Complete Local SEO Guide / Step 10
What images to add to your Google Business Profile
Photos are the last lever, and one of the quietest. The right images, geotagged with the business location and uploaded to both the site and the profile, add a local signal that a lot of competitors skip. This is the final step: real photos, tagged with where the business is, in both places.
- Use original photos that follow the brand colors and a consistent style. A handful of relevant images per page is plenty.
- Never use stock images or map screenshots. They add nothing and can read as a padded profile.
- Geotag every image before upload by writing the business GPS coordinates into its EXIF data.
- Upload to both the website and the profile. Google strips metadata from profile uploads but may read it during upload, so geotag regardless.
Add the right images
Work these three in order for each batch of photos. The gain is small per photo and real across the set.
- Add original photos. Follow the brand colors and a consistent style so the set looks like one business. A handful of relevant images per page is plenty. Use real photos of the work, the team and the premises, not stock images or map screenshots.
- Geotag them before upload. Write the business GPS coordinates into each image's EXIF data before it ever leaves your machine. Some businesses see a ranking lift within a day of doing this.
- Upload to both the website and the profile. Google strips metadata from profile uploads, but it may read that metadata during the upload itself, so geotag the images regardless. On the website the coordinates stay in the file, which is a second place the local signal lives.
Add original photos of the work, the team and the premises, following the brand colors and a consistent style so the set reads as one business. A handful of relevant images per page is plenty. Use real photos, never stock images or map screenshots.
Do geotagged images help ranking?They add a local signal. Writing the business GPS coordinates into each image's EXIF data before upload is a quiet edge that many competitors skip, and some businesses see a ranking lift within a day. Google strips metadata from profile uploads but may read it during the upload, so geotag regardless.
Should I use stock photos?No. Use original photos of the real business. Stock images and map screenshots add nothing, can read as a padded profile, and miss the chance to carry a geotag that ties the image to the location.
How many photos should I add?A handful of relevant images per page is plenty. Quality and relevance matter more than volume, so add real, on-brand photos that show the business rather than filling the profile with filler.
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