A three-person marketing agency in Atlanta lands a pitch meeting with a mid-sized manufacturer that needs help with a product launch. Before the call, someone on the client's side pulls up the agency's name on Google, then checks Yelp, then asks an AI assistant what it knows about them. The agency's Google listing shows the right services but the phone number is an old Google Voice line nobody answers anymore, and the Yelp profile hasn't been touched in two years. None of that kills the deal outright, but it plants a small doubt right when the agency needs the opposite.
Getting the profile itself right
Setting up or claiming a Google Business Profile starts with the basics: a real trading name, not a placeholder, and either a public address or a defined service area if the team works out of home offices rather than a leased space. Hiding the exact street address while still listing the cities served is standard for freelancers and small agencies, and there's no penalty for doing it that way. What matters is that whatever address or area is entered stays fixed once clients start relying on it. A team splitting time between Houston and Phoenix, for instance, should list both service areas rather than picking one and hoping the other still shows up in search.
Choosing a category that isn't generic
A profile listed simply as "Business service" competes with everyone. Marketing agency, Web designer, Video production service, Copywriter and Business consultant are all specific enough to tell Google, and a searching client, exactly what kind of work this is. Picking the closest accurate category, even a secondary one alongside the primary, is a five-minute task that changes who the profile shows up for.
What the photos should actually show
Screenshots of a finished campaign dashboard, a shot of the team mid-brainstorm, the actual workspace if there's one worth showing, or a professional headshot for a one-person operation all do more than stock photography. A prospective client evaluating a retainer wants some sense of the people they'd be dealing with for months, not a generic icon. Client logos can go up too, once permission is confirmed, since a wall of recognizable names does more to establish credibility with a corporate buyer than almost anything written in the profile description.
Hours that match a project-based schedule
Client calls tend to cluster around certain hours while the bulk of billable work happens off any public schedule. Marking hours as "by appointment" instead of forcing a rigid open-close window keeps the profile from reading as closed at 6pm when someone's still working.
Reviews, and the one that mentions scope
An Atlanta client leaving three stars with a comment about the project running longer than expected, because the scope grew along the way, is a familiar situation. Replying with a short explanation of what changed and how it was handled shows more to the next prospect than the review itself does. American buyers routinely compare ratings across two or three platforms before making contact, so a reply left unanswered on one platform is visible everywhere that client looks next, whether that's Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, or Apple Maps through Apple Business Connect.
Where clients actually check first
The Better Business Bureau in particular gets checked by corporate buyers before a contract gets signed, since it's built around accreditation rather than star ratings, and it catches a different kind of scrutiny than Google or Yelp. Keeping the business name, address or service area, and phone number identical across Google, Yelp, BBB and Apple Business Connect removes the small inconsistencies that make a buyer pause.
How prospects make contact
Most first contact now comes through a message on the profile or a request to book a short intro call, since fewer people are cold-calling a business before knowing anything about it. Having that option visible and monitored closes the gap between someone searching and someone actually reaching out. A one-off project can go from that first message to a signed agreement within a matter of days, whereas a retainer relationship with a larger client usually takes several weeks of calls and a written proposal before anything is finalized.
What Kaptor handles
Kaptor sets up the profile with the right category and service area, watches for gaps like missing hours or a review sitting unanswered for weeks, and keeps the same details synced across the other platforms clients check. See also the broader agencies and freelancers Google Business Profile guide and the version written for Canada.