A Step-by-Step GBP Setup Framework Built for Advisory Firms

When someone in your city searches "financial advisor near me" or "retirement planning [city]," the first results they see aren't your website. They're Google's local Map Pack — a set of three business listings that Google surfaces above organic results for location-based queries.

Your Google Business Profile controls what appears in that Map Pack. It's the profile photo, the star rating, the hours, the reviews, the category label, and the link to your website. Before a prospect reads a single word on your site, they've already formed an impression from your GBP.

Industry benchmarks suggest that a meaningful share of local search clicks go to Map Pack results rather than the ten organic links below them — though the exact split varies by query type and market. For financial advisors operating in a defined geographic area, this makes GBP one of the highest-use local visibility tools available.

The challenge for advisory firms is that GBP optimization intersects with compliance. Reviews and testimonials are regulated. Descriptions of services need to be accurate. And unlike e-commerce businesses, financial advisors can't simply import a library of client success stories. This guide walks through setup, optimization, and review strategy with those constraints in mind.

Who this guide is for: Independent RIAs, fee-only planners, wealth management practices, and broker-dealers managing their own local marketing — particularly those in competitive metro markets where Map Pack visibility directly affects prospecting volume.

Google evaluates GBP completeness as a ranking signal. Profiles with missing fields — no hours, no description, no photos — rank below profiles that are fully built out, even when the underlying firm is more established. Here's the setup sequence that matters:

1. Claim and verify your listing. Go to Google Business Profile Manager and search for your firm name. If a listing already exists, claim it. If not, create one. Verification typically happens via postcard to your office address, though some categories qualify for phone or email verification.
2. Match your NAP exactly to your website. Name, Address, Phone — these must be identical across your GBP, your website footer, and every directory where your firm appears. Inconsistencies dilute local authority. Use your legal business name, not a marketing tagline.
3. Set accurate business hours. Include holiday hours when relevant. Prospects who call after hours and hit voicemail based on incorrect GBP hours will not call back.
4. Write a 'From the business' description that's specific. You have 750 characters. Use the first 250 where they matter most. Describe who you serve, what services you offer, and your geographic focus. Avoid generic language — "helping clients achieve their financial goals" tells Google and prospects nothing useful.
5. Add all relevant services. Google allows you to list individual services within your profile. Use this section to surface specific offerings: retirement planning, tax-efficient investing, estate planning coordination, business owner financial planning. This feeds keyword relevance for service-specific searches.
6. Upload photos. At minimum: a team photo, office exterior, and your logo. Profiles with photos receive more engagement than those without, in our experience working with advisory practices. Google recommends at least three photos to start.

Complete setup takes two to three hours. The ROI on that time compounds over months as your profile builds authority.

Your primary GBP category is the single most important field in your profile. It tells Google what searches your listing should appear for. Choose wrong, and you'll rank for irrelevant queries while missing the ones that drive client inquiries.

For financial advisors, the most commonly appropriate primary categories are:

• Financial Planner — best fit for comprehensive planning practices, fee-only firms, and RIAs whose primary service is financial planning
• Financial Consultant — appropriate for advisory firms with a broader scope of consulting services
• Investment Service — relevant for firms where portfolio management is the dominant service
• Wealth Management Service — appropriate for firms targeting high-net-worth clients with integrated planning and investment management

Avoid using generic categories like "Financial Services" or "Business Service" as your primary. These are too broad to signal relevance for the specific searches your target clients use.

Secondary categories let you capture additional search relevance. You can select up to nine additional categories. Common secondary choices for advisory firms include: Retirement Planner, Tax Consultant (if you offer tax services), Estate Planning Attorney (only if licensed), and Insurance Agency (only if applicable).

One caution: Don't add categories for services you don't actually offer. Google may flag this as misleading, and prospects who contact you based on a miscategorized service create a poor experience. Accuracy matters both for compliance and for conversion.

If you serve a niche — small business owners, medical professionals, divorcing individuals — your GBP description and posts can reflect that specificity even when no exact-match category exists for it.

This section is educational content, not legal or compliance advice. Rules governing testimonials and endorsements for investment advisers are specific to your registration status, state regulators, and firm compliance policies. Verify your current obligations with your compliance counsel or RIA compliance consultant before implementing any review solicitation process.

Reviews are among the most visible trust signals on your GBP listing. A profile with fifteen detailed five-star reviews and a competitor with two generic ones are not competing equally in the eyes of a local prospect — or Google's ranking algorithm.

For many years, RIAs registered with the SEC were prohibited from using client testimonials in advertising. That changed with the SEC's Marketing Rule (Rule 206(4)-1), which became effective for most RIAs in November 2022. The updated rule permits testimonials and endorsements — including reviews — subject to specific conditions:

• Required disclosures must accompany testimonials (the reviewer's status as a current client, whether compensation was paid)
• Testimonials cannot be false, misleading, or deceptive
• If the testimonial comes from a compensated promoter, additional disclosure and written agreement requirements apply
• State-registered investment advisers may be subject to different or more restrictive state rules — check with your state securities regulator

In practical terms, most advisory firms operating under the Marketing Rule can now ask satisfied clients to leave Google reviews — but should have a documented process that aligns with their compliance program. Many firms build review solicitation into their annual client meeting workflow or client service cadence.

What a compliant review process typically looks like: A personal, unsolicited request (not mass email blast) to a client after a positive interaction, a direct link to your GBP review page, and no quid pro quo. Never offer incentives for reviews. Never ask only selected clients while hiding negative feedback.

For broker-dealers, FINRA Rule 2210 governs communications with the public. Review solicitation practices should be reviewed against your firm's supervisory procedures. The rules differ from the SEC Marketing Rule in meaningful ways.

Most advisory firms set up their GBP and then ignore it. That's a missed opportunity. Google Business Profile includes a Posts feature that functions similarly to a lightweight social feed — content you publish shows on your listing in search results and on Google Maps.

Posts serve two purposes: they signal to Google that your profile is actively maintained (a relevance signal), and they give prospects something to evaluate before clicking through to your site.

What to post as a financial advisor:

• Brief educational content tied to planning topics (contribution limit updates, tax deadline reminders, Social Security claiming considerations)
• Event announcements for webinars, workshops, or community presentations
• Service highlights that describe a specific offering in plain language
• Seasonal planning prompts (open enrollment, year-end tax moves, Q1 IRA contributions)

Posts expire after seven days by default unless you use the "Event" post type with a defined end date. A weekly posting cadence keeps your profile fresh without requiring significant content resources. Each post should be 100-300 words, include a photo when possible, and end with a clear next step (call, visit our website, schedule a call).

What to avoid in posts: Specific investment recommendations, performance claims, and any content that your compliance team hasn't reviewed against FINRA or SEC advertising rules. Treat GBP posts the same way you'd treat any public marketing content — because they are.

Over time, a consistent posting cadence — combined with a complete profile, the right categories, and a growing review count — builds the local authority that pushes your listing toward the top three Map Pack positions in your area. The firms that maintain this over six to twelve months tend to hold those positions because most competitors don't sustain the effort.

Your Google Business Profile doesn't operate in isolation. Google's local ranking algorithm weighs three broad factors: relevance (does this business match the search?), distance (how close is it to the searcher?), and prominence (how well-known and trusted is this business online?).

GBP optimization directly addresses relevance — through category selection, description, and service listings. But prominence is built across your entire local digital footprint: citations in directories, links from local websites, reviews across multiple platforms, and the authority of your own website.

This means your GBP strategy should run in parallel with:

• Citation consistency — ensuring your firm's NAP is accurate on platforms like Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, the NAPFA advisor directory, FINRA BrokerCheck, and any local chamber or bar association listings
• On-site local signals — your website should include location-specific content, an embedded Google Map, and schema markup that mirrors your GBP data
• Review platform diversification — while Google reviews carry the most weight for local rankings, reviews on other platforms contribute to overall prominence

The local SEO page in this resource cluster covers the full picture of local visibility for advisory firms. The GBP is the most visible piece — it's what prospects see first — but it performs best when the signals supporting it are consistent and credible.

If you're working with a marketing partner to manage this, ensure they understand both the local SEO mechanics and the compliance environment specific to financial advisory firms. Generic local SEO processes designed for restaurants or law firms don't account for SEC or FINRA advertising rules, and those gaps create real risk.

For firms ready to build a compliant, optimized local presence without managing it in-house, see our professional GBP management for financial advisors.