🤓 The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors are here!! Check out the report!
🤓 The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors are here!! Check out the report!
Some parts on your Google Business Profile only need to be set up once, but other sections need to be continuously monitored and updated so that your GBP can keep ranking well, represent your business accurately, and make a good impression to potential customers.
This is particularly important for the parts of your Profile that are available for the public to contribute to:
More importantly, though, watch out for people editing your business information (yes, they can do that to any Profile via the “Suggest an edit” button). More on this below.
Keep in mind that one of the best ways to make it crystal clear to Google (and the rest of the world) of the details of your business name, address, opening hours, contact details and offering is to make sure that these details are consistent across your real world and your digital footprint. Make sure that your real world signage, your website, your social channels and any directory listings all contain the correct information.
All Business Profiles have a Suggest an Edit button that looks like this:
This button is available to any searcher who wishes to report, update, or change information about a business (such as their business name, categories, hours of operation, etc). The thing is, this feature makes it super easy for bad actors to change your information and tank your rankings.
Having a claimed and verified Google Business Profile helps your business combat this to some extent because you can regularly review your information to make sure everything stays correct, and Google is supposed to notify you via email about any changes made to your Profile.
Unfortunately, in reality, Google doesn’t always let you know when they accept searchers’ changes to your Profile, so you can go months without detecting it and wonder why your rankings are suffering.
This is why we developed a software tool that monitors your Profile for changes and alerts you immediately. You can then accept or reject the suggested changes with a simple click.
Local Platform is super cool because it lets you:
1. Get notified whenever something changes on your Profiles
You will receive email alerts about updates as they happen — or on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis if you choose.
2. Reject unwanted Google updates with a single click
With the click of a button, the software will revert the updated GBP field back to its previous state. You can also bulk-reject updates and save even more time!
It’s important to note that these changes are already live on your profile at this point. ‘Rejecting’ an update will push your previous status of that field back to Google and will ‘un-do’ the edits that Google made to your profile.
3. Keep a record of all changes to your Profiles
From the moment you import your location to the Local Platform, we’ll keep track of all the changes made to your Google Business Profiles — whether they’re made by you, Google, or someone on your team.
4. Edit all your locations in bulk
No need to deal with Google’s stupid bulk management anymore. Local Platform is the most convenient place to keep all your GBPs, group them, and even tag and label them to stay organized:
5. Build a GBP Website
Some businesses can’t afford a professional website yet, which is why Google’s free GBP website feature was so great. Unfortunately, like many great things, Google discontinued it and millions of small businesses were about to lose their websites – which is why we stepped up and recreated this feature in our Local Platform:
6. Take care of your Service Area business, too
Yes, Google discriminates against local businesses that don’t show their location publicly, but we don’t. Manage your SAB easily from our Local Platform!
And we have even more exciting features coming soon:
Whitespark provides powerful software and expert services to help businesses and agencies drive more leads through local search.
Founded in 2005 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, we initially offered web design and SEO services to local businesses. While we still work closely with many clients locally, we have successfully grown over the past 20 years to support over 100,000 enterprises, agencies, and small businesses globally with our cutting-edge software and services.