Google Business Profiles (GMB)

Free listing that shows up in Google Maps and local search results. For local businesses, this matters more than your website—60-70% of clicks on local searches go to the top 3 map pack positions.

This article is based on a video. Watch the full video here.

Your website exists to help your GBP rank, not the other way around. That's the mindset shift most business owners miss.

GBP is how you capture the 3-7% of your market that's actively searching right now. While Facebook Ads reach the 93-97% who don't know you exist, your Google Business Profile catches the ones who are already looking.

The Core 30 Approach

Caleb Ulku's Core 30 method provides a systematic framework for GBP optimization. The basics below get you ahead of 90% of competitors who never do the work.

Setup: Fill Out Everything

Google gives you boxes. Fill all of them. Completeness is a ranking signal.

Business name, address, phone — NAP consistency matters for SEO
Categories — Use 3-5 relevant categories (Google allows up to 10). Most businesses pick one and stop.
Services — Add 20-30 services with descriptions. Most businesses have zero listed.
Business description — Use all 750 characters. Include keywords naturally.
Photos — 20-30 minimum. Interior, exterior, team, products. Real photos outperform stock. Geo-tag them.
Q&A — Seed your own questions and answers before competitors do it for you.
Attributes — Every relevant checkbox.

Ongoing Activity

Google notices when profiles are active. Dead profiles rank lower.

Post weekly minimum — Use ChatGPT or Claude to generate 52 posts at once, then schedule them out. Updates, offers, events, service highlights.
Add new photos weekly — One new geo-tagged photo per week signals an active business. Before/after shots, team at work, completed projects.
Respond to reviews — Every single one, positive and negative, within 24-48 hours.

Reviews

The ranking signal that's hardest to fake.

Review recency matters. A business with 100 reviews from two years ago loses to one with 30 reviews from last month. Keep asking.

Make it easy to leave a review. Get a direct Google review link that drops people straight into the star-rating screen — no searching, no navigating. Use it in SMS templates, email sequences, and QR codes.

Response recency matters. Reply to reviews within 24-48 hours. Shows you're engaged and builds trust with people reading the reviews. You can even automate replies with AI.

Tracking Performance

Use LocalFalcon to see how you rank across different parts of your service area. One address ranks differently in different zip codes.

UTM Parameters for Lead Attribution

Don't just paste your plain website URL into your Google Business Profile. Add UTM parameters so you can track exactly which leads came from your GBP listing. When editing your business information, set the website link to something like:

yoursite.com ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google_my_business_listing

When someone clicks "Website" on your GBP, those parameters ride along. In HighLevel, go to Reporting > Source Report and you'll see "google_my_business_listing" as a campaign with real session counts. Use Google's Campaign URL Builder to generate the URL.

Watch the 90-second setup walkthrough — from editing your GBP link to seeing the data in HighLevel's source report.

The Core 30 Method — Caleb Ulku's complete framework for GBP dominance
Live SEO Audit — Watch the Core 30 applied to a real business
AI SEO Mastery Pro — Caleb's Skool community with tested prompts and templates
Local Service Ads — Paid visibility to complement organic rankings
HighLevel — Automate review requests and track calls from GBP
LocalFalcon — Track how you rank across different parts of your service area