What Google's Profile Strength Update Means for Businesses

On President's Day 2023, Google released a small but important change to the Google Search UI portion of Google Business Profile: users who manage a given profile can now see a profile strength score. This score, visible in the top right corner just above all of the action buttons you would use to manage the data on your Google listing, is a persistent reminder of how strong this location's profile actually is.

Google has made many attempts over the years to persuade users to add content to their profiles, but this is the first time they have made a profile strength score so visible to business owners. I don't expect this will be the last of Google's experiments to collect data for Maps — in fact, maintaining an accurate and complete profile is one of the best ways to perform in Google Search.

This change is a little more of an overt nudge than previous attempts. Your profile strength score will only "turn green" if you complete every single onboarding step for a Google listing. This includes features that are considered optional such as enabling messaging or utilizing the free ad spend Google gives each business. Google is coming out and saying it: you should be utilizing every feature we have to offer you in order to make your business better.

But don't worry — if your profile strength score is orange, or even worse, your business's search performance might not even be impacted. Not every feature makes sense for every listing on Google. Messaging might not be allowed in your industry. You may not be interested in ad spend. Your business might not have products, services, or menus to list. Our general advice is this: fill out as much of your profile as makes sense for your business and that will set you up for success in search. The new profile strength score, while directionally helpful, shouldn't hold you back. This score is only visible to you and does not directly interact with search results. If you use a product like Yext Listings to complete as much as your profile as possible, you'll put your business in the best position to perform in search.