A Quarterly Audit for Your Listings

Listings are not set-and-forget. People move house, change their phone numbers and update their websites. Businesses do the same. A listing that was perfect last spring may now show a number that rings in an empty office, hours that ignore a new Saturday shift or a service you stopped offering. Customers rarely tell you. They simply go elsewhere.

A short, regular audit stops that decay. This guide sets out a routine you can run every three months in about an hour or two, with a checklist, a record and a simple way to improve over time.

Why regular checks matter

Google's guidance for business profiles says that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results, and that if information is not accurate, a profile might not appear for relevant searches. The same logic applies to every directory: accuracy and completeness are what make you findable and trusted.

Wikipedia's summary of studies of local ranking factors records that the quality and consistency of citations, such as the name, address and phone number of a business across sources, mattered, with few duplicates and a fair number of consistent mentions. Regular audits are how you keep that consistency.

Prepare: your master record

You cannot audit without something to audit against. Create a master record of your business facts, if you have not already.

• Business name exactly as shown on your sign
• Full address in a consistent format, with postcode
• Phone number(s) and email
• Website address
• Opening hours and special hours
• Categories and services
• Attributes: payment, access, delivery, languages
• Description text and a short version
• Photographs in use
• Social and other profiles
• List of listings: where they are, who owns them and when they were last checked

Keep it in one shared place. Every audit compares the world with this record, and every change begins here.

The ninety-minute audit

Step one: list where you appear (15 minutes)

Search for your business name, old names, your phone number and your address, in the main map services and the directories you use. Note every listing you find. Compare the list with your master list. Add new ones, mark any you do not recognise.

Step two: check the core facts (30 minutes)

For each listing, check:

• Name: matches your sign.
• Address and pin: correct, with the pin on the entrance.
• Phone and email: correct and answered.
• Website: correct, working, loads on a phone.
• Hours: correct for every day, including upcoming holidays and special closures.
• Status: open, not marked closed or moved.

Fix what you can on the spot. Note anything that needs a request or a dispute.

Step three: check the rest (20 minutes)

• Category and services: still accurate and specific?
• Attributes: still true? Anything new to add?
• Description: current, in customer words?
• Photographs: current, honest, sharp? Anything to replace?
• Reviews and questions: any unanswered?
• Links: do they go to the right pages?

Step four: look for problems (15 minutes)

• Duplicates: any new ones?
• Incorrect third-party edits: has someone changed your details?
• Unfamiliar owners: has anyone else claimed a listing?
• Inconsistencies between listings and your own website.

Step five: record and plan (10 minutes)

Update the master record with the date of the audit and any changes. List actions with owners and dates: requests to send, photographs to take, hours to confirm. Set the next audit date.

What to do with reviews

An audit is a good time to look at reviews.

• Reply to unanswered reviews, politely and briefly, as Google's tips for replying suggest: be professional and courteous, address the reviewer by name, acknowledge what they said and respond promptly.
• Read for patterns. Three people mentioning the same problem is a prompt to fix it.
• Report reviews that break the rules, such as fake or abusive content.
• Thank people who have said something specific and kind.
• Never offer incentives for reviews or for removing them.

Cross-check with your own channels

Compare your listings with your website, your invoices, your email signature and your social profiles. A mismatch in any of them is an error somewhere. Decide which is right, and fix the rest.

If you have a multi-branch business, run the audit branch by branch, with each manager responsible for confirming their own details. Our article on multi-branch listings describes how.

Add seasonal checks

Some details change at predictable times. Add a few extras to the audit at the right moments.

• Before holidays: set special hours and closures.
• Before summer and winter: update seasonal hours and services.
• Before busy periods: check booking links and delivery details.
• After a refurbishment or move: photographs, address and pin.
• After a rebrand: name, logo and every listing.

Keep a log of changes

A simple log makes audits faster and helps if something goes wrong. For each change, note the date, what changed, where and why. If a directory later shows an old value, you can see when you corrected it and can chase accordingly.

Measure whether it is working

You do not need elaborate analytics, but a few measures help.

• Number of listings found and correct.
• Number of errors found per audit. It should fall over time.
• Views, calls and direction requests, where directories show them.
• Reviews added and answered.
• Customer comments that mention finding you or getting lost.

If errors keep appearing in the same places, look for the cause: an agency, an automatic import or a lack of ownership.

Share the work

If you have a team, give each person a part. One checks hours and special days, one checks photographs and one handles reviews. Rotate. Brief anyone who joins on why accuracy matters.

Be kind to yourself

You will not find every problem. Directories change, imports happen and new listings appear. The point is to keep the number of errors small and to fix the important ones fast. Ninety minutes every three months is far more effective than a heroic clean-up every three years.

A worked example

A hairdresser with one salon and listings in a map service and three directories sets a quarterly audit for the first Monday of January, April, July and October. She keeps a spreadsheet with her master facts and the list of listings.

In April, she finds that one directory shows her old phone number, another lacks the new Thursday late opening and a third has a duplicate created automatically. She fixes the first two directly, reports the duplicate and records the dates. She replies to three reviews and replaces her winter photographs. She also notices that her own website footer shows the old number, and corrects it.

In July, the audit finds two minor errors. In October, one. She notes that errors are falling and that bookings from directory visitors have risen slightly. She keeps the routine.

A checklist

• Master record up to date
• Searches for name, old names, phone and address
• Core facts checked on every listing
• Category, attributes, description, photographs reviewed
• Duplicates and unauthorised edits checked
• Reviews answered
• Consistency with website and other channels
• Seasonal extras
• Changes logged
• Next audit scheduled

The categories page here shows how listings are grouped, the search page finds listings by words, and the submit page starts your own listing, which you update from your account.

A short script for each audit

Some people find it easier to work from a script than a list. Open your master record and the first listing. Read the name aloud and compare it with the sign. Read the address and click the map. Dial the phone number from another phone and listen to who answers. Click the website link and check that the page loads on your phone. Read the hours for the coming fortnight and check them against your rota. Look at the category, then at the three most recent reviews. Move to the next listing and repeat. By the fifth listing, the rhythm is quick, and you will spot differences without thinking.

What to do when you find a pattern

If the same mistake appears in several places, look for the source. A wrong phone number across five directories often means one aggregator passed it on, and fixing the original may fix them all. A wrong address in many places may come from an old business register entry. An incorrect category repeated everywhere may come from a data supplier. Trace the pattern, correct the origin where you can and then update the others. It is much cheaper to fix one source than to chase a dozen copies every quarter.

Make the audit part of the calendar

An audit that depends on memory will lapse. Put the four dates in the calendar for the year, name the person responsible and set a reminder a week before. Keep the checklist and master record in the same shared folder so that anyone can pick it up. If the owner is away, the deputy runs it. After each audit, send a three-line note to the team: what you checked, what you found and what changed. That small habit keeps everyone aware that accuracy is part of how the business looks after customers.

Frequently asked questions

Can I automate audits? Parts of it, such as alerts for new mentions, but a human read of each listing is still valuable.

What if I have dozens of listings? Prioritise the main ones, use a spreadsheet and consider a tool that supports bulk updates.

What if I find something wrong that I cannot fix? Note it, follow the directory's process and follow up in the next audit.