Master Playbook + Prompts
The 5 things that actually move a Google Business Profile in 2026: Categories, Description, Products, Services, Posts. Every formula below is what the VE GBP Engine uses when it generates a client playbook — same prompts, same rules, same examples.
Contents
1. Categories
The #1 local-pack ranking signal. Primary category alone determines which searches you even show up for.
Rules
- Primary category = what you ARE, not what you wish you ranked for. Get this wrong and the other 4 sections can't save you.
- Fill 5–9 secondary categories, only ones genuinely relevant. Irrelevant categories actively hurt ranking.
- Match how customers search, not your internal terminology ("Mortgage Broker" not "Home Loan Originator Services LLC").
How to pick the right primary in 5 minutes
- Google "[your service] near me" from the city you want to rank in.
- Look at the top 3 Map Pack results.
- Install the GMBSpy Chrome extension (free) — it reveals each competitor's primary + secondary categories, which Google normally hides.
- If 2 of 3 top competitors share the same primary → that's your primary.
- Copy their secondaries for ideas, then keep only the ones that actually describe your business.
2. Description
Greg Seers / BKA Content formula. Cities first, then credibility, then services, then close. Documented to move rankings within 19–30 days.
The 4-part structure (750 char max)
Why cities go first
Google reads the description top-to-bottom and weighs the first ~150 characters most heavily for geographic relevance. Burying cities at the bottom (or leaving them out entirely because "we already have an address") is the #1 mistake Greg sees. Cities at the top, repeated again in Service descriptions, repeated again in Posts = consistent geo signal across all 5 sections.
Gold-standard example (Steve Austin Homes)
ChatGPT prompt (Greg's exact wording)
How to use: Replace the bracketed fields with the client's actual info. ChatGPT gets you 85–90% there. Review for accuracy, strip any made-up services or licenses, then paste into GBP → Edit Profile → Description.
3. Products
The Products tab is now a primary AI Overview citation surface. Every product needs name, description, price, and a URL back to your website.
What goes here
For service businesses, Products = your pillar/hub keywords (the top-level services you actually rank for). Not every sub-service — the parent categories. The VE engine pulls these directly from your "core pages" sheet (pillar-hub rows, sorted by search volume, capped at 20).
Product entry pattern (100–140 chars)
GBP Products tab native fields (use all 4)
| Field | What to put |
|---|---|
| Name | Product / service name with city when relevant (e.g. "FHA Loans Muskegon"). |
| Description | 100–140 char Greg pattern above. Lead with brand + keyword + city. |
| Price | Service businesses: "Free consultation" / "Call for quote" / "Contact for pricing". Never invent dollar amounts. |
| URL | Landing page on your website for that product. Every product MUST link to its page — this is what AI Overview crawls. |
4. Services
Programmatic SEO matrix: every pillar keyword × every city you serve = one Service entry. This is how you cover every "keyword + city" combo Google could rank you for.
The matrix
If you have 10 pillar keywords and 15 cities served, you build 150 Service entries. Sounds like a lot — it's the whole point. Each entry is a separate ranking surface for a specific keyword + city pair, and competitors typically have 5–10 generic entries with no city.
Service entry pattern (100–150 chars)
City selection
- Start with your primary city (the GBP address city).
- Add cities within roughly a 50-mile radius — the practical sweet spot for non-physical service areas.
- Bias toward smaller, less-competitive towns inside your radius — easier to rank #1 in many small areas than to fight for #4 in one big one.
- The VE engine's "Suggest nearby" button uses OpenStreetMap Overpass to surface populated places within your chosen radius — review and accept only the ones you can actually serve.
Service-area businesses
If you don't have a storefront (mobile services, consulting, etc.), set the GBP as service-area and skip the city suffix on the Service name. Use the keyword alone, then put the city list in the description.
5. Posts
Go Big Systems formula. 24 posts × 8 weeks (Mon / Wed / Fri). Just mentioning a city in posts can move you into that city's Map Pack within 30 days.
Every post follows this structure
City rotation across 24 posts
Cycle through your Cities Served list so every city gets 2–3 dedicated posts over 8 weeks. The same city should never appear in 3 consecutive posts. Tested result (Go Big): a service-area business that had never appeared in a town's Map Pack moved into the top 3 within 30 days from posts alone — no new reviews, no website changes.
Post type mix (24 posts)
| Type | Count | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Educational | ~9 | How-tos, market updates, "what to expect" tips. Hook = a question your customers actually ask. |
| Promotional | ~6 | Offers, deadlines, package highlights. Always include the CTA. |
| Proof / social | ~5 | Case studies, testimonials, stats. Quote a specific result, not "great work". |
| Seasonal / timely | ~4 | Holidays, local events, news. The freshness signal Google rewards. |
Images for posts
- Real photos: work in progress, finished projects, team, location, before/after.
- Crop horizontal (4:3 or 16:9) — Google crops vertical photos badly.
- Include the city name in the image filename before upload (
fha-loan-muskegon.jpg) — small but free signal.