GBP - The Foundation Everything Else Sits On

What you will walk away with: an optimized GBP (Google Business Profile) that ranks for the right queries, with every field filled correctly and Claude Code generating the content.

Your Google Business Profile is the single most important asset in local SEO. The primary category alone is the biggest ranking lever you have. Get it right and everything downstream gets easier. Get it wrong and nothing else compensates.

If you do not have a profile yet, go to google.com/business and create one. It takes about 5 minutes. Verification through video (the default in 2026) can take a few days to a week. You can do everything else in this course while waiting.

Once you are verified, here is what to fill in and how to use Claude Code to generate the content.

The four fields that drive 80% of your visibility:

Primary category. This is the single biggest decision. Pick the most specific category that accurately describes what you do. "Plumber" is better than "Home Services." "Personal Injury Attorney" is better than "Law Firm." "Italian Restaurant" is better than "Restaurant." Specific categories rank for more relevant searches and have less competition.

Secondary categories. You can add up to 9. Each one should be a genuine service you offer. Do not stuff irrelevant categories. Google's quality review can suspend profiles that pad the category list with things they do not actually do. If you are a plumber who also does drain cleaning and water heater installs, those are legitimate secondary categories.

Services. You can list up to 50. These are the specific services Google shows under your profile and uses to match you to searches like "emergency plumber" or "water heater installation." Every service should map to something a customer can actually book or pay for.

Service areas. If you go to customers (plumber, electrician, photographer), you can list up to 20 service areas. List the actual cities you serve. Granular regions rank better than one broad polygon. If you serve five cities around London, list all five as separate entries.

How to use Claude Code to fill this all in:

Open Claude Code in a new folder for your business. Create a file called business-info.md with your basic details (name, address, phone, website, what you do in 2 sentences). Then run this prompt:

• Read business-info.md. I need to optimize my Google Business Profile.
• Research my competitors at [paste 3 competitor URLs or names] using web search.
• Look at what primary category they use, what secondary categories they list,
• what services they offer, and what service areas they cover.

Then give me:

1. The single most specific primary category I should use
2. Up to 9 secondary categories that genuinely fit my business
3. Up to 50 services I should list, each one a real service I could offer
4. Up to 20 service areas based on the cities around my location

For each recommendation, give me a one-line reason why I should include it.

Do not invent services I cannot deliver. Stick to what genuinely fits.

Review the output critically. Apply the BS test: if a category, service, or area is not something you can genuinely deliver, remove it. Google's 2026 quality system suspends profiles that game this.

Other fields that matter:

Business description (750 character max). Use Claude to write this in your voice from your business-info.md file. Include what you do, who you serve, and what makes you different. No keyword stuffing.

Hours of operation. Set them honestly. If you offer 24/7 emergency service, mark it. Google often suppresses profiles outside their stated hours.

Photos. Upload at least 20 to start, then add new ones weekly. Real photos of your work, your team, your storefront. Stock images hurt you. Profiles with 100+ photos get significantly more engagement.

Products. Different from services. Products are physical or specific offerings with a price. Add these if relevant. They increase click-through, not impressions.

Attributes. Wheelchair accessible, women-owned, LGBTQ+ friendly, accepts credit cards. Pick the ones that genuinely apply. Google uses these in filtered searches and AI summaries.

Q&A section. Pre-seed common questions. Use this prompt with Claude:

• Read business-info.md. Generate 8 of the most common questions a potential
• customer would ask about my business before booking. For each question, write
• a clear, helpful answer in 2 to 3 sentences. These will be posted to my Google
• Business Profile Q&A section. Make them genuinely useful, not promotional.
• Post these to your GBP under "Questions & Answers." Answer your own seeded questions. This pre-populates the section before random people ask their own.