Google Business Profile optimization starts with data completeness and consistency. Fill out every available field: business name, address, phone (NAP), primary and secondary categories, service areas, attributes, hours including holiday schedules, and a keyword-rich business description (750 characters). Your NAP must match your website footer and major citations like Yelp and Yellow Pages character-for-character, including suite numbers and abbreviations, or Google may suppress your listing. Photos matter more than most businesses realize. Upload 5–10 high-resolution images at launch (exterior, interior, team, products, logo as profile image), then add 2–4 new photos weekly. Listings with 100+ photos get 520% more calls and 2.7x more direction requests than average. Use original photos, not stock imagery, and geotag them if possible. Reviews drive both rankings and conversions. Aim for 1–3 new reviews monthly minimum, more if you're in a competitive vertical like personal injury law or HVAC in Toronto. Respond to every review within 48 hours, including negatives, with a personalized reply that uses the customer's name and references specifics. Never keyword-stuff responses. Posts and Q&A keep your profile active. Publish a Google post every 5–7 days covering promotions, blog content, events, or service highlights. Posts live for 7 days, so consistency beats perfection. Seed your Q&A section with 8–12 common questions customers ask, then monitor and answer new ones within 24 hours. For multi-location businesses, create separate profiles for each physical location, never service-area duplicates. Use location-specific phone numbers and landing pages when possible. If you're service-area based in Ottawa with no storefront, hide your address but define service areas precisely (postal codes or city boundaries). At Ottawa SEO, we audit GBP monthly for clients because Google changes fields and ranking factors regularly. Track your insights dashboard for search queries, actions (calls, direction requests, website clicks), and photo views to see what's working. If a competitor outranks you with worse reviews, they likely have better category selection, more photos, or tighter NAP consistency across the web.