Copy What's Ranking Above You: the competitor Google Business gap system
When someone searches your service in your town, Google shows a top three, the map pack. If your competitor sits there and you don't, it is rarely luck. Their Google Business Profile is more complete, better matched to what people search, and backed by fresher reviews.
Here is the good news. Their profile is public. You can study exactly what is working for them, find the gaps in your own, and close them. This guide shows you how, with the exact prompts to give Claude. Budget about 30 minutes.
What you need
Google Maps or Google Search.
Your top three competitors' Google Business Profiles (public).
Your own Google Business Profile.
Claude, to do the comparison and spot the gaps.
Your website, where some of the fixes will land.
Step 1: Find your top three competitors
Open Google and search your main service plus your town, like "bathroom fitter Leeds" or "dentist near me" from your area.
Look at the map pack, the three businesses Google shows with the little map.
Those three are your target. They are the ones Google already trusts for that search.
Do this for two or three of your main services, since different competitors may rank for each.
Step 2: Grab what their listing is doing
For each competitor, open their profile and copy these into a note or doc. This is the raw material.
Business name, exactly as written.
The primary category shown under their name, plus any other categories you can see.
Their services list.
Their business description, in full.
The questions and answers in the Q and A section.
The themes in their reviews. What do happy customers keep mentioning? What words come up?
How many photos they have, and what kind.
Their attributes, like "open 24 hours," "free quotes," "women-owned."
Tip: to see every category a competitor uses, not just the main one, a free browser extension like GMBeverywhere or Pleper will reveal the full list. Optional, but useful.
Step 3: Capture your own profile the same way
Do the exact same for your own Google Business Profile. Same headings. You need an honest picture of where you stand to see the gaps clearly.
Step 4: Run the gap analysis in Claude
Paste everything in and let Claude do the comparison. Here is the main prompt:
Here are three competitor Google Business Profiles and my own. [paste all four, labelled] Compare them and tell me: What categories and services they have that I am missing. The keywords and phrases they use in their descriptions and services that I do not. The customer questions they answer, in Q and A or reviews, that I do not address anywhere. Where their profiles look stronger than mine, like photos, attributes, or review themes. The five highest-impact changes I should make first, in order. Keep it specific and practical, and only suggest categories and services a business like mine would genuinely offer.
Claude gives you a clear, ranked gap list. That is your action plan.
Step 5: Fix your Google Business Profile
Work through the list. In your profile:
Add the missing categories, but only ones you actually offer. Google can suspend you for false categories, so stay honest.
Add the missing services, with a short description for each.
Rewrite your business description to naturally include the keywords customers search, without stuffing. Use this prompt:
Rewrite my Google Business description in plain, natural language. Work in these keywords where they fit: [paste the keywords Claude found]. Keep it warm and human, under 750 characters, and true to what I actually do.
Add photos if you are behind. Real job photos, before and after, your team, your van.
Turn on any attributes that apply to you.
Step 6: Turn the content gaps into posts and pages
The questions your competitors answer, and the ones nobody answers yet, are content gold. Ask Claude:
From the gap analysis, give me the ten customer questions I should answer publicly. For each, write a short reel hook, an FAQ answer for my website, and a one-line Google Business post.
Now the same research feeds your profile, your website, and your social. You are filling gaps and getting found in more places at once.
Step 7: Rework your review approach
If a competitor's reviews keep mentioning something, like "on time" or "tidy," and yours don't, that is a cue. Ask for reviews that mention the service and the outcome. When you reply to reviews, work in your service and town naturally. Have Claude draft the replies:
Here are my recent Google reviews. Draft a warm, short reply to each that thanks them and naturally mentions the specific service and my town, without sounding robotic.
The honest rules
Do not copy their text word for word. Use it as a map of what to cover, then write it in your own voice.
Only add categories and services you truly offer. Faking it risks a suspension.
This is about being more complete and more useful than them, not impersonating them.
Do it again every quarter
Profiles and rankings shift. Run this every three months. Each time, the gaps get smaller and you climb closer to that top three, then hold it.
You are not guessing at local SEO. You are reading the businesses Google already rewards and doing what they do, better.
Fifteen years doing this for owners like you. Follow along and I will keep the fixes coming.
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