How Often Should You Update Your Google Business Profile?
Michael Carpenter · June 22, 2026
I get asked this one a lot, usually by a contractor who set their profile up once, years ago, and is wondering why it's not pulling its weight anymore.
The short answer: more often than you think, but not every part needs the same attention. Some things need weekly touches, others just need a check every few months.
Photos: every 2-3 weeks
This is the one that surprises people the most. Google's algorithm reads ongoing photo uploads as a signal that a business is actively operating, not just a listing that exists. A profile that hasn't had a new photo added in eight months looks dormant, even if the business is thriving. This is one of the reasons contractors disappear from the map pack even when their profile was set up correctly at the start.
You don't need a photographer for this. A quick photo of a finished job, a truck on site, or even your crew at work is enough. The goal is consistency, not production value.
Reviews: ongoing, ideally same-day
This isn't really an "update" in the traditional sense, but it's the most important recurring activity tied to your profile. Review count and recency directly affect your ranking in local search results. A profile that's actively collecting reviews every week looks fundamentally different to Google's algorithm than one that picked up three reviews two years ago and nothing since.
Business hours: whenever they actually change, plus a quarterly check
Holiday hours, seasonal hours, anything that shifts your availability needs to be reflected immediately. Beyond that, it's worth a quick quarterly check just to confirm nothing drifted or got accidentally changed.
Services and categories: every few months, or whenever you add something new
If you start offering a new service, get that added to your profile right away, it's a missed opportunity every day it's not listed. Beyond that, a check every few months to make sure your categories still accurately reflect what you do is worth the five minutes it takes.
Posts and updates: weekly, if you're using them
Google Business Profile has a posting feature similar to a social feed, seasonal promotions, completed project highlights, that kind of thing. Not every contractor uses this, but if you do, weekly is a reasonable cadence to keep it feeling active without becoming a chore.
Q&A section: check monthly
Anyone can post a question on your profile, and anyone, including people who aren't you, can answer it. Checking this monthly ensures you're the one answering questions about your own business, with accurate information, rather than a stranger's guess sitting there unanswered.
What happens if you ignore all of this
Nothing happens overnight. But over months, a neglected profile slowly loses ground in local search rankings to competitors who are actively maintaining theirs. Map pack visibility rewards activity and freshness, not a profile that was perfect once and then abandoned.
The takeaway
Your Google Business Profile isn't a one-time setup task, it's closer to a living part of your marketing that needs small, regular attention. The contractors who show up consistently in local search aren't necessarily doing more work overall, they've just built these small updates into a routine instead of letting the profile go stale. The same principle applies to review velocity — a steady stream of recent reviews is more valuable than a one-time push.
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