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Customer uploads can not be gotten rid of unless they violate Google's content policies (off-topic, offending, misleading). Flag really troublesome images through the image-level menu; do not flag unflattering-but-accurate ones Google rejects such demands and duplicated flagging can reduce profile trust signals.

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Profiles that add media weekly show measurably higher views in the Performance tab than profiles that uploaded once at setup and then stopped. Deal with media as a continuous deliverable, not a setup task. The old Insights tab was changed by the Efficiency tab in 2023 and considerably overhauled once again in 2026.

A great weekly read takes five minutes and informs you whether category-level SEO work is landing. Performance divides searches into direct (brand-name), discovery (classification or service terms), and branded-adjacent (rival or adjacent-brand queries). Increasing discovery ratio is the cleanest single indication that category and content work is moving the profile beyond its existing audience.

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Each action maps to a different phase of the local funnel. Track the ratio, not simply the raw numbers a profile with 500 views and 40 direction requests is carrying out far much better than one with 5,000 views and 50 demands.

The 2026 update added a brand-new row that splits impressions by surface area: classic local panel, Maps AI summary card, and Google AI Overviews in the organic SERP. Track AI-surface share an increasing proportion of views originating from AI summary cards is the defining local-SEO metric of 2026. If your AI-surface share is listed below 15%, your profile is either missing grounding material (item descriptions, detailed evaluations) or is contending in a vertical where Google has not yet rolled out summaries.

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The criteria is a sign instead of definitive you can not see which peers are consisted of however sustained below-median performance on views or action rate is a signal to investigate primary category, description efficiency, and media freshness. Pull Performance information into Looker Studio through the official GBP connector for cross- location reporting.

Google has actually explained regional ranking as a function of 3 aspects for over a decade: proximity, relevance, and prominence. That framing still holds in 2026, but each element has gathered sub-signals that separate top-performing profiles from stagnant ones.

A dental practitioner whose description checks out "Household dental professional offering cleanings, lightening, veneers, and pediatric care" will match more discovery questions than one that reads "Your relied on regional dental expert". The most complex aspect. Consists of backlink profile of the linked site, citations throughout the local-citation chart (Yelp, TripAdvisor, BBB, industry directory sites), evaluation count, evaluation velocity, evaluation belief, and offline brand name recognition (news points out, sponsorships).

A different sub-signal that Google has progressively weighted. Profiles receiving fresh reviews every week outrank otherwise-equivalent profiles whose latest review is 3 months old. Cadence matters more than volume at the margin. Tie review demands to an operational turning point (service conclusion, shipment, follow-up call) so the cadence is automated instead of campaign-driven.

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Suite numbers formatted in a different way, a mix of 555-1234 and (555) 123-4321, a tradition "LLC" suffix on some directories and not others each disparity makes Google a little less positive about the entity. Run a citation audit with Moz Resident, BrightLocal, or Semrush Listing Management and repair the leading 20 highest-authority inconsistencies quarterly.

Profiles with rich grounding content (comprehensive evaluations, substantive items, linked service pages) are mentioned inside Overviews; thin profiles are omitted. Whatever above still applies when you run one profile.

A dental practitioner whose description checks out "Family dentist offering cleansings, bleaching, veneers, and pediatric care" will match more discovery queries than one that checks out "Your relied on regional dental practitioner". The most complex aspect. Consists of backlink profile of the connected website, citations across the local-citation chart (Yelp, TripAdvisor, BBB, market directory sites), evaluation count, review speed, evaluation belief, and offline brand name acknowledgment (news mentions, sponsorships).

A separate sub-signal that Google has increasingly weighted. Profiles getting fresh reviews every week outrank otherwise-equivalent profiles whose most current review is three months old. Cadence matters more than volume at the margin. Tie review demands to an operational milestone (service completion, shipment, follow-up call) so the cadence is automatic rather than campaign-driven.

Suite numbers formatted in a different way, a mix of 555-1234 and (555) 123-4321, a tradition "LLC" suffix on some directory sites and not others each disparity makes Google a little less confident about the entity. Run a citation audit with Moz Resident, BrightLocal, or Semrush Listing Management and fix the top 20 highest-authority disparities quarterly.

Utilizing Future Local Search Features

Profiles with rich grounding content (detailed evaluations, substantive items, connected service pages) are mentioned inside Overviews; thin profiles are excluded. Everything above still applies when you run one profile.