What the audit covers
- Ranking grid. A 7 by 7 scan around the business for the main search, so we start from a measured position instead of a feeling.
- Google Business Profile. Category, services, attributes, description, photos, posts, hours, service area, Q&A, products, and whether anything is suspended, pending or duplicated.
- Reviews. Count, recency, velocity, content, reply rate, and anything that looks like a policy breach either way.
- Website. Whether it names the services and suburbs the profile claims, speed on a phone, titles and headings, structured data, broken links, and how it looks beside the top three competitors’ sites.
- Citations. The business name, address and phone across the directories and sources that matter, with every mismatch listed.
- Competitors. The three businesses holding the pack for your main search: what they have that you do not, in categories, reviews, pages and citations.
- AI visibility. Whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot name you when asked, and what they get wrong.
What the report looks like
Plain English, in order of impact. The first page says what is holding you back and the three things I would do first. The rest is the evidence: the grid, the profile findings, the website findings, the citation list, and the competitor comparison. No jargon tables for their own sake, and no 60-page PDF nobody reads.
The report is yours to act on whether or not you hire me. Some businesses take it to their web developer. That is fine.
| What you see | Most likely cause | What I would do first |
|---|---|---|
| Top 3 at home, invisible 3 km away | Distance plus thin suburb coverage | Suburb pages, service area, reviews from those suburbs |
| Not in the pack anywhere | Category or services wrong, or a suspension | Fix the category and services; check profile status |
| In the pack but few calls | Weak photos, old reviews, poor replies | Review rhythm, real photos, replies |
| Rankings dropped suddenly | Edit triggered a review, duplicate appeared, competitor surged | Check profile status and duplicates, then the grid |
The eight problems I find most often on the Gold Coast
- Wrong or vague primary category ("Contractor", "Business service").
- Three services listed when the business does thirty.
- A website that never names the suburbs the business works in.
- Reviews that stopped a year ago.
- An old suburb or phone number still living on half the directories.
- A duplicate profile splitting the reviews.
- A profile that was suspended after a well-meant edit, with nobody chasing reinstatement.
- Nothing wrong at all, except that the three businesses above you have simply done more, for longer.
How to run a rough audit yourself
You can get a long way in an hour. Search your main service from your own address and from three suburbs away, and write down the top three each time. Open your profile and count the services. Read the date of your newest review. Open your website on your phone and see how long it takes before you can read anything. Google your phone number in quotes. If any of those made you wince, you have found your first fix.
When the answer is "you do not need me"
Some audits come back clean: the profile is complete, reviews are steady, the site is fine, and the grid is green. Those businesses need a monthly check, not a retainer, and I say so. Others come back with a suspension or a duplicate that has to be resolved before any SEO is worth doing, and that is a different conversation. The audit is how we both find out.
Checklist
What to have ready for the audit
- Manager access to the Google Business Profile
- Your website login, or your developer’s contact
- The three searches you most want to be found for
- The suburbs you actually work in, in order
- Any old business names, addresses or phone numbers from the last five years
A finished ranking grid: a Gold Coast plumber in the top 3 at 46 of 49 scan points, 1 October 2026. Every engagement starts and is measured with a scan like this.