Google Business Profile Audit to Action
Four real businesses. Four real Google Business Profile audits. Watch exactly what changed, and the results that followed.
What Is Google Business Profile: Audit to Action?
Google Business Profile: Audit to Action is Cosmik Carrot’s live stream series, hosted by Ben Bradley, where a real business owner sits down to revisit their own Google Business Profile audit. Not theory, not generic best practice. The actual findings, the actual changes made, and the actual results that followed, straight from the business owners who went through it.
New episodes stream live on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram most Tuesdays. Four episodes have aired so far. Here is what changed for each of the four businesses who took their Google Business Profile audit into action.
Sophie Shelley, House of Colour: 194% More Reviews and Ranking #1 Locally
Personal stylist and image consultant, Lichfield & Sutton Coldfield
Before the audit
Sophie’s Google Business Profile had the bare minimum: a handful of details and 19 reviews, with no real sense of how many people were actually looking at it. She had not linked her social profiles, added photos, or added any video, despite running a highly visual, image-led business.
What changed
Within hours of her audit, Sophie added photos and video (including the draping images that show clients exactly what she does), linked her social profiles, added a direct booking link, and started posting events and offers regularly.
The result
Sophie’s reviews have grown 194%, from 19 to 56, and she now ranks #1 in the local map pack for both “image consultant Lichfield” and “fashion stylist.” The large majority of her new enquiries now come through Google.
“I’ve been shocked about how basic it was. There’s no point being the world’s best-kept secret.”
Sophie Shelley, House of Colour
Want results like this for your business? Book your free Google Business Profile audit. See more from Sophie at House of Colour.
Neil Betts, Go True North: The Missing Detail That Was Costing Half His Traffic
Business coaching for first-time founders, Cannock Chase
Before the audit
Neil’s profile still carried his original Australian business presence and had no UK location or service area set. It generated zero enquiries. The audit’s single biggest finding: without a location, Neil had no way of showing up on Google Maps, which turned out to account for roughly half of all traffic to a well-optimised profile.
What changed
Neil added his location and service area, connected his CRM so reviews and posts happen automatically, and linked his growing YouTube channel, LinkedIn and TikTok profiles to his Google Business Profile.
The result
Neil’s reviews have grown from 5 to 25, his website traffic is up tenfold, and he now gets 3 to 4 discovery call bookings a week directly from his profile. He has also had two unprompted sponsorship enquiries from companies who found him on YouTube, then checked his Google profile to validate him before making contact.
“Suddenly it’s worth a million dollars to me. You don’t know until you know.”
Neil Betts, Go True North
Want results like this for your business? Book your free Google Business Profile audit. See more from Neil at Go True North.
Tony McBride, McBride Coaching: From an Unreachable Phone Number to #1 in Belfast
CV, interview and career transition coach, Belfast
Before the audit
Tony’s profile had the wrong phone number listed, meaning nobody who called could actually reach him. It also still carried his old business name from before he rebranded, and hadn’t been touched since two or three reviews were added a long time before.
What changed
Tony corrected his phone number and business name, set his service area correctly (learning that his profile could legitimately cover both Belfast and across the border into the Republic of Ireland), and began actively asking past clients for reviews.
The result
Tony’s reviews have grown 400%, from 4 to 20, and he now ranks #1 in the local map pack for “career coach Belfast”, up from not even appearing on the first page. He has also won Northern Ireland Professional Services Startup of the Year, promoted directly through his profile, and is now a finalist for the UK Startup Awards.
“I’d still have the wrong phone number without this. It was an instant buy-in once I saw the value.”
Tony McBride, McBride Coaching
Want results like this for your business? Book your free Google Business Profile audit. See more from Tony at McBride Coaching.
Matt Small, T150 Energy: A More Professional Profile, With the Biggest Win Still to Come
Energy procurement and cost analysis, running the Payback Scheme for care, education and charity clients, Rugeley
Before the audit
Matt’s profile still showed his home address publicly, had no services listed, and had never generated a single meaningful enquiry. It had been set up years earlier and left untouched.
What changed
Matt removed his home address, correctly set the profile as a service area business, added his services, and fixed his logo and photos so the profile actually represented T150 Energy.
The result
The profile now looks like a proper representation of the business, and Matt has already used exactly the same steps to set up his wife’s new business profile, which is now ranking #1 in her area. The one thing Matt hasn’t done yet is actively ask his own clients for reviews, by his own admission the next item on his list, and the one lever every other guest in this series proves makes the single biggest difference.
“It’s an absolute no-brainer. Thirty minutes tops to get it set up and looking as it should.”
Matt Small, T150 Energy
Want results like this for your business? Book your free Google Business Profile audit. See more from Matt at T150 Energy.
What These Four Audits Have in Common
Run these four episodes side by side and the same shape appears every time. Something small and easy to miss, a missing location, an old phone number, a home address left in public, a profile that just never got a second look, was quietly capping how many local customers each business could reach. None of the fixes took more than a few hours. And in every single case, the biggest single driver of new enquiries was the same thing: real Google reviews, actively asked for, not left to chance.
None of these four businesses paid for advertising to get these results. A complete, accurate, actively updated Google Business Profile is free. The audit simply showed each business exactly where theirs was falling short, and what to do about it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Google Business Profile audit is a full review of your free Google listing, covering accuracy, completeness, photos, posts, service areas, categories and reviews, to find exactly what is holding your profile back from ranking and converting.
A proper audit checks your business information for accuracy (name, phone number, address or service area), your categories and services, your photos and posts, your review volume and response rate, and how you currently rank in the local map pack for your key search terms.
Cosmik Carrot’s Google Business Profile audit snapshot is free. See the audit page for details on what’s included and how to book one.
Every business in this series made most of their changes within a single day of their audit. Ranking improvements and review growth typically build over the following weeks and months as the profile stays active.
At minimum once a year, or any time you rebrand, change your phone number or address, or notice enquiries from Google have gone quiet.
Want Results Like These For Your Business?
Every business featured in this series started with the same free Google Business Profile audit. Book yours and find out exactly what’s holding your profile back.
