Google Business Profile Auditor

Audit any Google Business Profile in seconds. Input a business name and city — get back a scored report with severity-ranked issues, specific recommendations, and a competitor comparison, all in structured JSON.

Built for marketing agencies, freelancers, and anyone who needs to audit local business listings at scale without doing it manually.

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What It Does

1. Searches Google Maps for the target business
2. Extracts profile data using Apify's maintained compass/crawler-google-places actor
3. Scores 8 auto-detectable profile factors (max 90 points)
4. Flags manual-check items that cannot be auto-detected
5. Compares the business against nearby competitors
6. Returns a complete audit JSON to your dataset

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Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
businessName	string	Yes	Business name (exact or approximate)
city	string	Yes	City where the business is located
state	string	No	US state abbreviation — narrows results
maxCompetitors	integer	No	Competitors to include (1–5, default: 3)

Example input:

{
  "businessName": "Joe's Pizza",
  "city": "Austin",
  "state": "TX",
  "maxCompetitors": 3
}

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Output

All results are saved to the default dataset. One item per run.

Top-level fields

Field	Type	Description
businessName	string	Matched business name from Google Maps
searchedAs	string	The name you passed as input
city	string	City from the listing
state	string	State from the listing
auditDate	string	ISO timestamp of the audit
mapsUrl	string	Direct Google Maps URL for the business
placeId	string	Google Place ID
score	number	Auto-detected score (0–90)
maxAutoScore	number	Always 90 — max from auto-detectable fields
grade	string	A / B / C / D
summary	string	One-line human-readable summary
profile	object	Raw profile data (see below)
issues	array	Ranked issues found
manualChecks	array	Fields requiring manual verification
recommendations	array	Specific, actionable fixes — one per issue
competitiveInsights	array	Head-to-head comparisons against the competitors found
competitors	array	Nearby competitor summaries, ordered by search rank
poweredBy	string	Always GBP Auditor on Apify Store
dataSource	string	Always compass/crawler-google-places

profile object

Field	Type	Notes
rating	number | null	Average star rating (e.g. 4.3)
reviewCount	number	Total number of reviews
reviewsDistribution	null	Always null — the run requests maxReviews: 0, so Google Maps returns no star breakdown. Kept for schema stability.
hasWebsite	boolean	Whether a website is linked
website	string | null	Website URL if present
phone	string | null	Phone number if present
address	string | null	Full address string
imageCount	number	Total photos on the listing
categories	array	Business category tags
permanentlyClosed	boolean	True if marked permanently closed
temporarilyClosed	boolean	True if marked temporarily closed

issues array items

Field	Type	Values
severity	string	critical / high / medium / low
field	string	Which profile field has the issue
message	string	Human-readable description of the problem

Every point you lose is explained. If the score is below 90, issues names each factor that cost points and recommendations carries a matching fix. A profile that scores full marks on a factor produces no issue for it, so a 90/90 profile returns issues: [] — that empty array means "nothing to fix", not "nothing detected".

Severity is about ranking impact, not about how many points were lost:

Severity	Meaning
critical	Actively suppresses the listing — e.g. marked permanently closed, or a rating below 3.0
high	A missing fundamental — no phone, no website, too few reviews to enter the Local Pack
medium	Present but underbuilt — partial address, thin photo set, no categories
low	Already competitive, short of best practice — e.g. a 4.1 rating or 50-99 reviews

The summary field counts critical and high together as "high-priority".

manualChecks array items

Fields that cannot be auto-detected (business description, recent posts, services listed, Q&A section). Each item has:

Field	Type	Description
field	string	Field name
message	string	What to check manually
why	string	Why it matters for ranking

competitiveInsights array items

Always present when at least one competitor was found (empty array if none were). These compare the target against the competitor set rather than against a fixed benchmark, so they fire even on a high-scoring profile that has no issues left.

Field	Type	Description
type	string	review_gap / review_lead / photo_gap / photo_lead / rating_gap / rating_lead / website_advantage
message	string	The comparison, with the competitor named and the gap quantified
action	string	What to do about it

competitors array items

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Competitor business name
rating	number | null	Their average rating
reviewCount	number	Their total reviews
hasWebsite	boolean	Whether they have a website linked
imageCount	number	Their photo count
rank	number | null	Their position in the search results
mapsUrl	string | null	Their Google Maps URL

Competitors are returned in ascending rank order (any unranked result sorts last), and other locations of the same business are excluded — a shared domain, a matching name, or a subsidiary that carries the parent brand in its title will not be returned as a rival. Google re-ranks local results per search, so the specific competitors returned for the same business can differ between runs.

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Scoring Breakdown

Factor	Max Points	Notes
Phone number	10	Present or not
Website linked	15	Present or not
Star rating	15	Scaled: 4.5+ = full, 4.0+ = 10, 3.5+ = 5, <3.5 = 0
Review count	20	Scaled: 100+ = full, 50+ = 15, 20+ = 10, 5+ = 5, <5 = 0
Photo count	15	Scaled: 20+ = full, 10+ = 10, 3+ = 5, <3 = 0
Category set	5	Present or not
Address complete	10	Full address = 10, partial = 5, missing = 0
Total	90

Grade thresholds: A ≥ 75, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 35, D < 35.

Partial credit on a scaled factor still produces an issue and a recommendation — a listing with 50 reviews scores 15/20 and gets a low severity entry naming the 100-review threshold it fell short of.

Fields not auto-scored (require manual verification):

• Business description text
• Recent Google Business posts
• Services / menu items listed
• Q&A section populated

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Example Output

Generated by running the scorer on a sample profile — the field set, ordering, and summary wording are exactly what a run writes to the dataset.

{
  "businessName": "Joe's Pizza",
  "searchedAs": "Joe's Pizza",
  "city": "Austin",
  "state": "TX",
  "auditDate": "2026-08-26T14:23:00.000Z",
  "mapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJexampleJoesPizza",
  "placeId": "ChIJexampleJoesPizza",
  "score": 45,
  "maxAutoScore": 90,
  "grade": "C",
  "summary": "\"Joe's Pizza\" scored 45/90 (C). 4 issues found (2 high-priority). 3 competitive insights generated. 4 fields require manual verification.",
  "profile": {
    "rating": 4.1,
    "reviewCount": 18,
    "reviewsDistribution": null,
    "hasWebsite": false,
    "website": null,
    "phone": "(512) 555-0100",
    "address": "1234 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704",
    "imageCount": 7,
    "categories": [
      "Pizza restaurant",
      "Italian restaurant"
    ],
    "permanentlyClosed": false,
    "temporarilyClosed": false
  },
  "issues": [
    {
      "severity": "high",
      "field": "website",
      "message": "No website linked to this listing."
    },
    {
      "severity": "low",
      "field": "rating",
      "message": "Rating is 4.1 — solid, but profiles at 4.5+ earn full marks and win more clicks from the Local Pack."
    },
    {
      "severity": "high",
      "field": "reviewCount",
      "message": "Only 18 reviews. Businesses in the Google Local Pack typically have 20+."
    },
    {
      "severity": "medium",
      "field": "images",
      "message": "Only 7 photos. Listings with 10+ photos get significantly more views."
    }
  ],
  "manualChecks": [
    {
      "field": "businessDescription",
      "message": "Manually verify: does your profile have a 400–750 character business description?",
      "why": "Description is not returned by the Google Maps scraper. Log in to GBP to check."
    },
    {
      "field": "recentPosts",
      "message": "Manually verify: have you posted a Google Business update in the last 7 days?",
      "why": "Recent posts signal activity to Google and appear directly in your listing."
    },
    {
      "field": "servicesOrMenu",
      "message": "Manually verify: are your services, products, or menu items listed in GBP?",
      "why": "Listed services help Google match your business to more relevant queries."
    },
    {
      "field": "questionsAndAnswers",
      "message": "Manually verify: have you pre-populated the Q&A section with common questions?",
      "why": "Pre-answered Q&As appear in your listing and reduce friction for new customers."
    }
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "Link your website in Google Business Profile → Info. A missing website significantly hurts local search ranking.",
    "You are close to the 4.5 threshold. Ask recent happy customers for a review — at this rating a handful of 5-star reviews moves the average quickly.",
    "Set up an automated review request: send a follow-up text or email 24 hours after every transaction with a direct link to your Google review page.",
    "Add photos of: exterior (for navigation), interior, staff, and your top products/dishes. Use real photos — stock images are flagged by Google."
  ],
  "competitiveInsights": [
    {
      "type": "review_gap",
      "message": "Your top competitor (Tony's Pizzeria) has 312 reviews vs your 18 — a gap of 294.",
      "action": "Set up an automated post-visit review request (SMS or email) to close this gap systematically."
    },
    {
      "type": "photo_gap",
      "message": "Tony's Pizzeria has 47 photos vs your 7 — a gap of 40.",
      "action": "Upload photos of your exterior, interior, staff, and top products. Aim to exceed the competitor count."
    },
    {
      "type": "rating_gap",
      "message": "Tony's Pizzeria has a higher rating (4.6) than you (4.1).",
      "action": "Review your 1-star and 2-star feedback for recurring themes — one fixable issue often drives most negative reviews."
    }
  ],
  "competitors": [
    {
      "name": "Tony's Pizzeria",
      "rating": 4.6,
      "reviewCount": 312,
      "hasWebsite": true,
      "imageCount": 47,
      "rank": 1,
      "mapsUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/?q=place_id:ChIJexampleTonys"
    }
  ],
  "poweredBy": "GBP Auditor on Apify Store",
  "dataSource": "compass/crawler-google-places"
}

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Pricing

$1.00 per audit — or $0.35 if you are on an Apify Business plan. One run = one complete audit. No separate subscription to this Actor.

Your price depends on your Apify plan

This Actor offers the Apify Store pricing discount. It is applied automatically at run time based on the plan your account is already on — there is nothing to claim or enter.

Your Apify plan	Per audit	100 audits	500 audits
Free	$1.00	$100.00	$500.00
Starter	$0.70	$70.00	$350.00
Scale	$0.50	$50.00	$250.00
Business or above	$0.35	$35.00	$175.00

If you audit profiles in bulk — agency prospecting, client reporting, a monthly re-audit across a book of business — the Business-plan rate is where this Actor is designed to be used.

How the charge is calculated

This Actor is billed pay per event. The charge is Apify's built-in Actor start event, priced per GB of allocated memory. This Actor runs at 2 GB, so one audit bills 2 events: 2 x $0.50 = $1.00 at the Free rate, down to 2 x $0.175 = $0.35 at the Business rate. A further $0.001 covers the single result record written to the dataset.

Costs billed separately by Apify

Two things are not included in the price above:

1. Apify platform usage (compute). This Actor is a lightweight orchestrator — it peaks at roughly 55 MB of real memory and finishes in about 20-70 seconds — so platform usage is typically a fraction of a cent per run, charged at your plan's rates.
2. The sub-actor call. This Actor calls compass/crawler-google-places to fetch Google Maps data. That Actor bills its own pay-per-event charges (a place-scraped event) to your account. See its listing for current rates.

Reliability, and what happens if a run fails

No failed or timed-out runs over the last 30 days — see the run statistics on this listing, which Apify publishes automatically and the developer cannot edit. (Runs a user cancels mid-flight are counted separately by Apify as aborted.)

Be aware that Actor start is charged when a run begins, so a run that fails is still billed. There is no automatic refund. If a run fails or returns nothing useful, open an issue on this Actor and I will make it right.

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Notes

• One audit per run. The input takes a single businessName + city. To audit a book of business, start one run per profile from the Apify API, a scheduled task, or your own script — each run writes its own dataset item, so results can be merged downstream
• Results reflect publicly visible Google Maps data at the time of the run
• Business matching uses name + city — add state if results are ambiguous
• The compass/crawler-google-places sub-actor is maintained by Apify and handles proxy rotation and anti-blocking automatically
• Google Maps data structure may change; the sub-actor is updated by Apify when this happens

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Support

Questions or issues? Open a GitHub issue or contact via the Apify Store listing page.