How much does Google Business Profile management cost in Houston?
Google Business Profile management is usually sold as an add-on or bundled into a local SEO retainer rather than priced alone. At BayouEdge it is part of every package, starting at $750 a month. For most Houston service businesses the profile drives more phone calls than the website does, which makes it the last thing to cut.
Why the profile matters more than the site
For a local service business, the sequence is usually: someone searches on a phone, sees the map results, taps a listing, and calls from the listing. The website is often never opened.
That means the profile is doing the conversion work, and it is the asset most often neglected — because it is free, it feels like it does not need managing.
What ongoing management actually involves
- Categories and services kept accurate, including the secondary categories most businesses never set
- Posts — Google surfaces recent ones, and a dormant profile reads as a dormant business
- Questions and answers — anyone can answer a question on your listing, including competitors
- Photos added on a regular cadence, geotagged where it makes sense
- Reviews — requesting them after completed jobs and replying to all of them, not just the bad ones
- Service area kept consistent with the areas you actually cover
What it costs
BayouEdge does not sell profile management as a standalone line. It is included in every package from $750 a month upward, because doing it without the supporting service and area pages tends to plateau quickly.
If all you want is the profile handled, say so — that is a smaller scope and James will price it on the call rather than pushing a full retainer.
What you can do yourself for nothing
Honestly, quite a lot:
- Claim and verify the listing
- Fill in every field, including the ones that look optional
- Set your real service area
- Ask every satisfied customer for a review, by name, the day the job finishes
- Reply to all reviews within a day or two
If you do only that, you will be ahead of many competitors. Paying someone makes sense when the cadence is the problem — when you know what to do and it keeps not happening.
The mistake that costs most
Setting up as a storefront when you are a service-area business, or the reverse. It changes how Google treats proximity, and it is a configuration error that quietly caps how far your listing reaches.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Business Profile free?
The listing is free. What costs money is somebody keeping it current — posts, photos, questions, review requests and replies — week after week. That cadence is the part most businesses cannot sustain themselves.
How many reviews do I need?
There is no threshold that flips a switch. What matters more is a steady flow rather than a burst, replies to all of them, and reviews that mention the specific service and area — those read as genuine to both people and Google.
Can a competitor damage my listing?
They can suggest edits, answer questions on your listing, and report it. An unmanaged profile is more vulnerable to all three, because nobody notices for weeks.