How to Use the Google Business Profile Scorecard

The 14 checks are weighted by impact and grouped into four areas: profile basics, photos & media, reviews, and engagement & content. Reviews carry the most weight because they are the strongest prominence signal in local search. As you tick boxes, the grade and the category bars update live, and the three highest-impact items you have not done float to the top as your quick wins.

How to use it, step by step

1. Work down the checklist and tick every item your profile genuinely has.
2. Watch your letter grade and score out of 100 update as you go.
3. Scan the category bars to see which area (basics, photos, reviews, engagement) is dragging you down.
4. Read your three biggest quick wins - the unchecked items with the most ranking impact.
5. Tap Copy my scorecard to save or share the result.

How the grade is calculated

Each check has a weight, and the weights sum to 100. A perfect profile scores A+. Reviews and review velocity are weighted heaviest, followed by complete profile basics (primary category, description, hours), then photos and ongoing engagement like Google Posts and Q&A. The grade is deliberately honest - a half-built profile scores in the C/D range because that is roughly where it stands against complete competitors.

The mistakes that quietly cost the most

Two things sink more scores than anything else: a wrong or vague primary category, and no recent review. Category is the single strongest relevance lever - “HVAC contractor” beats “contractor.” And review velocity (a fresh review in the last 30 days) matters more than raw count. Fix those two before anything else.