to tell clients the profile itself is free, and we’re glad to.
Who owns the profile?
You do, always. If you already have a profile, you add us as a manager from your own Google account; you stay the owner, and we never ask for your password. If a profile needs creating, ownership is put in your name. If you stop working with us, you remove our access and keep everything we’ve added.
What does Local Visibility Management include?
Everything in Google Review Management, plus ongoing management of your Google Business Profile: categories, services, hours and business details, the photos you supply, relevant updates, an initial consistency check across a small agreed set of important listings, periodic spot checks and reporting on the figures Google makes available. It costs $750 one-time setup + $499/month per location, and it replaces the review-management plan rather than adding to it.
Will this get my business into the map results?
We can’t promise that, and nobody honestly can. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking. We work on what’s within reach: a complete, accurate profile, the right categories, current photos and hours, and a steady flow of honest reviews with replies. Distance from the person searching is outside anyone’s control.
What will the monthly report show?
The profile figures Google makes available, such as views, calls, direction requests and website clicks, reported separately from any other data, plus what we changed and the month’s review activity. We describe these as interactions, not leads or sales: Google’s call count, for example, records taps on the call button, not answered calls or booked jobs.
Can every business have a Google Business Profile?
No. Google requires a business to make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, either at its own location or by traveling to them. Online-only businesses and lead-generation companies aren’t eligible, among others. If you’re unsure whether yours qualifies, the Visibility Review is a good place to find out before you commit to anything.
Google Business Profile Management