Most business owners set up their Google Business Profile once: name, phone, hours, a few photos. Then they never open the section that answers the questions a customer asks before deciding to call you. "Can my dad get in with a walker?" "Can I book at 11 p.m.?" "Is this a veteran-owned company?"
That section is called attributes, and in the local SEO (showing up when people nearby search for what you sell) audits I do, it is almost always empty or half-filled with Google's own guesses.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the additional categories field. This is a different blank, and it is even easier to fix.
What Google Business Profile attributes actually are
Attributes are short facts about your business that show up as labels on your profile in Google Search and Maps. Google groups them roughly like this:
Two details most owners miss.
First, the list you see depends on your business category and your country. A dentist sees different options from a roofer. Google says so directly: some attributes "can only be changed in certain locations, countries, or business categories."
Second, you are not the only one who can fill them in. In Google's words, some attributes "may be populated based on inputs from customers who visit your business." If you leave the section blank, strangers answering a quick question in Google Maps can end up filling it for you. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes they do not.
Why this blank section matters for local SEO
Here is the one sentence from Google's own help page that should make you open your profile today: "If you add certain attributes, your business might show up in searches for places with those attributes."
People do search that way. "Wheelchair accessible dentist near me." "Women-owned contractor in Chicago." "Veteran-owned HVAC San Antonio." For some of these customers it is a preference. For others, like someone recovering from hip surgery, it is a hard requirement.
You may have seen the claim that one blank field costs you 40% of the searches you should win. I have never found a real source for that number, and I would not repeat it to a client. Google does not publish how much attributes move your ranking, and I will not pretend to know.
What I do know is simpler. A customer who needs a specific thing reads your profile looking for it. If it is there, you are on the shortlist. If it is blank, a blank does not read as "maybe." It reads as "no," and they call the next business on the map.
A physical therapy clinic in Phoenix that hid its best feature
Earlier this year I went through the profile of a small physical therapy practice in Phoenix, Arizona. Two therapists, a ground-floor clinic, a ramp at the door, accessible parking right outside, and online booking through their scheduling software.
None of that was on their profile. The attributes section showed exactly one thing: "Appointment required," which Google had added by itself. Everything else was written on their website, at the bottom of the About page, where almost nobody looked.
We spent about 20 minutes on it. Wheelchair-accessible entrance, parking and restroom. Online appointments, with the booking link added. Women-owned, because the founder is and she was happy to show it. The attribute work cost them nothing on Google; it was a small part of a one-time local SEO cleanup that cost them $650, about the value of one new patient's first few visits.
Over the next eight weeks, the front desk started hearing a sentence they had never heard before on intake calls: "I saw on Google that you have an accessible entrance." Four new patients said it, three of them coming in after surgery. For a clinic where one patient usually books a course of 8 to 12 visits, that is a very good return on 20 minutes.
The clinic did not get better. The profile just finally said what was already true.
Which attributes to set first
You do not need to tick every box. Start with the ones that answer a deal-breaker question for your customers. Here is how I prioritize them:
| Type of detail | Example | Who looks for it | What I recommend |
|---|---|---|---|
| How people book or get served | Online appointments, onsite services | People booking after hours, people who want you at their home | Set it today if it is true, and add your booking link |
| Getting in the door | Wheelchair-accessible entrance, parking, restroom | Older customers, people after surgery, parents with strollers | Set every one that is true, after checking in person |
| Who owns the business | Women-owned, veteran-owned, Black-owned | Customers and buyers who choose who to support | Set it if it is true and you are comfortable showing it publicly |
| How people pay | Credit cards, mobile payments | Anyone who has been surprised by "cash only" at the counter | Set it; a wrong answer here turns into a bad review |
| Planning ahead | Appointment required | Walk-in customers | Check it matches reality; Google sometimes guesses this one |
How to fill in your attributes in 15 minutes
You do not need a specialist for this part. Here is the routine I use:
If your profile was set up years ago and nobody has opened it since, let's talk. I will go through it with you section by section and tell you which blanks are actually costing you calls and which ones do not matter.
Mistakes I see when owners fill in attributes
Filling in the section is easy. Filling it in badly is also easy. These are the mistakes I fix most often:
Attributes are one small part of the local work I do in my SEO service. If your website hides the same facts at the bottom of a page nobody reads, my web development work fixes that side too. You can see how a project runs on my process page, and the common questions about cost and timing are in the FAQ.
The Bottom Line
Good local SEO is mostly a long list of small, true facts about your business, shown where customers look. Attributes are the easiest of them: free, about 15 minutes, and they answer the question a customer asks before deciding whether to call you. Fill in what is true, fix what Google guessed, and check it twice a year.
Not sure what your profile is missing? Get in touch and tell me about your business.