Why an Incomplete Profile Can Make You Invisible to Google’s AI

You set up your Google Business Profile ages ago. You added your name, address, and phone number, and that was that! With everything else on your plate, I know you probably haven’t thought about it much since.

For a long time, that worked out fine. Somebody searched “cafe Ari”, and since you’re a cafe in Ari, you popped right up.

But people are starting to ask a lot of different questions now, like “is there a quiet cafe near BTS Ari with Wi-Fi where I can work all afternoon?”

Fact is, your address alone can’t answer a question like that. And if your profile never mentions your Wi-Fi…well, how would anybody or any search engine know you have it?

The short answer

AI features like Google’s Ask Maps respond to specific questions using the information that’s known about a place. If your profile leaves out your services, categories, or details like parking and Wi-Fi, there’s less to match you with. Google says complete profiles are more likely to show up, so it’s worth your time to fill in those gaps!

How does Google’s AI find out about my business?

The newest example is Ask Maps, a feature in Google Maps powered by Google’s Gemini AI. It sounds a bit complicated, but it’s basically Google Maps you can have a full conversation with! One of Google’s own examples is “Is there a public tennis court with lights on that I can play at tonight?” It started rolling out in the US and India back in March, and it has since reached other countries like Australia, so it might not show up on your phone yet. But it’s a good example of the kinds of questions people are starting to ask!

As for where those answers come from, Google says that when you ask it to plan a trip, Maps analyzes information from over 300 million places, including reviews written by its community of contributors.

Google’s announcement for developers describes something similar for apps built with its Gemini AI, noting that Google Maps “uses data from places, and other related content like user reviews, as sources to help generate the response.” One of its examples even uses Maps data for a venue’s operating hours.

So your profile details and your customer reviews are part of what gets read. But Google doesn’t publish how much weight each of them carries, and nobody outside Google can tell you for sure.

Does an incomplete profile really make me invisible?

For that specific question, it can. Honestly though, I’d be a bit more careful with that word, since you won’t disappear from Google just because you skipped a couple of fields.

Sure, Google also gathers information from other places, including your website, third parties, and people who contribute to Maps. That means a review might mention your Wi-Fi even if you never put it on your profile. But leaving your details up to everybody else isn’t ideal.

Picture somebody choosing between two cafes near BTS Ari, asking for a quiet place with Wi-Fi and outdoor seating.

Cafe One has listed its name, address, business hours, and the basic category “Cafe”.

Cafe Two has all of that filled out as well, plus Wi-Fi and outdoor seating marked as yes, photos showing its garden tables, and a description mentioning people working there in the afternoons.

Which of those two places do you think is easier to match to that question?

See how that works? Cafe One might have the better coffee and the same Wi-Fi, but nobody would know that from its profile.

Google’s own help pages point the same way: “Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results.” And on attributes (those small details like Wi-Fi or outdoor seating), it explains that “your business might show up in searches for places with those attributes” if you take the time to add them.

Is there a “completeness score”, and does it affect my ranking?

Sort of! Google offers a Profile Strength Indicator for verified businesses, which helps you find and fill in missing info like your description, hours, and contact details. You can open it right from your Business Profile.

You might read online that this score feeds directly into an “internal confidence metric” that decides your ranking. But Google doesn’t publish anything like that! In fact, it says it does its best to keep its algorithm details “confidential”, so treat anyone claiming to know the secrets with a bit of suspicion.

So I’d just use Profile Strength as a to-do list, and there’s no need to chase a 100% score!

Google does still tell us a few useful things. It says relevance is how well a profile matches what someone is searching for, and to help with this you should “provide complete and detailed business info.” It also shares these figures: customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete profile, and 70% more likely to visit. Those are Google’s own numbers and it doesn’t explain how it got them on that page, but the general direction makes sense to me.

Which details are easiest to skip?

The basics usually get filled in on day one. These three tend to get left behind.

Additional categories

Your primary category should be as specific as possible. Google’s example is choosing “Nail salon” over “Salon”, and it notes that the categories you select affect your local ranking. You can also add a few additional categories for other parts of your business, like a grocery store with a bakery and a deli. But don’t add one for every single product you sell, because Google says not to do that.

Services

Businesses in certain categories can list their specific services, and Google says a service may be highlighted on your profile when someone searches for it. You can choose from suggestions or add your own, so try using the plain words your customers use. “Root canal” will always mean more to a patient than “general treatments”!

Attributes

Attributes are the yes-or-no details, like Wi-Fi, parking, or wheelchair access. What options are available depends on your category, and some can even be added by customers who visit. Only mark what’s true though, because promising outdoor seating you don’t have will definitely show up in your reviews!

A quick 5-point check you can do now!

Open your Business Profile, and give yourself about ten minutes to go through this.

1. Take a look at your categories. Is your primary category the most specific option available, and do your additional categories cover the other main services you offer?

2. Check your services or products. Is everything you’d want customers to find you for listed in plain, simple words they would use?

3. Go through every attribute you see. Open each section and answer anything left blank, since it’s easy to miss a whole section.

4. Double-check your hours and contact details. Make sure your phone number and website link work properly, and that your special hours are set for any holidays.

5. Read over your description and look through your photos. Would a total stranger know what you offer and what it feels like to visit? For instance, if you have outdoor seating, do you have a photo showing it off?

Then ask Google or an AI assistant the kind of specific question your customers would ask, and see what comes up. It won’t tell you exactly how you’re being judged, and answers can change from one try to the next, but it often makes your gaps pretty obvious.

What about everywhere else my business is listed?

Your Google profile is definitely the biggest piece to get right, but it isn’t the only place people and AI assistants look. If your info is complete on Google but out of date everywhere else, you’ve only solved part of the problem. That’s why keeping your details consistent for AI assistants is so important! If you’re not sure where your business stands, our free listing audit checks your name, address, phone number, and hours across up to 14 maps, directories, and AI assistants. It’s an easy way to spot issues outside of Google.

Don't forget to take ten minutes this week to go through your own Google profile and answer everything you can!