[ { "slug": "quick-start", "title": "Quick Start Guide", "intro": "Welcome to GBPly! This guide walks you through setting up your account, connecting a Google Business Profile, and getting the most out of every feature. Whether you're a business managing your own profile or an agency managing profiles for clients, whether it's one location or hundreds, this documentation will help you get started quickly.", "prerequisites": [ "Sign in to GBPly with an active subscription.", "Use a Google account that is an Owner or Manager of the business on Google." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Create Your Account", "content": [ "To get started, visit the Pricing page or click 'Get Started' from the homepage. Choose the plan that best fits your needs — Business, Business x10, Agency, or Agency x10.", "After successful payment, you'll be taken to a confirmation page. Check your email inbox for a welcome email containing a link to set your password.", "Click the link in the email, set your password, and you're in! You'll be taken to the dashboard screen where you can connect your first Google account." ], "tip": "Keep an eye on your spam or junk folder if you don't see the welcome email within a few minutes." }, { "heading": "Didn't get the welcome email, or has the link expired?", "content": [ "The welcome email is sent immediately after checkout from support@gbply.net and contains a one-time link to set your password. The link is valid for 24 hours.", "If you can't find the email, check your spam, junk, or promotions folder. Add support@gbply.net to your contacts to make sure future emails (review notifications, reports, support replies) land in your inbox.", "If the link has expired or no longer works, you can self-serve a fresh one in seconds: go to the Sign in page, click 'Forgot password?', and enter the email address you used at checkout. A new link will arrive within a minute or two." ], "tip": "Still nothing after a few minutes? Reach out via the Support page or email support@gbply.net and we'll resend it manually." }, { "heading": "Connect Your Google Account", "content": [ "From the dashboard, click 'Connect Google Account' to link your Google account. You'll be taken through a Google OAuth consent screen — grant permission to manage your Business Profiles.", "Once authorised, you're redirected back to the app with your Google account connected. Your account now appears on the Manage Business Profiles page.", "You can connect multiple Google accounts and manage them from the Account page. To add or remove Google accounts later, go to Account in the sidebar." ], "tip": "Make sure you sign in with the Google account that has access to your Business Profile in Google Business Profile Manager. If you're an agency and need a client to grant you access, see our guide on Granting Access to Your Google Business Profile (/user-guide/granting-gbp-access)." }, { "heading": "Connect A Google Business Profile", "content": [ "After connecting your Google account, every Business Profile that account has access to is listed on the Manage Business Profiles page. Click 'Connect' next to a profile to import it into your workspace.", "Once connected, the profile's posts, reviews, insights, and media are synced automatically. A success dialog confirms the connection and lets you go to the dashboard or stay to connect more profiles.", "Your subscription determines how many profiles you can connect to each workspace. For a detailed walkthrough of the Manage Business Profiles page, see the dedicated guide section." ] }, { "heading": "Navigate the Dashboard", "content": [ "The sidebar on the left provides access to every section of the app. On mobile, tap the menu icon to open the navigation.", "Key sections include: Dashboard (overview), GBP Expert (profile health), Reviews, Images, Posts, Q&As, Rank Tracker, and more — each covered in detail in this guide.", "The Help & Support menu at the bottom of the sidebar gives you access to support and this user guide.", "Pages with features that use credits (such as Rank Tracker, GBP Expert, Reviews, Posts and Images) show your workspace's credit balance and a Buy Credits button at the top right." ] }, { "heading": "First Steps After Connecting a Profile", "content": [ "Once a profile is connected, work through this short checklist. It's the minimum we'd recommend for any business or agency-managed location, and it takes well under an hour.", "• Run the GBP Expert check — open GBP Expert and clear the high-priority items first: primary and secondary categories, services, business description, opening hours and attributes. Completing the steps here will get you toward 100%.", "• Set up Rank Tracker and Rank Replay — run your first scan in Rank Tracker to capture a visibility baseline, then click 'Schedule' to set up a weekly recurring scan. Every scheduled scan adds another frame to Rank Replay, building a week-by-week animation of how your rankings move across the map.", "• Start collecting reviews — open Reviews and set up the Website Widget so your latest Google reviews show on your site with a built-in 'Leave a review' button. While you're there, grab your review link and put the other request tools to work: the QR code and printable flyer for in-person visits, and email or SMS review requests for recent customers. Reply to every review as it lands so the profile keeps looking active.", "• Agencies (Agency & Agency x10) — set your workspace branding first — in Workspace Settings, add your logo, colours, portal name and footer text. This applies to every client portal in the workspace, so you set it once instead of per client. An individual portal can still override any field later if one client needs something different.", "• Agencies (Agency & Agency x10) — switch on the automations — in the Automations area of the Client Portal page, enable Auto-schedule Client Rank Scans, Auto-schedule Client Post Generation, Auto-schedule Client Image Uploads and Auto-schedule Client Email Reminders so the routine work and client updates keep running on their own.", "• Agencies (Agency & Agency x10) — open the client portal and share it — on the Client Portal page, turn the portal on, choose which sections your client can see, then send them their portal link so they can approve posts, upload images and follow progress without needing an account. Turn on password protection once the link is with your client." ], "tip": "If you only do one thing, work through the GBP Expert list. Completing the high-priority items gives you the biggest early gain in visibility." }, { "heading": "Understanding Workspaces & Billing", "content": [ "When you sign up, a default workspace is created for you automatically (named after your email address) and your subscription is attached to it. For most single-location businesses, this default setup is all you'll ever need.", "If you manage multiple locations, a higher-tier plan or an increased subscription quantity gives you more profile slots within the same workspace. For example, one Business x10 subscription covers up to 10 profiles.", "Agencies managing clients can choose to keep all profiles in a single workspace or create separate workspaces to isolate client data and billing. Each workspace needs its own subscription.", "For full details, see the Workspaces and Billing & Subscriptions sections of this guide." ], "tip": "Most single-location businesses never need to think about workspaces — your default setup just works." }, { "heading": "How to connect your first Google account", "content": [ "Connect the Google login that can manage your business." ], "steps": [ "Open the **Manage Profiles** page (page address /profile-selection).", "Click **Connect Google Account**.", "On Google's consent screen, choose the Google account that manages your business.", "Grant permission to manage your Google Business Profiles.", "Wait to return to GBPly; your businesses appear under **Available to Connect**." ], "tip": "If the business is missing, check your access in Google Business Profile Manager using the same Google account." }, { "heading": "How to connect your first business profile", "content": [ "Import a business into the current workspace before using its dashboard." ], "steps": [ "Find the business under **Available to Connect**.", "Click **Connect** on that business.", "Wait for the **Profile Connected!** dialog.", "Click **Go to Dashboard**.", "Wait for the profile's first data sync to finish." ], "tip": "Connecting a profile uses one profile slot from your plan." }, { "heading": "How to start improving your profile", "content": [ "Use GBP Expert to see what to fix first." ], "steps": [ "Click **GBP Expert** in the sidebar.", "Review the completeness checklist.", "Click **Ask the expert** to open the **Ask the Expert** dialog." ], "tip": "Opening the dialog is free. The final **Ask the expert** button inside the dialog costs 10 credits." } ] }, { "slug": "profile-selection", "title": "Manage Business Profiles", "intro": "The Manage Business Profiles page is where you connect, view, and organise the Google Business Profiles in your workspace. Access it by clicking the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar and selecting 'Manage Profiles'.", "appRoute": "/profile-selection", "prerequisites": [ "Sign in with an active subscription and open the workspace you want to manage.", "Adding, removing, moving or changing the Google login of profiles needs permission to manage profiles.", "Connecting a new profile needs a free profile slot on your plan." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Subscription & Profile Limits", "content": [ "The page displays your current plan and how many profile slots you've used out of your total allowance.", "If you've reached your limit, you'll need to upgrade your plan or increase your subscription quantity before connecting more profiles." ] }, { "heading": "Connecting a Google Account", "content": [ "Click 'Connect Google Account' or 'Add Another Google Account' to link a Google account via OAuth. You must grant the 'manage Business Profiles' permission during the consent screen.", "If the required permission wasn't granted, a warning banner appears next to the account with a 'Reconnect Account' option to re-authorise with the correct scope." ], "tip": "You can connect multiple Google accounts — useful if your business profiles are spread across different Google accounts. Manage your connected accounts from the Account page." }, { "heading": "Importing a Business Profile", "content": [ "Available profiles appear under 'Available to Connect', grouped by Google account with colour-coded badges so you can tell which account each profile belongs to.", "Use the search bar to filter profiles by name, address, or description. Click 'Connect' next to a profile to import it into your workspace.", "All associated data — posts, reviews, insights, and media — is synced automatically when a profile is connected." ] }, { "heading": "Changing Which Google Login a Profile Uses", "content": [ "Each connected profile saves edits and publishes through one Google login, shown on its 'Account' badge. That login is used whoever is signed in to GBPly.", "To switch it, owners and admins click 'Change Google login' on the profile in 'Connected Google Business Profiles' and pick another of their connected Google logins. You don't need to disconnect anything. Posts, images, reviews, schedules and history all stay in place.", "The chosen login must be a Manager or Owner of the business on Google. We check this before switching. If it doesn't have access, ask the profile's owner to add it in Google Business Profile first." ] }, { "heading": "Connected Google Business Profiles", "content": [ "Already-connected profiles appear in the 'Connected Google Business Profiles' section, showing the business name, address, phone number, and website, with a count of how many are active in the workspace.", "The 'Connect More Profiles' card below lists every Google account you currently have connected. A Business Profile can only be imported if one of those accounts has access to it — if a profile you expect isn't listed, either add the Google account that manages it, or ask the owner to grant access to it." ] }, { "heading": "Moving a Profile Between Workspaces", "content": [ "Workspace admins can move a connected profile to another workspace they own or administer. All associated data (posts, reviews, insights, media) moves with it.", "The Google account connection continues working after the move — you don't need to re-authorise." ] }, { "heading": "Removing a Profile", "content": [ "Click 'Remove' on a connected profile to disconnect it from the workspace. This removes it from your dashboard but does not delete the profile from Google.", "Removing a profile frees up a profile slot in your subscription allowance." ] }, { "heading": "Workspace Roles & Permissions", "content": [ "Only workspace admins can add, remove, or move profiles. Editors and viewers see a read-only view of connected profiles.", "To manage profiles for a different workspace, open the profile switcher in the sidebar and use the Switch Workspace button inside it. Learn more in the Workspaces guide." ] }, { "heading": "Troubleshooting", "content": [ "'No Business Profiles Found' means the connected Google account doesn't have any profiles in Google Business Profile Manager. Check that you're signed in with the correct account.", "'Can't see your profile?' — try connecting a different Google account. Your profile may be managed under a different Google account than you expected.", "Permission issues can usually be resolved by clicking 'Reconnect Account' and granting the Business Profile management scope during the OAuth consent screen.", "If you're not the owner of the profile, make sure the owner has invited your Google account as a Manager or Owner first — see the Granting GBP Access guide for the exact steps to send your client. If the client can't invite you, you can request access from Google yourself, and there's an overview of both routes on our client access page.", "Check your access directly with Google: sign in to business.google.com using the same Google account you connected and confirm the Business Profile you want is listed. If it isn't shown there, that account doesn't have permission for that profile and you'll need to be invited to it." ] }, { "heading": "How to open profile management", "content": [ "Profile management opens from the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar." ], "steps": [ "Open the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Click **Manage Profiles**.", "Review your connected profiles and remaining profile allowance." ] }, { "heading": "How to add another Google account", "content": [ "Connect another Google login when it manages businesses your current logins can't see." ], "steps": [ "Find **Connect More Profiles**.", "Click **Add Another Google Account**.", "On Google's consent screen, choose the Google account.", "Grant permission to manage its Google Business Profiles.", "Wait to return to GBPly; its businesses appear under **Available to Connect**." ] }, { "heading": "How to connect an available profile", "content": [ "Import a business that one of your connected Google accounts can manage." ], "steps": [ "Find the business under **Available to Connect**.", "If more than one Google login can manage it, choose the login in its **Connect via:** selector.", "Click **Connect** on the business.", "Wait for the **Profile Connected!** dialog.", "Click **Go to Dashboard**." ], "tip": "If a **You already manage this profile** dialog opens instead, click **Move it here** to move the existing profile rather than importing a duplicate." }, { "heading": "How to show or hide connected profiles", "content": [ "Collapse the connected list to focus on profiles you can still import." ], "steps": [ "Find **Connected Google Business Profiles**.", "Click **Hide Connected** to collapse the list.", "Click **Show Connected** to show it again." ] }, { "heading": "How to change a profile's Google login", "content": [ "Change which Google account saves edits and publishes for a profile, without disconnecting it." ], "steps": [ "Find the business under **Connected Google Business Profiles**.", "Click **Change Google login** on that business.", "In the **Change Google login** dialog, choose another connected Google login.", "Click **Switch**.", "A **Google login changed** confirmation appears." ], "tip": "The chosen Google login must have access to manage that business on Google." }, { "heading": "How to move a profile to another workspace", "content": [ "Move the business and its GBPly data to another workspace you manage." ], "steps": [ "Find the business under **Connected Google Business Profiles**.", "Click **Move Workspace**.", "In the **Move Profile to Another Workspace** dialog, select the destination workspace.", "Click **Move Profile**.", "The connected-profile list refreshes without that business." ] } ] }, { "slug": "dashboard", "title": "Dashboard Overview", "intro": "The Dashboard is your command centre. It provides a high-level snapshot of your selected business profile's performance, completeness, and upcoming activity.", "appRoute": "/dashboard", "location": "Dashboard", "prerequisites": [ "Sign in with an active subscription.", "Select a connected business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Let the first profile sync finish." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Alerts and Warnings", "content": [ "Notices appear at the top of the dashboard when something needs attention:", "• A profile limit banner if the workspace has more profiles connected than the subscription allows, along with a warning if profiles are due to be deactivated.", "• A verification warning if Google hasn't verified the profile, since an unverified profile won't show in Maps results.", "• A Profile Guard alert if Google or a third party changed the profile since the last sync." ], "steps": [ "Read any notice at the top of the dashboard.", "Click the button on the notice to go straight to where it can be fixed (for example **Profile Guard** to review a change)." ] }, { "heading": "Business Profile Card", "content": [ "The first card shows the selected business at a glance: its name, business type (primary category), number of reviews and address." ], "steps": [ "Check the business name, type, review count and address on the card.", "Click **Open in Google Maps** (map-pin icon next to the name) to see the live profile on Google in a new tab." ] }, { "heading": "Completeness Score", "content": [ "The completeness score shows how well-optimised the profile is, with the number of items complete and a progress bar so you can see where you are at a glance. It's based on whether key fields are filled in — business hours, description, photos, categories and more." ], "steps": [ "Check the score, the items-complete count and the progress bar.", "Click **Improve in GBP Expert** to open the GBP Expert page and see exactly which fields need attention." ] }, { "heading": "KPI Cards", "content": [ "Four cards show the selected business's latest 30 days — Profile Views, Phone Calls, Direction Requests and Website Clicks. Where a percentage shows, it compares the latest 30 days with the 30 days before.", "These figures come from Google Business Profile insights and update each time data is synced." ], "steps": [ "Review **Profile Views**, **Phone Calls**, **Direction Requests** and **Website Clicks**.", "Click any of these cards to open Insights for more detail." ] }, { "heading": "Latest Rank Tracker Scan", "content": [ "Shows the most recent Rank Tracker scan for the selected business." ], "steps": [ "Find **Latest Rank Tracker scan**.", "Click **Open in Rank Tracker** to see the full results.", "If there's no scan yet, click **Run a Rank Tracker scan** to open Rank Tracker. Opening the page spends no credits." ] }, { "heading": "To-do List", "content": [ "The to-do list gives you quick, actionable items for the selected profile — reviews to reply to, questions to answer, a post or photos when nothing has gone out recently, and the top unfinished GBP Expert items.", "On agency plans it also lists posts waiting for client approval and unfinished agency setup such as branding, connectors and portal automations." ], "steps": [ "Click any item to jump straight to where you can do it.", "To remove an agency setup item, click its **More options** (three dots) button, then **Dismiss**.", "To snooze the review-request reminder, click its **More options** (three dots) button, then **Hide for 7 days** or **Hide for 30 days**." ] }, { "heading": "Reviews, Content and Media Cards", "content": [ "Three cards summarise recent activity: **Reviews** (replies pending and average rating), **Content** (your latest post) and **Media** (your latest upload)." ], "steps": [ "Click **Reviews** to open the Reviews page.", "Click **Content** to open the Posts page.", "Click **Media** to open the Images page." ] }, { "heading": "Schedule Calendar", "content": [ "A full content calendar for the profile. It shows posts and image uploads that have already gone out as well as those scheduled, so you can see past and upcoming activity at a glance." ], "steps": [ "Use the **Previous month** and **Next month** (arrow) buttons to move between months (in Week view they are **Previous week** and **Next week**), or click **Today** to come back to the current month.", "Click a post or image on the calendar to open its details.", "In the details window, click **Edit** to open it on the Posts or Images page, or **Close** to go back.", "To reschedule, drag a scheduled item onto another date. The new date is saved straight away." ], "tip": "Dragging and Edit are available to owners, admins and editors on scheduled items." } ] }, { "slug": "gbp-expert", "title": "GBP Expert", "intro": "In GBPly, the GBP Expert page does two jobs. The completeness score and checklist show which profile fields are filled in, weighted by priority. Ask the Expert goes further: it checks your profile against your own website and Google's guidelines, then gives you a prioritised list of fixes you can apply in a click. Running Ask the Expert never changes your score or checklist.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/gbp-expert", "location": "GBP Expert", "prerequisites": [ "Sign in with an active subscription.", "Select a connected business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Editing profile fields needs edit permission.", "Running Ask the Expert costs 10 credits." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Notices at the Top of the Page", "content": [ "A dismissible banner explains that the profile now feeds AI search — Google uses Business Profile data in Gemini, AI Overviews and \"Ask Maps\", so accurate categories, structured attributes, fresh photos and consistent name/address/phone details shape how AI describes the business. Dismiss it once you've read it and it won't come back.", "If Google hasn't verified the profile, a verification warning appears with the current status and a link to the relevant Google page to complete or fix verification. Until that's resolved, edits may not appear publicly. While a profile is unverified, the verification item is pinned to the top of the checklist." ] }, { "heading": "Ask the Expert: What It Checks", "content": [ "Ask the Expert reads your business website and compares it with your Google Business Profile, so the two tell Google and customers the same story.", "It looks for a business name that doesn't match your real-world signage, a missing or poorly matched primary category, useful extra categories, a phone number, address, opening hours, services or service areas that differ between the website and the profile, and gaps in your description.", "Click Ask the expert on the Ask the Expert card to start. Once you have results, the button changes to Ask again." ] }, { "heading": "The Five Steps", "content": [ "1. Business type — whether customers come to your address, whether there is permanent signage there during opening hours, and whether you travel to customers. This tells the expert if you are a storefront, service-area or hybrid business.", "2. Name & categories — confirms that your profile name is exactly the name on your signage, invoices and branding, and shows your primary category.", "3. Details match — puts your profile and your website side by side: name, phone, address, hours, services and areas covered. If a detail wasn't found on the website, that doesn't mean it's missing from your site. We read a limited number of pages, and some sites load content in ways we can't see.", "4. Description & services — shows your current description and services. If we couldn't read your website, you can type the main phone number customers use and the main services you sell.", "5. Before we check — an optional box for anything else the expert should know, such as seasonal work or services you've stopped offering.", "The first time, answers are suggested from what your profile already says. After that, they are filled in from your last run, so you only change what's no longer right. If your website needs reading again, that happens in the background while you work through the steps." ], "tip": "Answer the business-type questions honestly. Google's rules on addresses and service areas depend on them, and they decide which findings you get." }, { "heading": "Reading the Findings", "content": [ "Findings appear under What the expert found, ordered by priority: Handle with care, then High, Medium and Low. Your primary category is dealt with first, because the services and attributes Google offers depend on it.", "Findings with an AI suggestion badge came from the expert's AI review. Others come from fixed checks against Google's guidelines. Many findings include a Google's guidance link to the relevant Google help page.", "The line under the heading shows when the profile was last reviewed and whether it includes a fresh expert opinion, one carried over from your last review (because the website hasn't been re-read since), or none because the workspace didn't have enough credits.", "If the findings are more than a month old, the card says so. Click Ask again to refresh them." ] }, { "heading": "Acting on a Finding", "content": [ "Review & apply opens the right editor with the suggested value already filled in, so you can check it before saving. Fix this opens the editor for you to fill in. Some findings link straight to another page, such as Photos.", "Suggested categories and services also appear inside the Categories and Services editors, so you can add them in one click.", "Changes to your business name, address, business type, primary category or phone number show Read first. Google reviews these changes before they go live and sometimes asks you to verify the business again, so only continue if the new information is correct.", "Ignore hides a finding that doesn't apply to you. Ignored findings go into a collapsed Ignored findings group, and Restore brings one back. They stay ignored when you ask again.", "Clear findings removes the current findings, previous reviews and your answers for this profile. It can't be undone and doesn't affect your score or checklist.", "Only people who can edit the profile see the apply, ignore and clear buttons." ] }, { "heading": "AI Credits", "content": [ "Ask the Expert uses the workspace's shared credit balance. The AI opinion only runs again when there's no earlier opinion or your website has been re-read; otherwise the last opinion is reused. The run is charged either way.", "Each Ask the Expert run costs 10 credits from the workspace, shown under the button on the last step. If the website was last read more than 14 days ago, it is read again as part of the same run at no extra charge. If the workspace doesn't have enough credits, nothing is charged and you can buy more." ] }, { "heading": "Completeness Checklist", "content": [ "The checklist shows every profile field and whether it's complete. Fields are categorised by priority — High, Medium, and Low.", "High-priority fields (like business hours, description, and categories) have the biggest impact on local search visibility.", "Green ticks indicate completed fields. Red crosses show what's missing. Click any field to edit it directly.", "A business-type badge at the top of the page shows whether the profile is treated as a Storefront, Service Area or Hybrid business. The checklist adapts to that type — a service-area business is checked on its service areas rather than a storefront address, for example." ], "tip": "Once an item is complete, its priority badge turns green and outlined. That's a completed item, not an outstanding high-priority task." }, { "heading": "Editing Profile Fields", "content": [ "Click on any incomplete or existing field to open the editor. You can update your business name, address, phone number, website, description, hours, categories, services, and more.", "Changes are pushed directly to your Google Business Profile via the API. Some changes may take a few minutes to appear on Google.", "Special fields like business hours have dedicated editors with day-by-day time pickers. When Ask the Expert has suggestions, the Categories and Services editors show them too." ], "tip": "Always sync your data after making changes to ensure the dashboard reflects the latest state of your profile on Google." }, { "heading": "Website Analysis", "content": [ "If the business has a website, GBPly reads it, picks out details such as phone numbers, address, hours, services and service areas, and writes a summary. Ask the Expert uses those details for its profile-versus-website comparison, and the AI content features use the summary to write more relevant posts and descriptions.", "The website is read automatically after a profile is connected, and again in the background if the site was temporarily unreachable. You can force a fresh read at any time with the Re-analyse website button on the GBP Expert page. The first read after connecting is free; each re-analysis costs 10 credits, charged only if it succeeds. It is also free if the business has no earlier Website SEO Audit or the last read failed (the button shows Free when that applies). Re-analysing also refreshes the business's Website SEO Audit. The date of the last read is shown under the button, and a re-read is only needed if your website has changed. This is useful after a site redesign or a change of services, and the next Ask the Expert run will use the new details." ] }, { "heading": "Syncing Data", "content": [ "The Sync button pulls the latest data from Google — profile details, reviews, posts, media, and insights.", "We recommend syncing at least once a day if you're actively managing your profile, though the system also syncs automatically in the background." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore GBP Expert features for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to ask the expert to review your profile", "content": [ "Answer a few guided questions to get a prioritised list of fixes." ], "steps": [ "Click **GBP Expert** in the sidebar.", "Click **Ask the expert** (or **Ask again** if there is an earlier review).", "In the **Ask the Expert** dialog, answer **Do customers come to your address to be served?** with **Yes** or **No**.", "Answer **Is there permanent signage at that address during your opening hours?**.", "Answer **Do you travel to customers to do the work?**.", "Click **Continue**.", "Check the business name and answer **Is that exactly the name customers see on your signage, invoices and branding?**.", "Click **Continue** after reviewing the categories step.", "Click **Continue** after reviewing the website comparison step.", "If asked, fill in **Main phone number customers use** and **Main services you sell**, then click **Continue**.", "Optionally fill in **Anything else we should know? (optional)**.", "Click **Ask the expert**. This spends 10 credits.", "Wait for the findings list to appear on the page." ], "tip": "Use **Back** to change an earlier answer before running the check." }, { "heading": "How to clear expert findings", "content": [ "Remove saved findings when you no longer need the previous review." ], "steps": [ "Scroll to the bottom of the findings list.", "Click **Clear findings**.", "In the **Clear everything the expert found?** dialog, click **Clear findings**." ] }, { "heading": "How to edit the AI business summary", "content": [ "Correct the website-based summary GBPly uses when writing content for this business." ], "steps": [ "Click **View & Edit Summary**.", "In the **AI Business Summary** dialog, edit the text.", "Click **Save**. A **Summary updated successfully** message appears." ], "tip": "Read-only users see **View Summary** instead." }, { "heading": "How to re-analyse your website", "content": [ "Refresh the website information after your site changes." ], "steps": [ "Find **Re-analyse website** next to the business summary and check the cost shown on it.", "Click **Re-analyse website**. The first analysis is free; later ones cost 10 credits.", "Wait for the analysis to finish.", "Optionally click **See Website SEO Audit** to open the full audit." ] }, { "heading": "How to sync recent changes from Google", "content": [ "Refresh when changes made directly on Google aren't showing yet." ], "steps": [ "Scroll to **Sync Data** and click it.", "Wait for **Syncing...** to finish.", "Check the updated **Last synced:** time." ] } ] }, { "slug": "bulk-management", "title": "Bulk Management", "intro": "Bulk Management gives you a workspace-wide view of your profiles and lets you copy profile fields from one profile to many at once. This feature is designed for agencies and users managing multiple businesses or locations, and it's included on every plan.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/bulk-management", "location": "Content > Bulk Management", "prerequisites": [ "A plan that includes Bulk Management, with at least two connected profiles in the workspace.", "Changing profiles or replying to reviews needs edit permission." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Workspace Overview", "content": [ "The first tab summarises the workspace — headline stats plus a table of every connected profile showing its completeness score and when it was last synced.", "Each row has a Switch action so you can make that profile the active one and work on it directly." ] }, { "heading": "Reviews Across Locations", "content": [ "This tab gathers reviews from every profile in the workspace in one list, so you can see rating and reply activity across all locations without switching profiles.", "Select the locations you want, then open Sentiment & insights to analyse their reviews together, with a side-by-side location comparison. See Review Sentiment & Insights." ] }, { "heading": "Bulk Update Profiles", "content": [ "Pick a source profile — the profile whose values you want to copy. Its current values for each supported field are shown so you can check them before copying anything.", "Tick the fields you want to copy, tick the profiles that should receive them, then choose Push to Profiles.", "A confirmation dialog lists exactly which fields and which profiles will be updated before anything is sent to Google." ], "tip": "Use Bulk Push carefully — changes are applied directly to Google and cannot be easily undone." }, { "heading": "Caution Fields", "content": [ "Some fields are flagged with a caution indicator because changing them can impact your profile's visibility or verification status.", "Business name and address changes, for example, may trigger a re-verification process with Google." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore Bulk Profile Management features for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to view the workspace overview", "content": [ "See all connected locations together before making bulk changes." ], "steps": [ "Click **Bulk Management** under **Content** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Workspace Overview** tab." ] }, { "heading": "How to copy a profile field to other locations", "content": [ "Copy one field's value from a source profile to the locations you choose." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Bulk Update Profiles** tab.", "Under **1. Choose the profile with the correct details**, open the **Source profile** list and pick the profile with the correct value.", "Under **2. Choose what to copy**, find the field and click its **Push to Profiles** button.", "In the **Push \"[field name]\" to Profiles** dialog, tick the destination profiles (use **Select All** or the **Filter profiles…** box to narrow the list).", "Click **Update N Profiles** (N is the number ticked).", "In the **Confirm bulk update** dialog, click **Yes, update N profiles**.", "Wait for the per-profile results, then click **Done**." ], "tip": "The source profile isn't changed, and overwrites can't be undone in bulk. Click **Stop** during a run to halt it; reopening the dialog later offers **Resume** or **Start Fresh**." }, { "heading": "How to filter reviews across locations", "content": [ "Pick locations, then filter their reviews together." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Reviews Across Locations** tab.", "Tick the locations you want to see.", "Choose a **Rating** and a **Reply status**.", "Optionally set **From** and **To** dates and type in **Search**.", "Review the matching reviews." ], "tip": "Your location choice is remembered for this workspace." }, { "heading": "How to open sentiment insights for several locations", "content": [ "Sentiment insights use the locations ticked in Reviews Across Locations." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Reviews Across Locations** tab and tick the locations to include.", "Click **Sentiment & insights** (the label shows the location count).", "Follow the steps in the Review Sentiment & Insights guide to run or view the analysis." ] } ] }, { "slug": "website-audit", "title": "Website SEO Audit", "intro": "The Website SEO Audit checks the website on your Google Business Profile for the things that help you show up in local search and turn visitors into enquiries. It reads 20 to 100 pages (your choice), compares what it finds with your Google profile, runs nearly 60 checks, scores the site out of 100 and lists clear fixes in order of impact. You can print the report with your own branding or export a fix list for an AI website builder. You'll find it under Performance › Website SEO Audit in the menu. It's included on every paid plan.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/website-audit", "location": "Performance > Website SEO Audit", "prerequisites": [ "A paid plan, with a selected business profile that has a website.", "Owners, admins and editors can run audits; viewers can read results.", "10 credits per 20 pages read; the first 20 pages of a business's first audit are free." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "What it checks", "content": [ "Business details: whether your phone number, address, business name and opening hours on the website match your Google profile, whether your phone number is on every page, tap-to-call links, a contact page, a map, whether the website link on your Google profile works and whether it carries tracking.", "Structured data: whether your site has local business markup (the hidden code that tells search engines who and where you are), whether it uses the most specific business type, which details are missing, whether they match Google, whether any markup is broken, WebSite and breadcrumb markup, and review stars added to your own markup.", "Page content: meta titles and meta descriptions (missing, duplicate or the wrong length), whether your homepage title and main heading name your service and location, main headings (H1), subheadings, thin pages and image alt text.", "Keywords: whether your Google categories, services, town and service areas, the searches people use to find you on Google, and your tracked keywords appear in page titles, headings or page addresses, or only in the text.", "Technical: HTTPS, robots.txt, sitemap, pages hidden from Google, canonical tags, broken links, mobile viewport, language, favicon and social sharing previews.", "Speed: Google's mobile speed score, Core Web Vitals and your homepage's download size, when Google's speed test is available for the audit. If it isn't, speed shows as Not checked and doesn't affect your score.", "Trust and enquiries: enquiry forms or booking, reviews or testimonials, a link to your Google profile or reviews, social profiles, an about page and a privacy policy.", "AI search: whether AI search tools are blocked from reading your site, links that tie your website to your Google profile and social pages, and question-and-answer content." ] }, { "heading": "Running an audit", "content": [ "Choose the business at the top of the menu, open Website SEO Audit and select Run your first audit (or Run new audit). Use the slider to choose how many pages to check, from 20 up to 100. We start with your most important pages: services, areas, about and contact.", "It costs 10 credits per 20 pages we read, so 20 pages is 10 credits and 100 pages is 50 credits. The first 20 pages of each business's first audit are free, including businesses you connected before the Website SEO Audit existed. You only pay for the pages we actually read, so a smaller website costs less, and nothing is charged if we can't read the website.", "Every audit reads every page fresh from your live website, so changes you've made show up straight away.", "Each audit also refreshes your business summary and the website details GBP Expert and AI posts use, the same as Re-analyse website in GBP Expert (which reads 20 pages for 10 credits, or free when there's no earlier audit or the last read failed). Adding new pages only updates the audit.", "An audit usually takes a minute or two; a 100-page audit can take up to about 2 minutes. You can leave the page while it runs.", "Only owners, admins and editors can run audits. Viewers can see the results." ], "tip": "Re-run the audit after you've made changes to your website, to see your score go up and check the fixes worked." }, { "heading": "Printing and exporting the report", "content": [ "Select Export report next to Run new audit.", "Print or save as PDF opens your browser's print window with a clean report: score, every fix in order of impact, structured data, keywords, the pages checked and what's already working. Choose Save as PDF as the printer to keep a copy. If you've set your logo, name, colour and footer in Workspace settings › Branding, the report carries your branding; otherwise it has no branding at all.", "Copy fix list for AI copies the audit as Markdown, written for AI website builders such as Lovable, Claude or ChatGPT. Paste it into your builder's chat and it has the fixes in order, the pages affected, the ready-made business markup and instructions to keep your Google details exactly as they are. Download Markdown file saves the same text as a file you can send to your web developer.", "The report shows the audit you're looking at, so you can also print an older audit from History." ] }, { "heading": "Reading your results", "content": [ "The score out of 100 is made up of eight sections: 80 or more is Good, 60 to 79 Needs work and below 60 Poor. After your second audit you'll also see how much the score has gone up or down since the last one. Select a section to see only its issues.", "To improve lists everything to fix, starting with what has the most impact. Each item starts with Check: and the thing we checked, followed by what we found. Open any item to see why it matters, how to fix it and which pages are affected.", "Structured data shows the markup we found and gives you ready-made local business markup built from your Google profile. Copy it, check every detail, then paste it into your homepage or send it to whoever looks after your website. Test with Google opens Google's Rich Results Test and Schema validator opens the Schema.org checker for your site.", "Keywords shows each keyword as Targeted (in a page title, main heading or page address), Mentioned only (in the text) or Missing, and the best page for it.", "Pages lists every page we read with its title and description length, main heading, word count, images without alt text and issues. Select a page to see its heading outline.", "Passed lists everything that's already working, anything shown for information, and anything we couldn't check (Not checked), which never counts towards your score.", "History keeps your last 20 audits so you can see how the score has changed. Select an older audit to open it; a note at the top shows its date, with Show the latest to go back.", "If a finding doesn't apply to your business, open it and select Ignore this finding. Ignored findings are left out of your score and your exports, and move to a collapsed Ignored group where Restore brings them back." ] }, { "heading": "Good to know", "content": [ "We read the website saved on your Google profile and the pages it links to. If your profile links to a single location page, that page is treated as the starting page.", "Some websites block automated reading. If we can't read a site, the audit tells you and no credits are used.", "The audit doesn't use AI. Every check is a fixed rule applied to your pages, so the same website gets the same result.", "If your Google profile has no website, the page asks you to add one. Add it in GBP Expert, then come back to run the audit.", "The Website SEO Audit is on every paid plan. Without an active plan, the menu item shows Upgrade.", "If you've connected an AI assistant through the MCP Server / AI Connector, it can read your latest audit (score, fixes and ready-made markup) but can't start a new one." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore the Website SEO Audit page for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to run a Website SEO Audit", "content": [ "Choose how many pages of the business's website to check." ], "steps": [ "Click **Website SEO Audit** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click **Run your first audit** (or **Run new audit** if one already exists). The **Run a new audit** dialog opens.", "Move the **Pages to check** slider to between 20 and 100 pages.", "Read the estimated credit charge in the dialog.", "Click **Run audit (free)** or **Run audit (up to N credits)**. You're only charged for pages actually read.", "Wait for the results to appear. You can leave the page while it runs." ], "tip": "If the dialog shows **Buy credits**, top up first and try again." }, { "heading": "How to review, ignore and restore a finding", "content": [ "Each finding explains what's wrong and how to fix it." ], "steps": [ "Click the **To improve (N)** tab.", "Click a finding's heading to expand it and read the suggested fix and affected pages.", "If it doesn't apply to you, click **Ignore this finding**. It's removed from the score and reports.", "To bring it back, open **Ignored findings**, expand the finding and click **Restore**." ] }, { "heading": "How to filter findings by score category", "content": [ "The category scores double as filters." ], "steps": [ "Click a score category.", "Read the filtered list under **To improve (N)**.", "Click the category name next to **Showing** to clear the filter." ] }, { "heading": "How to copy and test structured data", "content": [ "The audit suggests business markup based on your Google profile." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Structured data** tab.", "Check the suggested business details.", "Click **Copy code**.", "Click **Test with Google** (or **Schema validator**) to check the code in a new tab." ], "tip": "Check every detail before adding the code to your website." }, { "heading": "How to check keywords, pages and passed checks", "content": [ "These tabs show the evidence behind the score." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Keywords** tab to see keyword coverage and best-matching pages.", "Click the **Pages (N)** tab and click a row for page-level details; click **Open page** (external-link icon) to visit it.", "Click the **Passed (N)** tab to see checks that passed." ] }, { "heading": "How to view an earlier audit", "content": [ "Look back at a previous result." ], "steps": [ "Click **History (N)**.", "Click **View** next to the audit." ] }, { "heading": "How to export an audit", "content": [ "Exports use the audit currently on screen." ], "steps": [ "Click **Export report**.", "Choose **Print or save as PDF**, **Copy fix list for AI** or **Download Markdown file**.", "For the PDF, pick a printer or **Save as PDF** in the browser's print dialog." ] } ] }, { "slug": "review-insights", "title": "Review Sentiment & Insights", "intro": "Sentiment & insights reads your Google reviews with AI and turns them into clear numbers: how positive customers are and how that's changing, the topics they praise and complain about, the products and staff they mention, serious issues to deal with now, and a board-ready summary with recommended actions. Use it for one business on the Reviews page, or across many locations at once in Bulk Management.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/reviews?tab=insights", "location": "Content > Reviews (Sentiment & insights tab)", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business whose reviews you want to analyse.", "Running analysis or changing custom topics needs an owner, admin or editor account.", "Analysis costs 1 credit per 25 written reviews; an executive summary costs 2 credits. Star-only reviews are free." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Where to find it", "content": [ "One business: open Reviews and select the Sentiment & insights tab.", "Several locations: open Bulk Management › Reviews Across Locations, choose your locations, then select Sentiment & insights. Everything is combined across the chosen locations and you also get a side-by-side location comparison.", "Client portal: once a business's reviews have been analysed, its client portal can show a read-only Sentiment & insights tab inside Recent Reviews. Turn it on or off with the Review Sentiment & Insights toggle on the Client Portal page.", "Only owners, admins and editors can run an analysis or write a summary. Viewers can see the results, explore reviews and print reports." ] }, { "heading": "Analysing reviews", "content": [ "Select Analyse reviews and choose which reviews to include (all reviews, or the last 2 years, 12 months, 6 months or 90 days). You'll see how many written reviews still need analysing and the price before anything is charged.", "It costs 1 credit per 25 written reviews, rounded up. Each review is analysed once and kept, so you're never charged twice for the same review; next time you only pay for new reviews. A review is only analysed again if its text or rating changes.", "Star-only reviews (no text) are free: they count by their stars (4–5★ positive, 3★ neutral, 1–2★ negative).", "Big analyses run in the background, so you can leave the page. If any review can't be analysed, or you stop the analysis, the credits for those reviews come back to your balance automatically.", "Tick Write an executive summary when it finishes to get the summary as soon as the analysis is done." ] }, { "heading": "Automatic analysis", "content": [ "Automatic analysis is off by default. Once a business has been analysed at least once, an Automatic analysis card appears on the Sentiment & insights tab. In Bulk Management you can set it up for all selected locations at once.", "Choose daily or weekly, and tick the box to agree that credits will be spent automatically. Each run only analyses new reviews, at the usual 1 credit per 25 written reviews.", "If the workspace doesn't have enough credits, the run is skipped and nothing is charged. The card shows why it was paused, and it carries on at the next run once you have credits.", "Turn on Email me about serious issues to get one email after each run listing any newly flagged serious reviews." ] }, { "heading": "Reading the dashboard", "content": [ "Net sentiment is the percentage of positive reviews minus the percentage of negative reviews, from −100 to +100. Above +50 is very positive; below 0 means more unhappy than happy customers. Every number is compared with the period before, so you can see what's improving.", "Sentiment over time shows positive, mixed, neutral and negative reviews per week, month or quarter, with net sentiment as a line.", "What customers talk about covers 13 topics, such as staff, quality, value, speed, cleanliness and atmosphere. For each one you see how often it comes up, how people feel about it and the average rating when it's mentioned. Open a topic to read real quotes, both praise and complaints.", "What separates 5-star from 1-star reviews shows which topics happy customers praise and unhappy customers complain about. It shows what's linked to ratings, not proof of cause.", "Products and services and Staff mentioned by name show what people single out, so you can spot a favourite dish or a team member who deserves recognition. Job titles like \"the manager\" aren't counted as names.", "Serious issues lists reviews describing a health or safety risk, a hygiene problem, discrimination or abuse, a legal or regulator threat, a fraud or overcharging claim, staff misconduct, a privacy concern or a review that may not be genuine, and whether you've replied.", "Loyalty, How customers feel and Worth a second look show who says they'll come back, the main emotion in each review, first-time customers versus regulars, and star ratings that don't match the words.", "Click almost anything to see the reviews behind it in the Review explorer at the bottom, where you can also reply." ] }, { "heading": "Custom topics", "content": [ "Select Custom topics to track anything specific to your business: a product, a promotion, a new menu, the drive-thru. Give it a name and the words or phrases to look for (plurals match automatically).", "Custom topics are free and apply to every analysed review straight away, including old ones. They're shared by everyone in the workspace." ] }, { "heading": "Executive summary and reports", "content": [ "Select Write executive summary for a short write-up of the period: a headline, what's working, what needs fixing, recommended actions with priorities, notes per location and staff worth recognising. It costs 2 credits and is saved, so you can go back to earlier summaries.", "The summary is written by AI from your analysed reviews. Read it before sharing it.", "Export › Print or save as PDF (board report) creates a board-ready report with the summary, key numbers, trend chart, topics, strengths and pain points, products and staff, serious issues and the location comparison. If you've set your logo, name, colour and footer in Workspace settings › Branding, the report carries your branding; otherwise it has no branding at all.", "Export › Download analysed reviews (CSV) gives you every analysed review in the period with its sentiment, topics, products, staff, issues and key point, ready for a spreadsheet." ] }, { "heading": "Good to know", "content": [ "Reviews Google has translated are analysed in their English translation; the dashboard also shows which languages customers write in.", "Topic changes are only shown when a topic came up at least 3 times in both periods, so small numbers don't look like big swings.", "Assistants connected to the GBPly MCP server can read these insights for free with the get_review_insights tool. They can't start a paid analysis." ], "tip": "Analyse your reviews once, then run it again every month or so, or turn on automatic analysis. You'll only pay for the new reviews, and every number shows the change since last time." }, { "heading": "How to analyse reviews", "content": [ "The dialog shows the review count and the price before you start." ], "steps": [ "Click **Reviews** under **Content** in the sidebar, then the **Sentiment & insights** tab.", "Click **Analyse reviews**. The **Analyse reviews** dialog opens.", "Choose a period under **Which reviews?**.", "Check **New written reviews to analyse** and the quoted **Analysis** cost.", "Optionally tick **Write an executive summary when it finishes**.", "Click the button starting **Analyse**, which shows the review count and total credits. This spends the quoted credits.", "Wait for the results to appear." ], "tip": "Reviews already analysed are reused for free unless their text or rating changes. If there's nothing new, the button changes to **Write summary**." }, { "heading": "How to stop a running analysis", "content": [ "Finished results are kept and credits for the rest are refunded." ], "steps": [ "Click **Stop** on the running analysis.", "Accept the browser confirmation." ] }, { "heading": "How to switch on automatic analysis", "content": [ "Automatic analysis checks for new or edited reviews on a schedule." ], "steps": [ "Find **Automatic analysis** and open its setup. The **Analyse new reviews automatically** dialog opens.", "Choose **Every week** or **Every day** under **How often to check**.", "Optionally turn on **Email me about serious issues**.", "Tick **I agree these credits are taken from this workspace's balance automatically.**", "Click **Switch on**." ], "tip": "A run is skipped, at no charge, if the balance is too low. Click **Settings** to change an active schedule." }, { "heading": "How to add or edit a custom topic", "content": [ "Custom topics match your own keywords against analysed reviews, free of charge." ], "steps": [ "Click **Custom topics**.", "Enter a **Topic name** and **Keywords or phrases (comma separated)**, then save.", "To change a topic, click its **Edit** (pencil) button, update the fields and save, or click **Cancel edit**." ], "tip": "Up to 20 keywords per topic and 30 topics per workspace. Plurals match automatically." }, { "heading": "How to export analysed reviews or a board report", "content": [ "Export the current reporting period." ], "steps": [ "Click **Export**.", "Click **Download analysed reviews (CSV)** for a spreadsheet, or **Print or save as PDF (board report)** for a printable report.", "For the PDF, choose a printer or **Save as PDF** in the browser's print dialog." ] } ] }, { "slug": "reviews", "title": "Reviews", "intro": "The Reviews section is your hub for monitoring, responding to, and requesting Google reviews. Stay on top of your online reputation with AI-powered response suggestions and multi-channel review request tools.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/reviews", "location": "Content > Reviews", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Replying or requesting reviews needs an owner, admin or editor account.", "AI reply suggestions cost 1 credit per batch." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Review Overview & Stats", "content": [ "The top of the page shows the total review count, average rating, and a breakdown of ratings by star count.", "Review trends help you understand whether the profile's reputation is improving over time." ] }, { "heading": "Get More Reviews Playbook", "content": [ "The Get More Reviews button in the Get Reviews card opens a guided playbook that walks through every practical way to earn more reviews — sharing the review link, putting the QR code and flyer in front of customers, embedding the website widget, and sending email or SMS requests.", "Progress through the playbook is saved against the profile and shared with the client portal, so anything a client ticks off in their portal shows as complete here too, and vice versa." ] }, { "heading": "Sharing the Review Link", "content": [ "The share menu next to the review link lets you copy it or send it straight out via WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn or X.", "The link points directly at the Google review form for the profile, so customers can leave a review in a couple of taps." ] }, { "heading": "Browsing & Filtering Reviews", "content": [ "All your Google reviews are listed with the reviewer's name, rating, date, and comment text.", "Use the filters to show only reviews that need a reply, filter by star rating, or search for specific keywords." ] }, { "heading": "Replying to Reviews", "content": [ "Click on any review to open the reply panel. Type your response and submit — it will be posted directly to Google.", "Generating AI response suggestions costs 1 credit per set of suggestions, not per suggestion. Your balance and a Buy Credits button are at the top right of the page.", "To see what customers are saying across all your reviews, open the Sentiment & insights tab. See Review Sentiment & Insights.", "Once a reply is live, the button on the review changes to Edit reply so you can rewrite it, and a delete action lets you remove the reply from Google entirely after a confirmation step.", "Prompt, thoughtful replies to reviews (both positive and negative) signal to potential customers that you care about feedback." ] }, { "heading": "AI Response Suggestions", "content": [ "For each review, you can generate AI-powered reply suggestions. The AI considers the review content, rating, and your business context to craft an appropriate response. Each set of suggestions uses 1 credit from your credit balance.", "Suggestions are starting points — always review and personalise them before posting." ], "tip": "AI-generated responses are designed as inspiration. Google's policies require that responses accurately represent your business." }, { "heading": "Reply Moderation Status", "content": [ "Since Google began moderating responses in April 2026, every reply you submit is checked before it appears publicly. Each review card shows the current state: Published (live on Google), Pending Google review (waiting on Google's automated check), Blocked by Google (rejected — usually for promotional links, exclamation marks, contact details, or quoting the reviewer's name), or Not on Google.", "Not on Google means a reply we previously published has stopped being returned by Google — in other words Google has since removed it. As with a blocked reply, click Rewrite & resend on the review card to post a fresh response.", "If a reply is blocked, click Rewrite & resend on the review card. The AI suggester is tuned to avoid the most common rejection triggers automatically." ], "tip": "Filter the Reviews page by 'Pending Google review', 'Blocked by Google' or 'Not on Google' to quickly find replies that need attention." }, { "heading": "Customer Review Photos", "content": [ "When a customer attaches photos to their review, those images are now ingested automatically and shown as thumbnails on the review card. Click any thumbnail to view it full-size.", "Photo-rich reviews are weighted more heavily by Google's AI summarisation, so encouraging customers to add a picture helps both your visibility and your trust signals." ] }, { "heading": "Requesting Reviews via Email", "content": [ "Send review request emails directly from the app. Enter the customer's email address, customise the message if needed, and send.", "Email sending can be routed through your own domain using an email connector in Workspace Settings.", "Requests can also be scheduled for a specific date and time. The Get Reviews card shows a count of scheduled requests still waiting to go out, and you can cancel any of them before they send." ] }, { "heading": "Requesting Reviews via SMS", "content": [ "Send review requests via text message. Enter the customer's phone number and send a pre-formatted SMS with your review link.", "SMS requires credits, which can be purchased from the Billing page. Custom SMS providers can be configured in Workspace Settings." ] }, { "heading": "QR Code & Flyer", "content": [ "Generate a QR code that links directly to your Google review page. Download it for use in print materials, receipts, or in-store signage.", "The Review Flyer feature creates a printable flyer with your QR code, business name, and a call-to-action encouraging customers to leave a review." ] }, { "heading": "Review Widget", "content": [ "Embed a review widget on a website to showcase the profile's latest Google reviews. Configure the widget's appearance, number of reviews shown, and minimum star rating, then copy the embed code into the site's HTML.", "Each widget has an Enabled / Disabled toggle in the configurator. While a widget is disabled it stops displaying reviews and shows a red warning in its place, so make sure it's enabled before you hand the embed code over.", "Removing the small GBPly attribution from the widget is available on Agency and Agency x10 plans." ] }, { "heading": "Review Request API", "content": [ "Automate review requests by integrating with the API. This allows a CRM, booking system, or other tools to trigger review requests automatically.", "API keys are managed from the Reviews page. Each request is authenticated with a SHA-256 key for security.", "API-triggered emails and texts draw on the same email and SMS allowance as requests sent by hand, unless you've configured your own email or SMS connector in Workspace Settings." ] }, { "heading": "Customer Contacts from the Client Portal", "content": [ "If you use a client portal, enable email addresses, phone numbers, or both under Submit new customer contacts. Clients can add contacts individually or in bulk, including by CSV, without needing a GBPly account.", "These submissions are processed using the agency's review request templates and delivery settings. Clients can see submission status in the portal. Configure your sending arrangements before asking a client to upload a contact list." ] }, { "heading": "Review Request Opt-Out Protection", "content": [ "Review request opt-outs are remembered permanently. A matching email address or phone number is checked against the suppression list for the same Google business location before a request is sent.", "Re-importing a contact list, reconnecting the profile, or deleting and recreating a workspace does not remove that protection. Do not try to bypass an opt-out by adding the customer again.", "Only request reviews from genuine customers you are permitted to contact. Ask for honest feedback without offering incentives or asking only customers who are likely to leave a positive review." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore Google Review Management features for an overview of the reviews inbox, reply tools and review requests." ] }, { "heading": "How to copy your Google review link", "content": [ "The link opens the business's Google review form." ], "steps": [ "Click **Reviews** under **Content** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Reviews** tab.", "Under **Get Reviews**, click **Share Link**.", "Click **Copy Link**. A **Link copied!** message appears." ] }, { "heading": "How to share your review link on another service", "content": [ "Send the link through a messaging or social app." ], "steps": [ "Click **Share Link**.", "Choose **WhatsApp**, **Facebook**, **LinkedIn** or **X**.", "Finish sharing in the app that opens." ] }, { "heading": "How to create a review flyer", "content": [ "Make a printable flyer asking customers for a review." ], "steps": [ "Click **Print Flyer**. The **Create Review Flyer** dialog opens.", "Edit the **Headline** and **Message**.", "Optionally fill in **Custom Note (Optional)**.", "Check the **Preview**, then print it." ] }, { "heading": "How to set up the website review widget", "content": [ "Show your reviews on your own website." ], "steps": [ "Click **Website Widget**. The **Review Widget Configurator** opens.", "Use **Desktop preview**, **Tablet preview** and **Mobile preview** to check how it looks.", "Copy the embed code into your website." ] }, { "heading": "How to open review sentiment and insights", "content": [ "Analysis lives on its own tab of the Reviews page." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Sentiment & insights** tab.", "Follow the Review Sentiment & Insights guide." ] } ] }, { "slug": "images", "title": "Images", "intro": "The Images section lets you upload photos to your Google Business Profile and schedule media for future publishing, and share those photos to the business's social media pages as they go live. Well-optimised images improve your profile's appeal and search visibility.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/images", "location": "Content > Images", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Uploading or changing media needs an owner, admin or editor account.", "Photos: JPEG or PNG under 5MB. Videos: MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 30 seconds and 75MB, 720p or higher." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Uploading Images", "content": [ "Drag photos or videos onto the upload area, or click it to choose files. Select the category (e.g. Interior, Exterior, Product, Team) and schedule or publish.", "Photos can be JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or HEIC. Google's limit is 5MB per image — larger photos are resized automatically when you upload them. Google may reject images that don't meet their quality guidelines.", "Videos can be MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 30 seconds and 75MB, at 720p or higher. Google can take up to 24 hours to review a video before it appears.", "Your credit balance and a Buy Credits button are shown at the top right of this page." ], "tip": "High-quality, well-lit photos perform best. Avoid stock photos — Google prioritises authentic images of your actual business." }, { "heading": "Scheduling Images", "content": [ "Add up to 50 images in one batch, tick the ones you want to include, then set how often they should publish (for example one every 3 days) and the start date.", "Scheduled images appear in the 'Scheduled Images' section and can be edited or cancelled before their publish time. The schedule calendar on the page shows the dates images are due to go out." ] }, { "heading": "Sharing Photos to Social Media", "content": [ "Photos can also be shared to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Bluesky and Pinterest. First connect the networks in the Social media accounts card at the bottom of the Images page (the same card appears on the Posts page, and connections made on either page apply to both). Each photo shared costs 1 credit per network.", "Just above Upload & Schedule, tick the networks under Also post these to. Networks that aren't connected for this business are shown greyed out and can't be ticked.", "Each photo is shared to the ticked networks as soon as Google publishes it, using the photo's description as the caption. Nothing is shared before then, and nothing is shared if Google doesn't publish the photo.", "To change the networks for a photo that hasn't published yet, open it in Scheduled Images and change the ticks under Also post to.", "Recent photo shares in the Social media accounts card shows how each recent photo went on every network: sent, skipped or failed, with the reason. Temporary problems are retried automatically, and you can retry a failed share yourself." ], "tip": "Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest only accept posts with a photo or video, so photos are a good way to keep those pages active. See Posts for connecting accounts, re-using one account across several businesses and disconnecting." }, { "heading": "Posting Time and Timezone", "content": [ "Next to the start date you choose the time of day images publish (in 15-minute steps) and the timezone they publish in.", "The timezone defaults to the one detected from the profile's location on Google, and your choice is saved to the profile so future schedules reuse it.", "Times are stored as local (wall-clock) times for that timezone, so a 9:00 AM slot stays 9:00 AM through daylight saving changes. Scheduled images and the calendar show the local time with the timezone alongside it.", "If a chosen time has already passed for today, you'll be prompted to move it forward rather than scheduling in the past." ] }, { "heading": "Google Business Categories", "content": [ "Each image is tagged with a Google Business category. Choosing the right category helps Google understand and display your photos appropriately.", "Available categories depend on your business type. Common categories include Cover, Profile, Interior, Exterior, Food & Drink, and Team." ] }, { "heading": "Managing Existing Photos", "content": [ "The profile's existing Google Business Profile photos are shown in a grid. You can view photo details including dimensions and upload date.", "Photos are synced from Google — to see newly uploaded photos, sync the profile data." ] }, { "heading": "Failed Uploads", "content": [ "If Google rejects an upload — usually a transient API error, or an image that doesn't meet their quality guidelines — it appears in the Failed Uploads section with the reason.", "Use Retry All to resubmit everything in that list. Transient failures normally succeed on a second attempt; if an image fails repeatedly, replace it with a higher-quality photo." ] }, { "heading": "How to upload and schedule photos or videos", "content": [ "You see a schedule preview before anything is confirmed." ], "steps": [ "Click **Images** under **Content** in the sidebar.", "Find **Upload & Schedule Images & Videos**.", "Click **Drag & drop photos or videos here, or click to select** and choose your files.", "Choose a **Category**, and optionally fill in **Description (optional)**.", "Set the options under **Posting Schedule**.", "Click **Upload & Schedule** (or the **Schedule** button showing how many files you picked).", "Check the list under **Review Schedule**; change any file's category, description or date if needed.", "Click **Confirm Schedule**.", "Expand **Scheduled Images** to see the queued uploads." ], "tip": "Google can take up to 24 hours to review a video." }, { "heading": "How to schedule media that's already uploaded", "content": [ "Pending media can be added to a new schedule." ], "steps": [ "Tick each pending file you want to schedule, or click **Select All**.", "Set the options under **Posting Schedule**.", "Click the **Schedule** button showing your selected count.", "Check **Review Schedule** and click **Confirm Schedule**." ] }, { "heading": "How to cancel a scheduled upload", "content": [ "Cancelling sends the file back to pending, so you can schedule it again later." ], "steps": [ "Expand **Scheduled Images**.", "Click the cancel option on the file.", "In the **Cancel scheduled upload?** dialog, click **Cancel upload** (or **Keep scheduled** to leave it)." ] }, { "heading": "How to delete an uploaded file", "content": [ "Deleting removes the file for good." ], "steps": [ "Find the file and click its delete option.", "In the **Delete this image?** dialog, click **Delete**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "posts", "title": "Posts", "intro": "Create, schedule, and manage Google Business Profile posts, and share them to the business's social media pages at the same time. Posts keep your profile active and help you appear in local search results. Use AI-powered content generation or craft posts manually, and set posts to repeat or rotate from an evergreen library.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/posts", "location": "Content > Posts", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Creating or changing posts needs an owner, admin or editor account.", "AI post generation costs 1 credit per post generated." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Creating a Post", "content": [ "Click 'Create Post' to open the post creation form. Choose your post type — Update, Event, or Offer.", "Write your post content, optionally add a call-to-action button (e.g. 'Learn More', 'Call Now', 'Book'), and attach an image.", "Event posts require a title, start date, and end date. Offer posts support coupon codes, redemption URLs, and terms & conditions." ] }, { "heading": "AI Content Generation", "content": [ "The AI Content Wizard can generate a full content plan for the business. Pick how many posts to create (1 to 8, 4 by default), the date range and content themes. Each post created costs 1 credit, so if you ask for 8 and 7 come back you pay 7. The Generate with AI button under Create New Post writes a single post for 1 credit.", "Generated posts are saved as drafts that you can review, edit, and approve before scheduling.", "The AI uses the business description, website summary, and category information to create relevant, engaging content.", "Generation on this page is on demand. Recurring, hands-off post generation now lives in the Automations area of the Client Portal page as 'Auto-schedule Client Post Generation', and is available on Agency and Agency x10 plans." ], "tip": "Always review AI-generated content before publishing. The AI provides a strong foundation, but local expertise makes the content authentic." }, { "heading": "Bulk Import via CSV", "content": [ "Import dozens of posts at once using a CSV file. Download the template, fill in your content, and upload.", "The CSV supports all post types, scheduling dates, CTA buttons, and media URLs." ] }, { "heading": "Scheduling Posts", "content": [ "Set a future date and time to automatically publish your post. Scheduled posts appear in the calendar view. To post the same thing on a regular schedule, or rotate a set of posts, see Repeating Posts and Evergreen Campaigns below.", "You can edit or cancel scheduled posts at any time before their publish time." ] }, { "heading": "Connecting Social Media Accounts", "content": [ "The Social media accounts card at the bottom of the Posts page (also shown on the Images page) lists Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Bluesky and Pinterest. Connections belong to the business profile you have selected. Sharing costs 1 credit per post, per network (posting to Google is included in your plan); the card shows your balance and a Buy credits link, and the balance and a Buy Credits button are also at the top right of the Posts and Images pages. Credits for networks that fail are refunded automatically, and shares are skipped if you run out.", "Click Connect next to a network and sign in on that network's own page, then approve access for the page or account you want. You come straight back to GBPly and the network shows as Connected. If you give access to more than one page, GBPly asks which one belongs to this business.", "What you can connect: a Facebook Page, an Instagram business or creator account, a LinkedIn company page, a Threads profile, a TikTok account, a Bluesky account or a Pinterest account. For Bluesky, enter your handle and an app password created in Bluesky under Settings → Privacy and security → App passwords; it is used once to connect and isn't stored by GBPly.", "Use existing lets this business share to an account another business in the same workspace has already connected — for example several locations that share one Facebook Page. Accounts are only shared between businesses when you choose this.", "Disconnect stops sharing to that account for this business only; other businesses using the same account aren't affected. If a network shows Needs reconnecting (for example after a password change on that network), click Reconnect.", "Connect opens the network's sign-in in a new tab, so this page stays where you left it — handy if you need to create an account first. When you're done, close that tab; the connection appears here automatically.", "Facebook says it's already connected, or no Page was shared? GBPly can only post to Facebook Pages you manage, not personal profiles. Click Connect again, choose Edit settings on the Facebook screen, tick your Page and continue. The same applies to Instagram accounts linked to a Page.", "Owners, admins and editors can change connections; viewers can see them but not change them. Social posting is included in every paid plan and isn't available on demo profiles." ], "tip": "The network's own sign-in screen shows the name of the connection service GBPly uses rather than GBPly. GBPly keeps only a reference to the connected account, never your social media passwords." }, { "heading": "Sharing Posts to Social Media", "content": [ "When you create or edit a post, every connected network is ticked under Also share to by default, just above the publish and schedule buttons. Untick any you don't want. When editing an existing post, your saved choice is kept. Networks that aren't connected for this business are greyed out.", "The post is shared to the ticked networks as soon as Google publishes it — straight away for a post you publish now, or on its scheduled date. Nothing goes to social if the post is flagged by the content check or not published by Google.", "The AI Content Wizard has the same choice (Also share these posts to), and every post it generates keeps those networks when you schedule it. Automated post generation has its own setting, Also share approved posts to.", "Captions are built from the post text, with event or offer dates, offer codes and the button link added. Each caption is shortened to fit the network's limit, and links are added where the network makes them clickable.", "Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest need a photo or video, so text-only posts are skipped on those networks and still go to the others you ticked.", "Each post shows a small badge per network: Also shares to before it goes live, then sent, skipped or failed with the reason. Temporary problems are retried automatically; use Retry on the post once you've fixed anything on your side, such as reconnecting an account." ], "tip": "Agency clients can connect their own social accounts from the client portal, so you never need their passwords." }, { "heading": "Repeating Posts", "content": [ "Use a repeating post when the same message should go out on a regular schedule, such as a monthly offer, a weekly opening-hours reminder or a yearly event. In Create New Post, write the post, then under Publishing method choose Repeat this post. Publish once is the default.", "Choose how often: every week, every 2 weeks, every month or every year. Then pick the day, the publishing time and a start date. Times use the business's own timezone, so a 9:00 AM post stays at 9:00 AM when the clocks change.", "Choose when it stops: after a number of posts (8 by default), on an end date, or keep going. A preview shows the next few dates before you start.", "Skip busy days is on by default. If another post is already scheduled for that business on the same day, the repeat skips that date and carries on from the next one.", "Press Start repeating. The wording is checked against Google's posting rules first, so you find out about any problem straight away.", "For Events and Offers, the event or offer dates move forward with each repeat. Times, coupon codes, terms and the redeem link are kept on every repeat." ], "tip": "Google has no built-in way to repeat posts, so GBPly publishes each repeat as a normal post on its date. Only the next one is scheduled at any time. That keeps your Posts list tidy, and any changes you make to the campaign apply to every future post." }, { "heading": "Evergreen Campaigns", "content": [ "An evergreen campaign is a library of posts that stay true all year, such as services, FAQs, tips or reviews you're proud of. GBPly rotates through the library on a schedule, so the profile stays active without you writing something new every week.", "To start one, choose Add to evergreen campaign under Publishing method in Create New Post. Then pick an existing library, or Create a new library and give it a name, how often to post, the day, the time and a start date. The button changes to Add to library.", "A new library starts paused, so you can add more posts before anything goes out. Start it from the Recurring & Evergreen Campaigns panel on the Posts page. You can also create a campaign there and add or edit its library posts.", "In the campaign's settings you choose the Order (in order, or least recently used first) and what happens after every post is used: pause for your review, start again, or stop after a set number of rounds. You can also set how many days must pass before the same post can repeat (28 by default)." ] }, { "heading": "Managing Campaigns", "content": [ "Every repeating and evergreen campaign is listed in the Recurring & Evergreen Campaigns panel on the Posts page. It shows each campaign's schedule, its next date and how many posts have been published or skipped.", "Use Pause, Resume, Edit or Cancel on each campaign. Edits only affect future posts; posts already on Google stay as they are. Show history lists every post the campaign has made and how it went.", "Campaign posts show a Repeating or Evergreen tag with the campaign name. Editing or deleting one of them only changes that single post; the campaign carries on with the next date.", "If a campaign post is held by the posting-rules check, the campaign waits and its card says so. Fix or approve the post in the Flagged section and the campaign continues. If three posts in a row fail on Google, the campaign pauses so you can check what's wrong.", "Social sharing, the daily post cap and the posting-rules check apply to every campaign post, just as they do for normal posts." ] }, { "heading": "Calendar View", "content": [ "The calendar shows your scheduled and published posts and images in a week or month view. This helps you plan content and keep posting consistently.", "Click any item to view it, or drag an upcoming post or image to another day to move it.", "Future dates from your repeating and evergreen campaigns appear as faint entries with a dashed outline and a repeat icon. They are plans, not scheduled posts yet: each one becomes a real post when the previous one goes out. Click one to see the campaign, the time and the post that's likely to go out, or open the campaign. The same planned dates appear on the Dashboard and Insights calendars and in the client portal's Post Schedule." ] }, { "heading": "Publishing Activity", "content": [ "Google retired per-post view and click reporting in 2023 and has not replaced it, so no tool can show engagement for an individual post.", "Instead, the Posts tab in Insights & Analytics shows what was published and when over any date range, which you can read alongside your profile-level views, calls, direction requests and website clicks." ] }, { "heading": "Drafts & Pending Review", "content": [ "Drafts holds anything saved but not yet scheduled — including everything produced by the AI Content Wizard. Edit a draft and schedule or publish it when you're happy with it.", "Pending Review holds posts waiting on client approval through the client portal. You can approve or reject individual posts, or use Approve All / Reject All to clear the queue in one action." ] }, { "heading": "Flagged Posts", "content": [ "Every post is checked against Google's content rules before it publishes. Anything that trips the check — promotional phone-number stuffing, prohibited wording, and similar — is held back and appears in the Flagged section with the reason it was blocked.", "Edit the wording to clear the issue and publish as normal. If you're certain the post is compliant and the check has been over-cautious, you can override the block and publish it as-is." ], "tip": "Publishing is also throttled by a daily post cap per profile. Anything over the cap is automatically deferred to the next day rather than lost." }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore AI Content features and Social Media Posting for an overview of what these features do." ] }, { "heading": "How to generate AI posts", "content": [ "The content wizard creates posts for you to review; nothing is published straight away." ], "steps": [ "Click **Posts** under **Content** in the sidebar.", "Click **Generate AI Posts**. The **Generate Content Schedule** dialog opens.", "Choose a content option on the first screen and click **Next**.", "Enter the details asked for on the next screen.", "Choose **How many posts?** (1 to 8, default 4).", "Pick a **Starting Date** and a **Posting Cadence**.", "Click the generate button, which shows the count and cost, e.g. **Generate 4 posts (4 credits)**. This spends 1 credit per post.", "When the wizard finishes, click **View Posts**.", "Review and edit each post before approving it." ], "tip": "AI-written content can be wrong. Always check it before it goes live." }, { "heading": "How to fix a flagged post", "content": [ "Flagged posts were stopped by the final policy check before publishing." ], "steps": [ "Expand **Flagged Posts**.", "Read the post's **Detected issues:**.", "Click **Edit** on the post.", "Correct the text in the editing dialog and save it." ] }, { "heading": "How to publish a flagged post anyway", "content": [ "Only do this when you're sure the warning doesn't apply." ], "steps": [ "Expand **Flagged Posts** and read **Detected issues:**.", "Click **Publish anyway** on the post. The **Publish despite policy warning?** dialog opens.", "Click **Publish anyway** in the dialog." ], "tip": "Google may still reject or remove posts that break its rules." } ] }, { "slug": "qa", "title": "Q&A Manager", "intro": "The Q&A Manager is a managed FAQ knowledge base for a business profile. Google Business Profiles no longer have a public questions and answers feature, so entries here do not appear on the profile as questions and answers. Instead, they give you a maintained set of answers you can publish as Google Business Profile posts and export as structured data for the business's own website.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/qa", "location": "Content > Q&As", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Adding, generating or changing Q&As needs edit permission.", "A Q&A must be approved before it can be published as a post." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "AI FAQ Generation", "content": [ "Click Generate with AI to use AI to create relevant questions and answers based on the business profile and website content.", "The AI generates questions that potential customers commonly ask about businesses in that category. Any individual question can also be answered on its own using the AI Answer action on the question." ], "tip": "Generated FAQs should be reviewed and customised to accurately reflect the business's actual policies and offerings." }, { "heading": "Adding & Editing Q&As", "content": [ "Manually add Q&As by clicking 'Add Q&A'. Enter the question and a detailed, informative answer.", "Edit existing Q&As at any time to keep information current." ] }, { "heading": "Publishing as Posts", "content": [ "Convert a Q&A into a Google Business Profile post to get the answer in front of customers. This publishes the question and answer as a standard update post.", "This is particularly effective for seasonal questions or time-sensitive information." ] }, { "heading": "Batch Publishing", "content": [ "Select several Q&As and publish them as a drip-fed series of posts rather than all at once. Choose a start date and a cadence — every day, every 2 days, every 3 days, or weekly — and one post is scheduled per Q&A.", "Q&As are held to the same content rules as posts, so anything covering location, contact details or opening hours is skipped, and addresses and postcodes are stripped. Blocked entries need rewording, or an explicit override, before they'll publish." ] }, { "heading": "JSON-LD Export", "content": [ "Export the Q&As as FAQPage structured data (JSON-LD). Paste this code into the business website so search engines and AI systems can read the answers directly from the page.", "Google no longer shows FAQ rich results in Search, so treat this as machine-readable context for the page rather than a way to change how the listing looks." ] }, { "heading": "CSV Import & Export", "content": [ "Download all Q&As as a CSV file for backup, reporting, or use in other systems.", "You can also import Q&As from a CSV — handy if you already maintain FAQs elsewhere, or want to reuse a set of answers across several profiles." ] }, { "heading": "How to add a Q&A", "content": [ "Adding a Q&A saves it to your knowledge base; it isn't published yet." ], "steps": [ "Click **Q&As** under **Content** in the sidebar.", "Click **Add Q&A**. The **Add Q&A** dialog opens.", "Fill in **Question** and **Answer**, and choose a **Category**.", "Click **Add Q&A** in the dialog. The new entry appears in the list." ], "tip": "Don't repeat details already on the profile (name, address, phone, website, hours, description or categories)." }, { "heading": "How to generate Q&A suggestions with AI", "content": [ "Suggestions appear for review before they're saved." ], "steps": [ "Click **Generate with AI**. The **Generate Q&As with AI** dialog opens.", "Choose a **Category Focus**, or leave **All Categories**.", "Optionally fill in **Custom Direction (optional)**.", "Click **Generate**.", "Check and correct the list under **AI Generated Q&As — Review Before Saving**, then save the ones you want." ] }, { "heading": "How to edit a Q&A", "content": [ "Change a saved knowledge-base entry." ], "steps": [ "Click the edit option on the Q&A. The **Edit Q&A** dialog opens.", "Update **Question**, **Answer** or **Category**.", "Click **Save Changes**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "citation-management", "title": "Citation Management", "intro": "Citation Management finds where your business is listed online (directories, maps and review sites), checks whether each listing's name, address, phone number and website match your Google Business Profile, and shows the sites your competitors are listed on that you aren't.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/citations", "location": "Performance > Citation Management", "prerequisites": [ "Select a business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Owners, admins and editors can run scans and record reviews.", "A scan costs 25 credits; finding opportunities costs 10 credits per competitor (up to 5)." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Running a Scan", "content": [ "Open Citation Management, choose the business and click Run scan (or Run new scan if a scan already exists). Owners, admins and editors can run scans; viewers can see the results.", "A scan searches the web for listings that mention your business, opens the most likely pages and compares the details with your Google Business Profile. Most scans finish within a few minutes, and you can leave the page while it runs." ] }, { "heading": "What a Scan Does and Doesn't Find", "content": [ "This is a best-effort check of listings we can find through search. It won't find every listing online, and a site that isn't shown may still list your business.", "Each scan checks a limited number of pages, starting with the most important directories for your country. Listings it didn't get to are kept and checked on a later scan.", "Scans work for businesses in any country. The directory lists are most complete for the UK, US, Canada, Australia and Ireland, so results elsewhere may be thinner.", "Citation Management finds and checks listings that already exist. It doesn't create, submit or edit listings on other sites." ] }, { "heading": "Who Can Use It", "content": [ "Workspace owners, admins and editors can run scans and mark listings. Viewers can see the results but can't start a scan." ] }, { "heading": "Fixing an Inaccurate Listing", "content": [ "Open the listing from the results and sign in to that directory to edit it, so the details match your Google Business Profile exactly.", "Back in GBPly, mark the listing as corrected. Run another scan later: it only counts as accurate once a new check confirms the change, because some directories take days to update.", "If a listing isn't your business, or is an old duplicate, ask the directory to remove it or merge it with your main listing." ] }, { "heading": "Understanding the Results", "content": [ "Verified: we opened the page and confirmed it's your business. Only verified listings count as citations.", "Please check it: the phone and postcode match but the name is written differently. Open it and decide.", "Couldn't read: we tried, but the site blocked us, was down or no longer exists. This doesn't mean the listing is wrong.", "Not checked: we didn't try to open the page because the site can't be read automatically or covers other countries.", "The accuracy score counts only details we could compare on verified listings. Coverage shows how many of the listings found have actually been checked." ], "tip": "Fixed a listing? Mark it as corrected, then run another scan. The listing only shows as accurate once a later check confirms it." }, { "heading": "Find Opportunities: Competitor Citation Gaps", "content": [ "Click Find opportunities next to Run new scan. Choose up to five competitors: suggestions come from your Rank Tracker, Free Rank Checker and Industry Analysis results, or search for any business by name.", "Your picks from the last discovery are pre-filled, so you can remove some and add new ones. Each competitor costs 10 credits; the total is shown before you start, and any competitor that fails on our side is refunded.", "GBPly finds the sites those competitors are listed on and you aren't, and links straight to each competitor listing so you can see what a good entry looks like. It doesn't read or copy their pages and never adds anything to your own results." ] }, { "heading": "Working Through the Opportunities List", "content": [ "Every discovery is merged into one living list on the Opportunities tab, and the tab shows how many are still to do.", "To do: grouped into Directories & maps, Industry sites, Review sites, Social profiles and Other websites.", "Waiting to confirm: sites you've marked with I've added my business. They stay here until a scan finds your listing.", "Now listed: a site only moves here when a citation scan verifies your listing on it. Your own mark is never treated as proof.", "Ignored: sites you've hidden. They stay hidden in future discoveries and can be restored at any time." ], "tip": "Added a few listings? Run a new citation scan a week or two later so GBPly can confirm them and move them to Now listed." }, { "heading": "Credits and Re-scanning", "content": [ "Each scan uses 25 credits from your workspace balance, the same credits used by the Rank Tracker. The price and your balance are shown on the Run button. Your credit balance and a Buy Credits button are shown at the top right of this page.", "If a scan fails on our side and produces no usable result, the credits are refunded automatically.", "Re-scanning about once a month is enough for most businesses. Each scan re-checks known listings when they're due and looks for new ones." ] }, { "heading": "How to scan your business listings", "content": [ "A scan compares your online listings with your Google Business Profile." ], "steps": [ "Click **Citation Management** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click **Run scan** (or **Run new scan**). The **Run a citation scan?** dialog opens.", "Check the credit charge and your remaining balance.", "Click **Yes, run scan (25 credits)**.", "Wait for the **Results** tab to fill in (2 to 15 minutes). You can leave the page meanwhile.", "Click **More detail** for the accuracy and coverage breakdown." ], "tip": "If a scan fails on our side, the credits are refunded." }, { "heading": "How to check and record a listing correction", "content": [ "Compare a listing with your Google profile in the detail panel." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Results** tab.", "Type a directory name in **Search sources**, or pick a **Listing status**, to narrow the list.", "Click a listing row, or **See what's wrong** next to it.", "Compare the listing details with your Google profile and click **View listing** to see it live.", "Correct the listing on the directory's own website.", "Back in GBPly, optionally add a **Review note**.", "Click **I've corrected it** (or **Mark reviewed**)." ], "tip": "Recording a correction doesn't change the directory listing itself." }, { "heading": "How to check an unconfirmed listing yourself", "content": [ "Record what you found when a listing couldn't be confirmed automatically." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Not confirmed yet** tab.", "Click **Check yourself** next to the listing.", "Click **Open listing** and compare it with **Your Google Business Profile**.", "Click **Yes, it's my business and the details are right**, or **Yes, it's mine but some details are wrong** and tick the wrong fields under **Which details are wrong?**." ], "tip": "Use **Undo this answer** to change an answer, and **I've fixed it** once you've corrected a wrong listing." }, { "heading": "How to find competitor listing opportunities", "content": [ "Find directories where your competitors are listed and you aren't." ], "steps": [ "Click **Find opportunities** (or **New discovery** on the **Opportunities** tab).", "Read the price per competitor and click **Next**.", "Under **Choose your competitors**, click a suggested competitor or use **Search for a competitor on Google** and pick a result.", "Repeat for up to 5 competitors. Click a competitor's X button to remove it, or **Clear all**.", "Click **Start discovery (N credits)**. This spends 10 credits per competitor.", "Wait for the results on the **Opportunities** tab." ], "tip": "If a competitor can't be searched, its credits are refunded automatically." }, { "heading": "How to work through opportunities", "content": [ "Keep track of which suggested sites you've acted on." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Opportunities** tab.", "Open an opportunity's link and add your business on that site.", "Back in GBPly, click **I've added my business** (or **Ignore** if it's not relevant).", "Use **Undo** or **Restore** to change your mind.", "Click **Discovery history** to see earlier discoveries." ] }, { "heading": "How to see previous scans", "content": [ "Every earlier scan is kept." ], "steps": [ "Click **Past scans (N)** and review each scan's date, status and results." ] } ] }, { "slug": "ai-visibility", "title": "AI Visibility", "intro": "AI Visibility checks whether ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Perplexity mention your business when customers ask for what you offer. It shows who those AI tools recommend instead, which websites they use as sources, and what you can do about it.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/ai-visibility", "location": "Performance > AI Visibility", "prerequisites": [ "Select a business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Owners, admins and editors can run scans and manage schedules.", "Each prompt costs credits per AI tool checked; the exact total is shown before you confirm." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Setting Up Your Prompts", "content": [ "Open AI Visibility and choose the business. GBPly suggests prompts from your categories, services and town, written the way a customer would ask (for example \"best plumbers in Leeds\").", "Edit, remove or add prompts before your first scan. You can save up to 20. Change them later with Manage prompts; past scans keep the prompts they used." ], "tip": "Include your town in each prompt. ChatGPT only knows the searcher's country, so the town tells it where to look." }, { "heading": "Running a Scan", "content": [ "Click Run AI scan. The price and your balance are shown before you confirm. Tick which AI tools to check; each prompt is asked on every tool you select, and the price updates to match.", "Google AI Mode and AI Overviews search from your business location. Claude uses your country and town, and ChatGPT Search and Perplexity use your country. Claude costs 2 credits per prompt; the other tools cost 1.", "Most scans finish in 2 to 10 minutes. You can leave the page while it runs.", "Owners, admins and editors can run scans and change prompts. Viewers can see the results." ] }, { "heading": "Understanding the Results", "content": [ "AI visibility is the share of AI answers that mention your business by name, website or phone number.", "Not shown means Google didn't show an AI Overview for that search. That's common for local searches and doesn't count against you.", "Position is where your business appears among the businesses an answer names.", "Open any prompt on the Prompts & answers tab to read each answer, the businesses named and the websites used as sources.", "AI answers change from one search to the next, so treat a single scan as a snapshot and look at the trend over several scans." ] }, { "heading": "Opportunities", "content": [ "Websites AI tools use as sources: directories, guides and forums the answers relied on. For directories, GBPly shows whether Citation Management has found your listing there.", "Prompts where competitors are recommended instead of you: read those answers to see who AI chose and why.", "Your website as a source, Reviews and Details that don't match your profile point to the fixes most likely to help.", "These are suggestions based on what the AI tools said. Nobody can guarantee an AI tool will recommend a business." ] }, { "heading": "Scheduling and History", "content": [ "Under Schedules, add as many as 10 schedules per business. Each one has its own name, runs every week or every month, and checks the AI tools and prompts you pick. You can edit, pause, resume or delete a schedule at any time. Credits are checked before each scheduled scan: if there aren't enough, nothing is searched or charged, the schedule pauses and the workspace owner gets an email.", "Past scans lists every scan with its AI visibility and credits used. Open an older scan to see its results, and use Export to download the answers as a CSV file." ] }, { "heading": "Credits", "content": [ "Each prompt costs 1 credit per AI tool per scan, so with all three AI tools selected a prompt costs 3 credits and 10 prompts cost 30 credits. Your credit balance and a Buy Credits button are shown at the top right of this page. These are the same credits used by the Rank Tracker.", "If a check fails on our side, its share of the credits is refunded automatically." ] }, { "heading": "How to run an AI Visibility scan", "content": [ "Choose the customer questions and AI tools to test." ], "steps": [ "Click **AI Visibility** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "If results are showing, click **New scan**.", "Review the suggested prompts. To add your own, type it in **New prompt** and click **Add prompt**.", "Tick the prompts and AI tools to include, and read the scan cost.", "Click **Run AI scan**. The **Run an AI Visibility scan?** dialog opens.", "Click **Yes, run scan (N credits)**. This spends the credits shown.", "Wait 2 to 10 minutes for the results." ], "tip": "Failed checks are refunded automatically." }, { "heading": "How to read AI answers and opportunities", "content": [ "See whether you're mentioned, what each AI said, and which websites it used." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Overview** tab for the summary.", "Click the **Prompts** tab and open a question; click an AI tool tab to read its answer.", "Click the **Opportunities** tab, then **See answers** for related prompts or **Get listed** to open a directory's sign-up page.", "Click **Open Citation Management** to check directory coverage." ] }, { "heading": "How to view and export an earlier scan", "content": [ "Switch between completed scans." ], "steps": [ "Click the **History** tab and click **View** next to a scan.", "Click **Export** to download it as CSV.", "Click **Show latest scan** to return to the newest result." ] }, { "heading": "How to repeat a scan automatically", "content": [ "Repeat a completed scan's exact prompts and tools on a schedule." ], "steps": [ "Show the completed scan and click **Schedule this scan**.", "In the **Run this exact scan automatically?** dialog, click **Weekly** or **Monthly** (or **Not now**)." ], "tip": "Each automatic run spends credits when it runs." }, { "heading": "How to create or edit a scan schedule", "content": [ "Choose the name, prompts, tools and frequency yourself." ], "steps": [ "Click **New schedule**, or **Edit** next to an existing schedule.", "Enter a **Name** and choose **Weekly** or **Monthly** under **How often**.", "Tick the **AI tools** and **Prompts** to include.", "Set **Schedule switched on** and click **Save schedule**.", "Use **Pause** or **Resume** to control it, or the trash button to delete it." ] } ] }, { "slug": "rank-tracker", "title": "Keyword Rank Tracker", "intro": "This page explains how to set up and read keyword rank scans inside GBPly. You choose the keywords and the area, GBPly checks each point on a geographic grid, and the results show where the profile appears in Google Maps at every point.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/rank-tracker", "location": "Performance > Rank Tracker", "prerequisites": [ "A paid plan and a selected business profile.", "1 credit per map point (a 5×5 grid is 25 credits); the cost is shown on the button.", "Let the map finish loading before starting a scan." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Running a Scan", "content": [ "Enter a keyword (e.g. 'plumber near me') and click Scan. The system checks the profile's ranking at each point of a grid laid over the area currently visible on the map.", "Scans cost 1 credit per map point: a 3×3 grid uses 9 credits, a 5×5 uses 25 and a 12×12 uses 144." ] }, { "heading": "Choosing the Area to Scan", "content": [ "The scan covers the visible map area, so you control the coverage with the map itself: pan to move the area, zoom out to cover a wider region, and zoom in for a tighter, more detailed read of a city centre.", "The map opens centred on the business location. To change how many points are checked, use the Grid size dropdown next to the keyword box and pick anything from 3×3 to 12×12 (or Custom points). The Run Scan button shows the credit cost before you run.", "To cover a bigger distance, zoom the map out (or pan it) before you click Run Scan — the grid is spread across whatever area is visible. To check more places within that area, choose a larger grid size.", "The map needs a moment to load before scanning is available. If you see 'Map not ready yet', give it a few seconds and try again." ] }, { "heading": "Custom Points", "content": [ "Instead of an even grid, switch to Custom points and click the map to place pins exactly where your customers are. Drag a pin to move it and click it to remove it. You can place up to 144 points, spread across up to 800 km.", "Each point uses 1 credit, the same as a grid point, so the cost is shown before you run. Scheduled scans re-run the exact same points every time." ] }, { "heading": "Understanding the Grid Map", "content": [ "The grid map shows the ranking at each geographic point, colour-coded in four bands: green for positions 1–3, yellow for 4–10, orange for 11–15, and red for 16 or lower (including not found).", "The business location is marked at the centre of the grid. The map makes it easy to see where visibility is strong and where it needs work." ] }, { "heading": "Credits", "content": [ "Rank Tracker scans require credits — 1 per map point (25 for a 5×5 scan), whether you run it manually or it runs on a schedule. Your plan's monthly allowance covers these; top up with the Buy Credits button at the top right of the Rank Tracker page, or from the Billing page.", "Subscription plans include a set number of monthly credits. Additional credits can be bought as top-up packs at any time.", "Credits belong to the workspace, not to you personally." ] }, { "heading": "Rank Replay Timeline", "content": [ "Once there are multiple scans for the same keyword, Rank Replay plays through the ranking changes over time as an animation on the map.", "Each scan adds one frame, so a recurring schedule is what makes Rank Replay genuinely useful — a weekly schedule builds a week-by-week picture of how visibility is moving.", "This is invaluable for showing the impact of optimisation work, and it's one of the sections you can expose to clients in the client portal." ] }, { "heading": "Trends & Comparison", "content": [ "The trends view plots average ranking over time for each keyword. Compare multiple keywords to see which are improving.", "Use this data to prioritise which keywords to focus optimisation efforts on." ] }, { "heading": "Competitors", "content": [ "Below the map, the competitor table lists the businesses that showed up across the grid, with their average rank, visibility score, share of top-3 positions, number of points they appeared on, review count and rating.", "Select a competitor to show where it ranks on the map and compare it with your business. This uses the same scan, so it costs nothing extra." ] }, { "heading": "History", "content": [ "The History tab lists every scan that has been run for the profile. Filter by keyword or date to find a specific scan, and open it to view its grid map again.", "An opened scan comes back at the zoom and area it was originally run at. If you schedule straight from a loaded scan without moving the map, the schedule repeats exactly the area that scan covered. If that area is larger than scheduled scans allow, you'll be asked to zoom in and schedule the visible area instead.", "Old scans can be deleted if you want to tidy the list — bear in mind that removing scans also removes those frames from Rank Replay." ] }, { "heading": "Scheduling Scans", "content": [ "Set up automated scans to run Weekly (every 7 days), Bi-weekly (every 14 days) or Monthly (every 30 days). A schedule repeats the map area and grid you have in place, its first run is one interval after you create it, and each run costs 1 credit per map point.", "Changing a schedule: on the Schedule tab, click the pencil button on any row to change its next run date and frequency.", "Set all to same date: use this button above the list to line up every schedule, or only those matching your current filter, so all your keywords run on the same day. Choose a date, then either keep each schedule's own frequency or set one frequency for all of them. You'll be asked to confirm before anything changes.", "Schedules can be paused, resumed or deleted at any time. Consistent tracking is what lets you spot trends early, and it's what keeps Rank Replay populated.", "If a scheduled run can't complete because the credit balance is empty, top up and the next run will proceed as normal." ], "tip": "Line all a profile's keywords up on the same date, so every Rank Replay frame compares results from the same day. Weekly is the sweet spot for most profiles." }, { "heading": "Reports", "content": [ "Generate a shareable Rank Tracker report showing scan results, grid map, and trend data.", "Reports can be shared via link — useful for client reporting and internal reviews." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore Citation Management features for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to run a ranking scan", "content": [ "Check where the business ranks for a keyword across a map grid." ], "steps": [ "Click **Rank Tracker** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Scan** tab.", "Type the search phrase in **Keyword**.", "Choose a **Grid size**.", "Pan and zoom the map to cover the area you want.", "Click **Run Scan (N credits)**. This spends the credits shown.", "Wait for the coloured markers and ranking summary to appear." ], "tip": "If an approximate-location warning appears, click **Refresh** to fetch exact coordinates." }, { "heading": "How to scan your own chosen points", "content": [ "Custom points replace the grid with locations you click." ], "steps": [ "On the **Scan** tab, enter a **Keyword** and choose **Custom points** in **Grid size**.", "Click the map at each location to check.", "Click **Remove point N** (X icon) to remove a point.", "Click **Run Scan (N credits)**." ] }, { "heading": "How to inspect results and competitors", "content": [ "Each map point shows who ranks there." ], "steps": [ "Click a result marker on the map to see the ranking businesses at that point.", "Click **Close** (X icon) to dismiss it.", "Use **Previous scan** and **Next scan** (arrow buttons) to switch between comparable scans.", "If a competitor is highlighted, click **Back to my rankings**." ] }, { "heading": "How to create a recurring scan", "content": [ "Repeat a scan's keyword and area automatically." ], "steps": [ "With a finished scan showing, click **Schedule**. The **Schedule Recurring Scan** dialog opens.", "Check the **Keyword** and **Grid**.", "Choose a **Frequency**: **Weekly (every 7 days)**, **Bi-weekly (every 14 days)** or **Monthly (every 30 days)**.", "Click **Create Schedule**." ], "tip": "Each scheduled run spends credits for its map points." }, { "heading": "How to manage recurring scans", "content": [ "View, change, pause or delete saved schedules." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Schedule** tab; type in **Filter by keyword** to narrow the list.", "Click **View schedule** (eye icon) to see a schedule's settings.", "Click **Edit date & frequency** (pencil icon), set **Next run date** and **Frequency**, and save.", "Click **Pause** or **Resume**, or **Delete** (trash icon)." ] }, { "heading": "How to play and share Rank Replay", "content": [ "Rank Replay animates your ranking history." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Rank Replay** tab and choose the keyword and dates.", "Click **Play replay** (triangle icon); click **Pause replay** to stop.", "Use **First frame**, **Previous frame**, **Next frame** and **Last frame** to step through.", "Turn **Auto-zoom** on or off.", "Click **Share** to create a shareable GIF." ] }, { "heading": "How to review trends and history", "content": [ "See how rankings changed over time." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Trends** tab for each keyword's trend.", "Click the **History** tab; use **Filter by keyword**, **From** and **To** to narrow it, then open a scan.", "To remove a scan, click **Delete scan** (trash icon), then **Delete scan** in the **Delete this scan?** dialog." ] }, { "heading": "How to print a ranking report", "content": [ "Print or save a finished scan as a PDF." ], "steps": [ "Open the report for a finished scan and click **Print Report**.", "Pick a printer or **Save as PDF** in the browser's print dialog.", "Click **Back to Scan** to return." ] } ] }, { "slug": "free-rank-check", "title": "Free Rank Check", "intro": "The Free Rank Check shows where a business sits on Google Maps for a single search term, using your 250 free map point scans each month. Pick any grid from 3×3 to 12×12, or place your own custom points (1 to 144), and see the position at each one.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/free-rank-check", "location": "Performance > Rank Checker", "prerequisites": [ "Signed in, with free map points left this month or paid credits.", "Rank Replay, Trends and Schedule need a paid plan." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Your Free Monthly Allowance", "content": [ "Every account gets 250 free map point scans each month (shown as free credits in the app). Each map point checked uses 1, so a 5×5 check uses 25, a 12×12 uses 144 and a custom check uses one per pin. The cost is shown on the Check button before you run anything. A check is never split between free and paid credits; if your free credits can't cover it, pick a smaller grid or pay with credits. If a check fails, whatever it used is refunded. The counter on the page shows how many you have left, and it renews each month on the date you joined, when we'll also email you. Unused credits don't carry over — the allowance is reset, not added to.", "The allowance belongs to the account, not to a workspace — creating extra workspaces does not create extra free credits.", "Once the free allowance is used up, further checks draw on your Credits. If there are no credits left, you'll be prompted to top up before running another check." ] }, { "heading": "Running a Check", "content": [ "Start typing the business name and pick it from the list of suggestions, then enter the search term you want to test — for example 'emergency plumber'. The map centres on the business and shows a preview of the grid points before you run anything. Choose a grid size from 3×3 to 12×12, or switch to Custom points and click the map to place pins (drag to move, click to remove, up to 144).", "Pan and zoom the map to frame the area you care about, and adjust the spacing if you want a tighter or wider grid. What you see on the map is what gets checked.", "Only one check can run at a time per workspace. Your first check (up to 25 points) runs on the fast route. After that, checks paid with credits are usually ready in under a minute, while free checks may be slower at busy times. When both your free allowance and your credits cover a check, you choose which to use.", "If a free check takes a while, you can leave the page; we'll email you when the results are ready if you haven't opened them. While a check runs, short sponsored messages may be shown.", "Your credit balance and a Buy Credits button are shown at the top right of this page." ], "tip": "Test the search term a real customer would type, not your business name — that's what tells you whether you're being found by people who don't know you yet." }, { "heading": "Reading the Grid", "content": [ "Each point is colour-coded by position: green for 1–3, yellow for 4–10, orange for 11–15, and red for 16 or lower, including points where the business wasn't found at all.", "The summary underneath gives the number of points where the business was found, the average position where it was found, and the share of points in the top 3 and top 10.", "A patchwork of green near the business and red further out is completely normal — Google Maps results are heavily influenced by where the searcher is standing." ] }, { "heading": "Recent Checks", "content": [ "Every check you run is kept in the Recent checks list. Search it by business or search term, filter by business or status, and sort by newest, oldest, best average position or most points found.", "The list is paginated, so it stays fast no matter how many checks you build up over time.", "Click any past check to reload its business, search term and map area into the form, or press 'Use these details again' on a result to re-run it. If you're about to repeat a check you ran within the last hour, you'll get a gentle warning first." ] }, { "heading": "Printable report", "content": [ "Every finished check has a 'View report' button, on the result and in the Recent checks list. The report shows the map, visibility, average and best rank, the rank spread and a short plain-English summary.", "Press 'Print / Save as PDF' to print it or save it as a PDF to send to a client. Untick 'Include upgrade panel' if you don't want the Rank Tracker panel on it.", "Reports carry GBPly branding by default. Set your agency name, logo, colour, website and footer text under Workspace Settings → Custom Portal Branding and every report uses your branding instead, even on a free account." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Check vs Keyword Rank Tracker", "content": [ "The Free Rank Check is a one-off snapshot: one search term, your choice of grid or custom points, no history tracking.", "The full Keyword Rank Tracker adds saved keywords, recurring schedules, trend charts, Rank Replay animations and client reports.", "If you want to prove progress over time, use the Rank Tracker. If you just want to know where you stand right now, the Free Rank Check is the fastest answer." ] }, { "heading": "Using It From Outside the App", "content": [ "The same checks can be run from your own software, a spreadsheet or another product using the Free Rank Checker API. See the Developer API section for keys, endpoints and examples.", "API checks draw on exactly the same monthly allowance as checks you run in the app." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore Free Rank Checker for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to check a business's rankings", "content": [ "Check any business found on Google, without connecting its profile." ], "steps": [ "Click **Rank Checker** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Check** tab.", "Click **Search for the business on Google**, search, and pick the matching business.", "Type the query in **Search term**.", "Choose a **Grid size** and move the map to cover the **Area to check**.", "Click **Check rankings (N credits)**.", "If the **How would you like to run this check?** dialog opens, choose **Use N free credits** or **Use N paid credits** (optionally tick **Remember my choice on this device**) and click **Run check**.", "Wait while the button shows **Check in progress…**; results appear on the map." ], "tip": "Once a choice is remembered, click **Using free credits · Change** (or **Using paid credits · Change**) to choose again." }, { "heading": "How to check your own chosen points", "content": [ "Replace the grid with locations you click on the map." ], "steps": [ "Choose the business and **Search term**, then choose **Custom points** in **Grid size**.", "Click the map at each location; click **Remove point N** (X icon) to remove one.", "Click **Check rankings (N credits)** and complete the dialog if it appears." ] }, { "heading": "How to start another check", "content": [ "Reset the form for a different business or search term." ], "steps": [ "Click **Start a new check**, then pick the business and **Search term** again." ] }, { "heading": "How to find a previous check", "content": [ "Filter your history by business, keyword, date or status." ], "steps": [ "Click the **History** tab.", "Use **Filter by keyword**, **From**, **To**, **Business**, **Status** and **Sort** to narrow the list.", "Open the check you want; click **Clear filters** to reset." ] } ] }, { "slug": "insights", "title": "Insights & Analytics", "intro": "The Insights page provides detailed analytics about how customers find and interact with your Google Business Profile. Track views, actions, search queries, and more.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/insights", "location": "Performance > Insights", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Date Range Filters", "content": [ "Use the date range picker to select the time period you want to analyse. Choose from the preset ranges (Last 7 days or Last 30 days) or set a custom date range.", "Charts and metrics update to reflect your selected period. The Searches tab uses its own month picker instead, because Google only reports search terms by month." ] }, { "heading": "Views & Actions Charts", "content": [ "The Views chart shows how many times your profile was seen on Google Search and Google Maps. Views are broken down by platform.", "The Actions chart tracks customer interactions — website clicks, phone calls, direction requests, and bookings." ] }, { "heading": "Posts Published", "content": [ "The Posts tab shows how many posts were published in the selected range, broken down by type, along with the individual posts and their publish dates. Google retired per-post views and clicks in 2023, so use your publishing cadence alongside the profile-level trends above to guide your content strategy." ] }, { "heading": "Search Keywords", "content": [ "Discover which search terms customers use to find your business. This data comes directly from Google and shows both direct (brand name) and discovery (category/product) searches.", "Use this information to optimise your profile description, posts, and Q&As for the terms customers actually use." ] }, { "heading": "Printable Report", "content": [ "Open the Report tab and click Print Report to generate a printer-friendly version of your insights report. This is formatted for clean output without navigation elements.", "Useful for client reporting, team meetings, or archiving performance data." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore Performance Insights features for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to review performance for a period", "content": [ "The date buttons control the charts and the report." ], "steps": [ "Click **Insights** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click **Last 7 days** or **Last 30 days**.", "Click the **Overview** tab for profile views, **Actions** for website clicks, calls, directions and bookings, and **Posts** for publishing activity." ], "tip": "Periods end on the newest date Google has published (usually 2 to 3 days ago), not today." }, { "heading": "How to choose a custom date range", "content": [ "Pick both ends of the period." ], "steps": [ "Click **Custom**.", "Click the date under **From** and pick the start date.", "Click the date under **To** and pick the end date.", "Click **Apply**." ] }, { "heading": "How to see monthly search terms", "content": [ "Google reports search terms by month only." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Searches** tab.", "Open **Search month** and pick a month (or **Last 3 months**)." ] }, { "heading": "How to print a performance report", "content": [ "The report covers the chosen period." ], "steps": [ "Choose the period and click the **Report** tab.", "Click **Print Report** and choose a printer or **Save as PDF**." ] }, { "heading": "How to retry a performance sync", "content": [ "Some notices offer a manual sync." ], "steps": [ "Click **Sync now** on the notice and wait while it shows **Syncing…**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "competition-analysis", "title": "Competition Analysis", "intro": "This page explains how to run a Competition Analysis in GBPly: search an area, review how each nearby competitor's profile scores, and generate an audit report you can act on. It is the version of the tool shown on Business and Business x10 plans — agency plans see Lead Finder instead.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/competition", "location": "Performance > Competition Analysis", "prerequisites": [ "Shown in the sidebar on plans without the Client Portal; agency plans use Lead Finder for the same tools.", "A search costs 5 credits; each competitor report costs 5 credits." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Searching for Competitors", "content": [ "Enter a search query (e.g. 'dentist in Manchester') and the tool returns the businesses Google Maps shows for it.", "Results include business name, rating, review count, address, phone number, and a Profile Strength score.", "Each search costs 5 credits. Select Find 20 more (5 credits) to load the next page of results; nothing is charged if Google returns no new businesses." ] }, { "heading": "Understanding Profile Strength", "content": [ "Every result is scored on how well its Google Business Profile is set up, relative to the others in the same search.", "The score is labelled as Tough Competitor, Room to Compete, or Easy to Outrank — a quick read on which competitors are genuinely well optimised and which are beatable with modest effort." ] }, { "heading": "Generating a Report", "content": [ "Tick a business in your search results and click Benchmark 1 competitor (5 credits). The tool analyses that profile in detail.", "Reports cover profile completeness, review analysis, competitor comparison, and specific recommendations.", "Each report costs 5 credits. Reports you generate are kept under 'Saved Competitors' so you can revisit them later." ], "tip": "Reports include an 'Improve my profile' shortcut that takes you straight to the matching items on the GBP Expert page." }, { "heading": "Search History", "content": [ "Every search you run is kept in Search History so you can reopen previous result sets without spending another credit." ] }, { "heading": "Credits", "content": [ "Searches and reports both use credits (5 per search, 5 per report). Top up from the Billing page if you need more.", "Credits are workspace-specific — they belong to the workspace, not your personal account." ] }, { "heading": "Printing a Report", "content": [ "Reports can be printed or saved as a PDF straight from the report view, formatted without the surrounding app interface.", "Public share links and the slideshow presentation mode are part of Lead Finder on agency plans, and aren't available for Competition Analysis reports." ] }, { "heading": "How to find nearby competitors", "content": [ "Search by category and location." ], "steps": [ "Click **Competition Analysis** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Analyse** tab.", "Type the category in the box marked **e.g. Plumber, Dentist, Restaurant**.", "Pick the location from the suggestions.", "Click **Analyse competition (5 credits)**.", "Review each business's **Profile Strength** (Tough Competitor, Room to Compete or Easy to Outrank)." ] }, { "heading": "How to load more competitors", "content": [ "Extend the current search." ], "steps": [ "Click **Find 20 more (5 credits)**. No credits are used if Google finds no new businesses." ] }, { "heading": "How to benchmark competitors", "content": [ "Get a detailed report on the businesses you pick." ], "steps": [ "Tick **Select [business name]** for each competitor.", "Click **Benchmark N competitors (N × 5 credits)**.", "When it finishes, click the **Saved Competitors** tab and click **View report**." ], "tip": "If a **Report already exists** dialog opens, click **View report** to open it for free, or **Select and regenerate** to refresh it (5 credits)." }, { "heading": "How to print or act on a report", "content": [ "Print the report or jump to your own fixes." ], "steps": [ "Open a saved report and click **Print Report**.", "Click **Improve my profile** to open GBP Expert." ] }, { "heading": "How to delete a saved report", "content": [ "Deleting removes it for good." ], "steps": [ "On the **Saved Competitors** tab, click **Delete report** (trash icon).", "In the **Delete analysis report?** dialog, click **Delete**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "lead-finder", "title": "Lead Finder", "intro": "Lead Finder is the agency prospecting tool. Search any location and category on Google Maps, surface businesses whose profiles are poorly optimised, generate audit reports to open a conversation, and track each prospect through your pipeline. It's open to every workspace and runs on credits; Business plans also see Competition Analysis for comparing local competitors.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/lead-finder", "location": "Performance > Lead Finder", "prerequisites": [ "Available to every workspace; it only needs credits.", "A search costs 5 credits; each audit report costs 5 credits." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Finding Leads", "content": [ "Enter a search query (e.g. 'dentist in Manchester') and the tool returns the businesses Google Maps shows for it, each with name, rating, review count, address, phone number, and an Opportunity Score.", "Each search costs 5 credits. Select Find 20 more (5 credits) to load the next page of results; nothing is charged if Google returns no new businesses." ] }, { "heading": "Opportunity Score", "content": [ "The Opportunity Score rates how much room for improvement a profile has, relative to the other businesses in the same search. A high score means a badly set-up profile — in other words, a strong prospect.", "It's the inverse of how a business owner would read the same data, and it's deliberately framed for outreach: the weakest profiles rise to the top of your list." ] }, { "heading": "Opportunity Filters", "content": [ "Quick filters narrow a result set to the most obvious openings: no website, no phone number, rating under 4.0, fewer than 25 reviews, or no opening hours set.", "Stack filters to build a tight call list — for example, businesses with no website and under 25 reviews." ] }, { "heading": "Generating a Report", "content": [ "Tick a business and click Audit 1 selected (5 credits) to produce a full audit of their profile: completeness, review analysis, competitor comparison, and specific recommendations.", "Each report costs 5 credits. Reports include an agency pitch section you can put in front of the prospect as-is.", "Generated reports are kept under 'Prospects'." ] }, { "heading": "Pipeline Management", "content": [ "Move each prospect through a status — New Lead, Contacted, Proposal Sent, Won, or Lost — and add notes to record what was said and when.", "This keeps your prospecting, the evidence behind it, and the follow-up all in one place." ] }, { "heading": "Outreach Drafts", "content": [ "Generate a draft outreach email for any prospect, built from the actual findings in their audit report.", "Treat it as a starting point — a line or two of genuine local detail makes a significant difference to reply rates." ] }, { "heading": "CSV Export", "content": [ "Export any result set to CSV to work the list in a spreadsheet, import it into a CRM, or hand it to a sales team." ] }, { "heading": "Search History", "content": [ "Every search is kept in Search History, so you can reopen a previous result set without spending another credit." ] }, { "heading": "Credits", "content": [ "Searches and reports both use credits (5 per search, 5 per report). Top up from the Billing page if you need more.", "Credits are workspace-specific — they belong to the workspace, not your personal account." ] }, { "heading": "Sharing & Presenting Reports", "content": [ "Share a report with a prospect via a public link — no account needed to view it.", "Any report can also be presented as a slideshow, which is ideal for pitch calls and sales meetings." ] }, { "heading": "How to find potential leads", "content": [ "Search local businesses and see where they could improve." ], "steps": [ "Click **Lead Finder** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click the **Find leads** tab.", "Type a category in the box marked **e.g. Plumber, Dentist, Restaurant** and pick the location from the suggestions.", "Click **Find leads (5 credits)**.", "Review each business's **Opportunity Score** — higher means more room to improve.", "Click **Find 20 more (5 credits)** for more results (free if Google finds none)." ] }, { "heading": "How to audit selected leads", "content": [ "Audited businesses are saved as prospects." ], "steps": [ "Tick **Select [business name]** for each business.", "Click **Audit N selected (N × 5 credits)**.", "When it finishes, click the **Prospects** tab and click **View report**." ], "tip": "If a **Report already exists** dialog opens, click **View report** to open it for free, or **Select and regenerate** to refresh it (5 credits; the share link and notes are kept)." }, { "heading": "How to filter saved prospects", "content": [ "Search and sort your prospect list." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Prospects** tab.", "Type in **Search by name or address...**.", "Use **Prospect search filter** to pick a search, and **Prospect sort order** to sort." ] }, { "heading": "How to share, print or pitch a prospect", "content": [ "Turn a report into outreach." ], "steps": [ "Open the prospect with **View report**.", "Click **Share** and choose **Share Report Only**, **Share Presentation Only** or **Share Full Report**; then click **Copy Link**.", "Click **Draft outreach email**, then **Copy** to copy the draft.", "Click **Print Report** to print or save as PDF." ], "tip": "To stop sharing, open **Shared** and click **Disable Sharing**." }, { "heading": "How to delete a prospect", "content": [ "Deleting removes the report for good." ], "steps": [ "On the **Prospects** tab, click **Delete report** (trash icon).", "In the **Delete analysis report?** dialog, click **Delete**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "profile-guard", "title": "Profile Guard", "intro": "Profile Guard monitors your Google Business Profile for unauthorised changes. When someone (or Google's systems) modifies your profile data, Profile Guard detects it and alerts you so you can take action.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/profile-guard", "location": "Performance > Profile Guard", "prerequisites": [ "Select the business profile with the profile switcher at the top of the sidebar.", "Profile Guard uses no credits." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "How Change Detection Works", "content": [ "Profile Guard takes a snapshot of your profile's key fields (name, address, phone, hours, categories, etc.) when you enable it.", "Each time your data is synced, the current state is compared against the snapshot. Any differences are flagged as changes." ] }, { "heading": "The Three Tabs", "content": [ "• External Alerts — the changes detected since your snapshot that are still waiting on a decision.", "• Edit History — a record of profile changes over time, so you can see what changed and when, including changes you made yourself.", "• Restore to Date — a point-in-time restore: pick a past date and push the profile's field values from that point back to Google." ] }, { "heading": "Reviewing Changes", "content": [ "Detected changes appear in a list showing the field name, old value, and new value. Each change has a diff view so you can see exactly what changed.", "Each change has three actions: Acknowledge (accept it and update your protected snapshot), Revert (push the original value back to Google), or Ignore (dismiss the alert without changing the snapshot)." ] }, { "heading": "Acknowledging Changes", "content": [ "If a change is legitimate (e.g. you updated your hours), click Acknowledge to update your protected snapshot. The change is resolved and won't be flagged again." ] }, { "heading": "Reverting Changes", "content": [ "If a change was unauthorised, click Revert to push your original value back to Google. This restores the field to its protected state.", "Reverts are pushed via the Google Business Profile API and may take a few minutes to take effect." ], "tip": "Enable Profile Guard as soon as your profile is fully optimised. This way, any future changes are monitored from your ideal baseline." }, { "heading": "Bulk Resolve", "content": [ "When multiple changes are detected at once, use Acknowledge All or Revert All to handle them in one go.", "This saves time when Google makes multiple updates simultaneously." ] }, { "heading": "How to keep an outside change", "content": [ "Acknowledging keeps the new value on Google and clears the alert." ], "steps": [ "Click **Profile Guard** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Click the **External Alerts** tab.", "Compare the previous and new values.", "Click **Acknowledge**. A **Change acknowledged successfully** message appears." ], "tip": "With several alerts, **Acknowledge All** clears them all at once." }, { "heading": "How to undo an outside change", "content": [ "Reverting puts the previous value back on Google." ], "steps": [ "On the **External Alerts** tab, click **Revert** on the change.", "A **Change reverted successfully** message appears." ], "tip": "Attributes & Links can't be reverted one by one. **Revert All** reverts every pending change." }, { "heading": "How to dismiss an alert", "content": [ "Ignore an alert without changing anything on Google." ], "steps": [ "Click **Ignore** (X icon) on the alert. A **Change ignored successfully** message appears." ] }, { "heading": "How to filter edit history", "content": [ "See changes made in GBPly and on Google." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Edit History** tab.", "Use **History field filter** to pick a field and **History source filter** to pick **Made in GBPly**, **Made on Google** or **All sources**." ] }, { "heading": "How to restore the profile to an earlier date", "content": [ "Rebuild the recorded values from a chosen date." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Restore to Date** tab.", "Click the date button and pick the date.", "Review the old values and changed fields.", "Click **Restore** next to one field, or tick several and click **Restore N selected fields** (or **Restore all changed fields**).", "Confirm the browser prompt. The values are sent to Google." ], "tip": "Restoring a business name may trigger Google re-verification." } ] }, { "slug": "client-portal", "title": "Client Portal", "intro": "The Client Portal is a white-label interface that gives your clients a branded, self-service view of their Google Business Profile — without needing a GBPly account. Clients can review and respond to customer reviews with AI-generated suggestions, approve or reject pending posts and content, upload images for scheduling, connect their own social media accounts, submit customer contact details for automated review requests, manage Q&As, view performance insights and rank tracking data, and more. You configure what each client can see and do from this page. The Client Portal and its automations are available on Agency and Agency x10 plans.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/client-portal", "location": "Setup & Account > Client Portal", "prerequisites": [ "An Agency plan, with the client's business selected in the profile switcher.", "Permission to manage the portal." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Setting Up a Portal", "content": [ "Navigate to the Client Portal page for the selected business profile. Toggle the portal on to generate a unique, secure portal URL.", "The portal is profile-specific — each business profile gets its own dedicated URL and configuration. Portals are served from a neutral white-label domain that makes no mention of GBPly, so the link is safe to send straight to a client." ] }, { "heading": "Portal Access & Security", "content": [ "Each portal URL contains a 256-bit cryptographic token that cannot be guessed, ensuring only people with the link can access it.", "You can optionally add password protection. When enabled, clients must enter the password before viewing any data. You can set, change, or remove the password at any time.", "Enable or disable the portal at any time without losing your configuration. If you need to revoke access, regenerate the URL to instantly invalidate the old link." ] }, { "heading": "Branding Your Portal", "content": [ "Customise the portal with your agency's branding. Set your agency name, brand colour, and logo to create a fully white-labelled experience.", "Branding defaults are inherited from your Workspace Settings. You can override these per-profile, or reset back to workspace defaults with one click.", "The portal header and footer display your branding instead of GBPly — your clients see your brand throughout." ] }, { "heading": "Configuring Portal Sections", "content": [ "The portal is built from 16 draggable rows on the configuration page: fourteen individual toggles — To-do List, Stats Overview, Work Completed in Last 28 Days, Image Upload, Post Approval, Rank Replay, Image Schedule, Post Schedule, Recent Reviews, Review Responses, Recent Posts, Q&A Manager, Insights and Social Media Accounts — plus two grouped rows, Get Reviews and Submit new customer contacts.", "Social Media Accounts is off by default. Switch it on to let the client connect or disconnect their own social pages for this business.", "The Get Reviews row contains six toggles of its own — Review Share Link, Review Print Flyer, Review QR Code, Review Website Widget, Review Request API, and How to get more reviews — so you can decide exactly which review tools each client gets.", "The Submit new customer contacts row has its own child toggles for email addresses and phone numbers, so you can allow one, both, or neither.", "Review Responses depends on Recent Reviews: if you switch Recent Reviews off, clients won't see the reply tools either.", "Review Sentiment & Insights (under Recent Reviews) adds a read-only Sentiment & insights tab to the client's Recent Reviews card. It also depends on Recent Reviews, and the tab only appears once that business's reviews have been analysed.", "Use drag-and-drop to reorder the rows — the order you set on the configuration page is the exact order clients see.", "Only enable the sections that are relevant to each client to keep the portal focused and easy to navigate." ], "tip": "Different clients may need different views. A restaurant might benefit from Review Responses and Post Approval, while a multi-location business might prioritise Stats Overview and Insights." }, { "heading": "What Clients Can Do", "content": [ "• **Stats Overview** — View key performance metrics including views, searches, actions, calls, direction requests, and website clicks.", "• **Post Approval** — Approve or reject pending posts and content. Clients can also edit pending post content before approving it.", "• **Recent Reviews & Review Responses** — Read customer reviews and reply directly to Google. AI-generated response suggestions help clients craft professional replies quickly.", "• **Image Upload & Image Schedule** — Upload photos and short videos (MP4, MOV or WebM, up to 30 seconds and 75MB, with at most 10 videos waiting to publish) for scheduling to the business profile, and view or manage already-scheduled media. Clients can type an optional description (up to 300 characters) for each photo or video before uploading, and edit it from the Uploaded Media list until it is published. The description is sent to Google with the photo. Post Approval covers written posts only, so it is not used for photo descriptions.", "• **Post Schedule** — View all scheduled posts and images in a calendar view, with the ability to edit or unschedule items. Planned dates from repeating and evergreen campaigns show as faint dashed entries the client can view but not change.", "• **Get Reviews** — Grab the review link, QR code and printable flyer, copy the website widget embed code, use the review request API, and work through the Get More Reviews playbook.", "• **Submit new customer contacts** — Submit customer email addresses and/or phone numbers, individually or in bulk, for automated review requests.", "• **Q&A Manager** — View, approve and manage Q&A entries for the business profile.", "• **Insights** — View performance insights charts showing trends over time.", "• **Sentiment & insights** — Read-only review sentiment, topics, serious issues and the latest executive summary, inside Recent Reviews. Clients can print the report but can't run or pay for analyses.", "• **Rank Replay** — Watch a visual timeline showing keyword ranking history on an interactive map.", "• **Social Media Accounts** — Connect or disconnect the business's own Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, Bluesky and Pinterest accounts. Clients sign in on each network's own page, so they never share passwords with you. Posts and photos you've ticked for those networks are then shared there when they go live on Google. Clients only see Connect and Disconnect: they can't re-use accounts from your other clients, and the section never mentions GBPly. Connections a client makes show as \"connected by your client\" on your Posts and Images pages." ] }, { "heading": "Automations", "content": [ "The Automations area at the bottom of the Client Portal page holds four collapsible cards. Each one shows its current status at a glance, so you can see what's running for a profile without opening anything.", "• **Auto-schedule Client Rank Scans** — Shows whether a recurring Rank Tracker scan exists for the profile, along with its keyword count and frequency. If nothing is scheduled you'll see a warning and a short setup guide with a link through to Rank Tracker. Without a schedule, the Rank Replay section in the portal has no new frames to show.", "• **Auto-schedule Client Post Generation** — Generates and schedules posts for the profile on a recurring basis, so content keeps flowing without anyone opening the Posts page. This used to live on the Posts page and now sits here. Generated posts respect the same content policy and daily publish cap as manual posts, and can be routed through Post Approval if you want the client to sign them off. Choose 1 to 8 posts per run; each run uses 1 credit per post created from the workspace balance, and a run is skipped (and shown on the card) if there aren't enough credits.", "• **Auto-schedule Client Image Uploads** — Automatically schedules images the client uploads through their portal, on the cadence and posting time you choose, instead of you queueing each one by hand.", "• **Auto-schedule Client Email Reminders** — Emails the client a nudge to visit their portal on a 7, 14 or 28-day cycle. Set the recipient addresses, and send yourself a test or preview first." ], "tip": "Set the four automations up once per client during onboarding. Between them they cover the routine work — content, images, ranking data, and keeping the client engaged." }, { "heading": "Setting Up Client Reminders", "content": [ "Select the client's profile, open Client Portal, and expand Auto-schedule Client Email Reminders in the Automations area.", "Under Add a recipient, enter the client's email address, choose Every 7 days, Every 14 days or Every 28 days, and click Add. Each recipient has their own frequency, next-send date and pause switch.", "Click Preview email to see the current subject and outstanding items. Enter your own address beside Send test to check the email before sending reminders to clients.", "Reminders summarise outstanding work for the portal sections you have enabled and link the client directly to their portal. If nothing is outstanding, no reminder is sent; disabling the portal also pauses reminder sending.", "Check the sender shown in the card. To send from your own mailbox, configure an email connector in Workspace Settings; when you have several active connectors, mark the one you want as default.", "Change a recipient's frequency at any time, use the switch to pause their reminders, or use the remove action to delete their reminder schedule. These client reminders are separate from your personal report email preferences in My Account." ] }, { "heading": "Bulk Actions", "content": [ "If you manage multiple profiles in a workspace, you can apply branding and section settings from the current profile's portal to all other profiles at once.", "Each profile keeps its own unique portal URL — only the configuration settings (branding, enabled sections, and section order) are copied." ], "tip": "Use this when onboarding a new workspace with many profiles. Configure one portal perfectly, then apply to all." }, { "heading": "Sharing the Portal", "content": [ "Copy the portal URL and share it with your client via email, messaging, or any other channel.", "The portal works on any device — desktop, tablet, or mobile — with no app install or account creation needed.", "If password protection is enabled, the client will be prompted to enter the password on their first visit." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore White-label Client Portal features for an overview of client access, approvals and scheduled reminders." ] }, { "heading": "How to create and share a client portal", "content": [ "Each business profile has its own portal." ], "steps": [ "Click **Client Portal** under **Setup & Account** in the sidebar.", "Click **Create Client Portal**.", "Make sure **Portal Access** is on (status **Active**).", "Click **Copy URL** (copy icon next to **Portal URL**) and send it to your client.", "Click **Open portal** (external-link icon) to preview it in a new tab." ] }, { "heading": "How to password-protect the portal", "content": [ "Visitors then need a password to open the link." ], "steps": [ "Turn on **Enable Password Protection** (or click **Change Password**).", "Enter at least four characters in **New Password** and again in **Confirm Password**.", "Click **Save Password**. **Password protection active** appears." ] }, { "heading": "How to replace the portal link", "content": [ "The old link stops working." ], "steps": [ "Click **Regenerate URL**, then **Regenerate** in the **Regenerate Portal URL?** dialog.", "Click **Copy URL** and send the new link to your client." ] }, { "heading": "How to choose what clients see", "content": [ "Turn portal sections on or off." ], "steps": [ "Find **Portal Sections**.", "Switch each section on or off.", "Optionally click **Save as workspace default**, then **Save as default**, to use these choices for new portals." ] }, { "heading": "How to brand this portal", "content": [ "Empty fields follow the workspace branding." ], "steps": [ "Fill in **Agency Name**, choose a **Brand Colour** and **Logo position in client emails**, and optionally **Footer text (portal and client emails)**.", "Click **Save Branding**.", "Optionally click **Save these overrides as workspace default**, then **Save as workspace default**." ] }, { "heading": "How to auto-schedule client image uploads", "content": [ "Publish images your client uploads on a schedule." ], "steps": [ "Expand **Auto-schedule Client Image Uploads** and turn on **Auto-schedule uploads**.", "Choose the **Cadence**, **Posting time**, **Timezone** and **When should the queue start?**.", "Click **Save settings**." ] }, { "heading": "How to preview or test client emails", "content": [ "Reminder and activity emails keep clients informed." ], "steps": [ "Expand **Auto-schedule Client Email Reminders** (or **Auto-schedule Client Activity Email**).", "Click **Preview email** to see it.", "Type an address in **Send a test to…** and click **Send test**." ] }, { "heading": "How to switch the portal off", "content": [ "Settings are kept." ], "steps": [ "Turn off **Portal Access**. The status changes to **Disabled**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "account", "title": "Account Settings", "intro": "The Account page lets you manage your personal account settings — your login email address, password, two-factor authentication, privacy mode for screen recordings, connected Google accounts, report notification preferences, a download of your data, and account deletion.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/account", "location": "Setup & Account > My Account", "prerequisites": [ "Signed in. Some actions ask for your current password." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Changing Your Email Address", "content": [ "You can change your own login email address from the Account page — no need to contact support. Open the Email Address card, click 'Change email', enter the new address twice and confirm your current password.", "A confirmation link is then sent to the **new** address. Nothing changes until that link is clicked. The link expires after 60 minutes and can only be used once.", "While the request is waiting, the Email Address card shows a pending state with options to resend the confirmation email or cancel the request.", "Once confirmed, your login email and profile email are both updated, the previous address is kept on your account as an alias (so earlier support emails still match your account), and your billing details are updated so invoices go to the new address.", "A security notification is also sent to the old address confirming the change, when it happened, and what to do if it wasn't you.", "You stay signed in on your existing sessions — use the new address the next time you log in." ], "tip": "Only one pending request can exist at a time; starting a new one replaces the previous request. If the confirmation email doesn't arrive, check your spam folder and use 'Resend email'. Email changes aren't available while an admin is viewing your account on your behalf." }, { "heading": "Password Management", "content": [ "Change your account password from the Account page. Enter your new password and confirm it.", "If you've forgotten your password, use the 'Forgot Password' link on the sign-in page to receive a reset email." ] }, { "heading": "Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)", "content": [ "Two-factor authentication adds a second step to sign-in: after your password, you enter a 6-digit code from an authenticator app. We support authenticator apps only (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, Microsoft Authenticator and similar) — there are no SMS or email codes.", "To turn it on, open the Two-Factor Authentication card and click to set up an authenticator app. Scan the QR code with your app, or paste the setup key in manually if you can't scan, then enter the 6-digit code your app shows. Nothing is switched on until that code is accepted.", "You can register more than one device and give each one a name. A second device acts as your own backup if you lose your phone.", "Turning 2FA off asks for a current 6-digit code to confirm it's really you.", "If you own a workspace that requires 2FA, you can't turn 2FA off on your own account until you lift that requirement — otherwise you'd lock yourself and your team out.", "From then on, you'll be asked for a code after entering your password (or after signing in with Google) before you reach the dashboard." ], "tip": "Lost your device and have no backup device registered? Contact support — staff can remove the authenticator device from your account so you can set it up again." }, { "heading": "Signing In to a Workspace That Requires 2FA", "content": [ "If a workspace owner requires two-factor sign-in, you must finish authenticator setup and enter a valid code before accessing that workspace. Signing in with Google does not skip this requirement.", "If you have not set up an authenticator yet, follow the setup prompt: scan the QR code or enter the setup key, then confirm the 6-digit code. Closing the setup before confirming does not enable 2FA.", "You can switch to another accessible workspace while completing setup. For an additional backup authenticator, return to the Two-Factor Authentication card in My Account. Never share your setup key or sign-in codes with another person." ] }, { "heading": "Privacy Mode (for screen recordings)", "content": [ "Privacy mode blurs identifying details so you can record your screen, share it on a call or take screenshots without showing private information. Turn it on or off with the eye button next to Sign Out at the top right of any app page.", "While it's on, GBPly blurs business names (including competitors and prospects), people's names, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, websites, logos and profile photos, reviewer names, share links and new API keys. Numbers, rankings, charts, review text and the rest of the page stay readable, so your recording still makes sense.", "Anything that looks like an email address or phone number is blurred automatically, even in places that aren't specifically marked. Pop-up messages swap names for neutral wording, business labels on the map are hidden, and email previews in client portal settings are blurred as a whole.", "The setting is remembered for your login on this browser and applies to every tab you have open. It only affects the signed-in app: public pages, the admin area and client portals are never blurred. You can still type, click and use every feature while it's on.", "To highlight one item, such as a single business in a list, double-click it to show it. Double-click again to blur it. Everything blurs again when you leave the page." ], "tip": "Privacy mode only changes what's shown on your screen. It doesn't hide or change any data, so anyone using your browser's developer tools can still see the real details — close those before you record." }, { "heading": "Connected Google Accounts", "content": [ "View all Google accounts connected to your GBPly account. You can connect additional accounts or disconnect existing ones.", "Each connected Google account gives you access to the Business Profiles associated with that Google login." ], "tip": "If you manage profiles across multiple Google accounts (common for agencies), connect all relevant accounts to access everything from one dashboard." }, { "heading": "Report Notifications", "content": [ "Set how often you receive performance report emails for each profile. Choose from Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, or Never.", "Preferences are per-profile and personal to you — other members of the same workspace set their own frequencies independently.", "Every profile you can see is listed here, grouped by workspace, so you can manage all of them in one place. Use the search box to find a profile by name, and the bulk option to apply one frequency to everything currently listed.", "Frequent updates for active clients and fewer for stable profiles works well when you manage a lot of locations." ] }, { "heading": "Download My Data", "content": [ "Use 'Download my data' to request a copy of your account data as a JSON file. You'll be asked to confirm your password before the request starts.", "The export is prepared in the background. When it's ready you get a private download link that expires after 7 days, and you can request a new export once every 30 days.", "The file covers your personal and account data: your profile details, workspaces and memberships, subscription and billing history, credits, support tickets, and the settings you've configured.", "AI-generated content (such as post copy we generated for you) and data mirrored from Google — reviews, insights, profile fields — aren't included. That information lives in your Google Business Profile, or is generated output rather than personal data we hold about you." ], "tip": "Downloads aren't available while an admin is viewing your account on your behalf." }, { "heading": "Deleting Your Account", "content": [ "You can request deletion of your account and data from the Delete Account card at the bottom of the page.", "The request enters a 30-day queue. During that window you can cancel it and nothing is lost — just come back to the Account page and cancel, or contact support.", "After 30 days the erasure runs and is permanent: any active subscription is cancelled, your Google connections are revoked, and your personal data is removed or anonymised. Records we're legally required to keep, such as invoices, are retained in line with our Privacy Policy.", "If you own workspaces with other members or profiles, get in touch first so we can help you transfer them before the deletion runs." ], "tip": "Deletion requests aren't available while an admin is viewing your account on your behalf. If you only want to stop paying, cancel your subscription from the Billing page instead." }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Read Trust & Security for an overview of two-factor sign-in and account protection." ] }, { "heading": "How to change your password", "content": [ "Update the password you sign in with." ], "steps": [ "Click **My Account** under **Setup & Account** in the sidebar.", "Under **Change Password**, fill in **Current Password**, **New Password** and **Confirm Password**.", "Click **Update Password**." ] }, { "heading": "How to change your email address", "content": [ "The change only happens once you confirm the new address." ], "steps": [ "Open the **Change your email address** dialog from the **Email Address** section.", "Fill in **New email address**, **Confirm new email address** and **Current password**.", "Click **Send confirmation email**, then click the link in the email sent to the new address." ] }, { "heading": "How to connect or disconnect a Google account", "content": [ "Manage the Google logins GBPly uses for your profiles." ], "steps": [ "Under **Connected Accounts**, click **Connect Google Account** (or **Add Another Google Account**) and finish Google's consent screen.", "If an account shows a problem, click **Reconnect**.", "To remove one, click **Disconnect**. In the **Disconnect Google Account?** dialog, answer **What should we do with your data?** with **Keep my data** or **Delete all data**, then click **Disconnect** (or **Disconnect & Delete Data**)." ] }, { "heading": "How to turn on two-factor authentication", "content": [ "Protect your sign-in with an authenticator app code." ], "steps": [ "Under **Two-Factor Authentication**, click **Set up two-factor authentication**.", "Scan the QR code with your authenticator app.", "Type the 6-digit code and click **Turn on two-factor**." ], "tip": "Click **Add another device** to add a backup device, or **Remove device** then **Remove** to take one off." }, { "heading": "How to download your data", "content": [ "Get a copy of your account data as a file (once every 30 days)." ], "steps": [ "Under **Download my data**, click **Request my data**.", "In the **Confirm your data request** dialog, enter your **Current password** and confirm.", "When the status shows **Ready**, click the download link (valid for 7 days)." ] }, { "heading": "How to delete your account", "content": [ "Deletion is queued for 30 days and can be cancelled in that time." ], "steps": [ "Under **Delete my account**, click **Request account deletion**.", "In the **Confirm account deletion request** dialog, enter your **Current password** and type DELETE in **Type DELETE to confirm**.", "Click **Submit deletion request**." ], "tip": "Changed your mind? Click **Cancel deletion request** before the 30 days are up." } ] }, { "slug": "workspaces", "title": "Workspaces", "intro": "Workspaces are the organisational backbone of GBPly. They group business profiles, team members, and subscriptions together. Whether you're a single business with one location or an agency managing dozens of clients, workspaces let you organise everything the way that works best for you. For most single-location businesses, the default workspace created when you sign up is all you'll ever need.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/workspaces", "location": "Setup & Account > Workspaces", "prerequisites": [ "Inviting, removing members and archiving need owner or admin rights in that workspace." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Your Default Workspace", "content": [ "When you create your account, a default workspace is automatically set up and named after your email address. Your initial subscription is attached to this workspace.", "If you're a single-location business, this default workspace is your home — your Google Business Profile lives here along with your subscription, credits, and all your data. There's nothing else you need to configure." ], "tip": "You can rename your default workspace at any time from the Workspace Settings page." }, { "heading": "When to Create Additional Workspaces", "content": [ "Additional workspaces are useful when you need to separate data, billing, or team access. Common reasons include:", "• **Agencies** — Create a separate workspace for each client to isolate their profiles, credits, and billing.", "• **Multi-brand businesses** — Separate locations by brand or region for clearer organisation.", "• **Team access control** — Different workspaces can have different team members with different roles.", "Each workspace operates independently with its own subscription, credit balances, and usage limits." ] }, { "heading": "Subscriptions & Workspaces", "content": [ "Each workspace can have one subscription attached to it. The subscription determines how many profiles you can manage and which features are available.", "A subscription's quantity controls your profile capacity. For example, one unit of a Business x10 plan gives you 10 profile slots. Increasing the quantity to 2 gives you 20 slots — all within the same workspace.", "When you purchase a new subscription from within the app, it starts as 'unassigned'. You'll be prompted to create a new workspace or assign it to an existing one.", "Subscriptions can be moved between workspaces you own, giving you flexibility to reorganise as your needs change." ] }, { "heading": "Creating a Workspace", "content": [ "Click 'Create Workspace' on the Workspaces page. Give it a name that describes its purpose — e.g. your agency name, a client name, or a region.", "New workspaces need a subscription before you can add profiles. You can assign an unassigned subscription or purchase a new one from the Billing page.", "A paused subscription still counts as a valid subscription for the workspace while its access hold is in date." ] }, { "heading": "Inviting Team Members", "content": [ "Invite colleagues or clients to your workspace by email. They'll receive an invitation link to join.", "If the invited person doesn't have a GBPly account, they can create one through the invitation link.", "Owners and admins can see the workspace's pending invites and revoke any that haven't been accepted yet." ] }, { "heading": "Workspace Roles", "content": [ "Assign roles to control what each member can do:", "• **Owner** — Full control including billing, settings, and member management.", "• **Admin** — Can manage profiles, content, and settings but cannot modify billing.", "• **Editor** — Can create and edit content (posts, replies, Q&As) but cannot change settings.", "• **Viewer** — Read-only access to all data. Cannot make any changes." ] }, { "heading": "Switching Workspaces", "content": [ "Use the workspace switcher in the sidebar to move between workspaces. The active workspace determines which profiles and data you see.", "Your subscription, credits, and usage limits are all workspace-specific." ] }, { "heading": "Moving Profiles Between Workspaces", "content": [ "Workspace admins can move a connected profile to another workspace they own or administer. All associated data (posts, reviews, insights, media) moves with it.", "The Google account connection continues working after the move — you don't need to re-authorise.", "To move a profile: Open the Profile Selection page, expand the 'Connected Profiles' section, find the profile you want to move, and use the 'Move' button to choose the destination workspace." ], "tip": "Make sure the destination workspace has an active subscription with available profile slots before moving." }, { "heading": "Archiving a Workspace", "content": [ "Workspaces you no longer need can be archived. Archiving preserves the data but removes the workspace from your active list. Its profiles are deactivated and members lose access.", "If the workspace has an active plan, you choose to move the plan to another workspace you own or leave it unassigned. An unassigned plan keeps billing until you assign or cancel it.", "Archived workspaces can be restored if needed." ] }, { "heading": "How to create a workspace", "content": [ "Workspaces keep clients or brands separate." ], "steps": [ "Click **Workspaces** under **Setup & Account** in the sidebar.", "Click **Create Workspace**.", "Type a name (e.g. Agency Clients) and click **Create**." ] }, { "heading": "How to switch workspace", "content": [ "Everything you see belongs to the current workspace." ], "steps": [ "Find the workspace in **All Workspaces** (or filter with **Owned by me**).", "Click **Manage** on it. It becomes the **Current** workspace." ] }, { "heading": "How to accept or decline an invitation", "content": [ "Invitations also show as a notice at the top of every dashboard page." ], "steps": [ "Find **Pending Invitations**.", "Click **Accept** to join, or **Decline**." ], "tip": "On other pages, click **Accept & switch** on the invitation notice to join and switch in one step." }, { "heading": "How to invite a team member", "content": [ "Give a colleague access to this workspace." ], "steps": [ "Click **Invite Member**.", "Type their **Email Address** (e.g. colleague@example.com) and pick a role (**Admin** or **Editor**).", "Click **Invite**. They get an email; use **Resend** if needed." ] }, { "heading": "How to change a role or remove a member", "content": [ "Manage who can do what." ], "steps": [ "On the **Members** list, click **Change role**, pick the new role and confirm in the **Change role?** dialog.", "To remove someone, click **Remove member** and confirm." ] }, { "heading": "How to rename, leave, archive or restore a workspace", "content": [ "Tidy up workspaces you no longer use." ], "steps": [ "Click **Rename** (in **Edit Workspace**) to change the name.", "Click **Leave Workspace** to leave one you don't own.", "Click **Archive Workspace**, type ARCHIVE in **Type ARCHIVE** and click **Archive**. If it has a plan, choose a workspace to move it to or **Leave plan unassigned**.", "To bring it back, open **Archived Workspaces** and click **Restore**." ] }, { "heading": "How to move a profile to another workspace", "content": [ "Move a business and its GBPly data." ], "steps": [ "Click **Profiles** on the workspace, then **Move Workspace** next to the business.", "Pick the destination and confirm." ] } ] }, { "slug": "workspace-settings", "title": "Workspace Settings", "intro": "Workspace Settings lets you configure security, branding, email delivery, and SMS providers for the current workspace. These settings apply to all profiles within the workspace. Branding and the custom email and SMS connectors are available on Agency and Agency x10 plans.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/workspace-settings", "location": "Setup & Account > Workspaces > Workspace Settings", "prerequisites": [ "Owner or admin rights in the current workspace.", "Open the workspace sub-menu with the Toggle workspace sub-menu button next to Workspaces." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Security — Requiring Two-Factor Authentication", "content": [ "Workspace owners can require two-factor authentication for everyone with access to the workspace. Turn on 'Require two-factor authentication' in the Security card and every member must use an authenticator app before they can view or change anything here.", "The switch stays disabled until you have 2FA turned on for your own account — this makes it impossible to lock yourself out of a workspace you own.", "Once the requirement is on, the card tells you how many members still need to set 2FA up. Those members see a full-page prompt to enrol the next time they open the workspace, and can switch to another workspace in the meantime.", "The requirement is enforced on our servers, not just in the interface, so workspace data stays unreachable until enrolment is complete.", "Only workspace owners see the Security switch. While the requirement is active you can't turn 2FA off on your own account until you lift it here first." ], "tip": "If a member loses their authenticator device, contact support — staff can remove the device from their account so they can enrol again." }, { "heading": "Branding", "content": [ "Set your agency or company branding for the workspace. Configure your agency name, logo, website, primary brand colour and footer text.", "Branding settings are used in client portals, report sharing, and review request emails sent from this workspace.", "Individual client portals inherit these workspace values unless you override them for a specific profile.", "Because branding exists to white-label client-facing surfaces, it's available on the Agency and Agency x10 plans alongside the client portal." ] }, { "heading": "Email Connectors", "content": [ "Configure a custom email provider to send review request emails from your own domain. Supported providers include SMTP, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES, Postmark, and Brevo.", "Connect via OAuth (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace) or enter API credentials directly. You can add several connectors, mark one as default, test it, and deactivate any you're not using.", "When no custom connector is configured, emails are sent via the platform's default sender.", "Custom email connectors are an Agency and Agency x10 feature." ], "tip": "Using your own email domain improves deliverability and brand trust. Clients see emails from your domain, not ours." }, { "heading": "SMS Connectors", "content": [ "Configure a custom SMS provider (Twilio, Vonage, Sinch, etc.) to send review request text messages from your own number.", "Custom SMS connectors bypass the platform's SMS credit system — you're billed directly by your provider.", "Custom SMS connectors are an Agency and Agency x10 feature. On other plans, text messages are sent using SMS credits bought from the Billing page." ] }, { "heading": "Who Can Change These Settings", "content": [ "The two-factor authentication requirement in the Security card can only be changed by the workspace owner.", "Workspace owners and admins can add, edit, test or delete connectors and change branding. Editors and viewers see the settings read-only." ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Read Trust & Security for an overview of workspace-wide two-factor sign-in." ] }, { "heading": "How to set workspace branding", "content": [ "Branding is used on client portals, emails and shared reports." ], "steps": [ "Click **Workspace Settings**.", "Fill in **Agency Name** and **Website URL**, pick a **Brand Colour** and **Logo position in client emails**, and optionally **Footer text (portal and client emails)**.", "Set the **Lead Finder report title** and, if you wish, tick **Hide score on shared and printed audit reports**.", "Save the branding." ] }, { "heading": "How to add your own email connector", "content": [ "Send client emails from your own email provider." ], "steps": [ "In the email connectors section, add a connector and choose a **Provider**.", "Fill in the provider's fields (e.g. **API Key**, **From Email**, **From Name**, or **Host**, **Port**, **Username**, **Password** for SMTP).", "Optionally give it a **Connector Name** and tick **Set as default connector for all profiles in this workspace**.", "Save, and send a test email." ], "tip": "Use **Delete Email Connector** to remove it." }, { "heading": "How to add your own SMS connector", "content": [ "Send review-request texts through your own SMS provider." ], "steps": [ "In the SMS connectors section, add a connector and choose a **Provider** (e.g. Twilio).", "Fill in the provider's fields (e.g. **Account SID**, **Auth Token**, **From Phone Number**).", "Optionally tick **Set as default SMS connector for this workspace**.", "Enter **Your phone number** and click **Send Test SMS**." ], "tip": "Messages sent through your own connector don't use GBPly SMS credits." }, { "heading": "How to require two-factor authentication", "content": [ "Make every member use two-factor sign-in for this workspace." ], "steps": [ "Under **Security**, turn on **Require two-factor authentication**.", "Members without it are asked to **Set up now** next time they open the workspace." ] }, { "heading": "How to control MCP server / AI connector access", "content": [ "Decide whether AI assistants can work in this workspace." ], "steps": [ "Under **MCP server / AI connectors**, switch **Allow AI connectors in this workspace** on or off.", "Switch **Let members use \"Always allow\"** on or off. Changes save straight away." ] } ] }, { "slug": "billing", "title": "Billing & Subscriptions", "intro": "The Billing page manages your subscriptions, credit balances, and payment history. Subscriptions are attached at the workspace level — each workspace needs its own subscription, and your plan choice depends on how many profiles you need to manage.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/billing", "location": "Setup & Account > My Account > Billing", "prerequisites": [ "Open the account sub-menu with the Toggle account sub-menu button next to My Account.", "Only the workspace owner who pays can change the plan." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Choosing a Subscription", "content": [ "Subscriptions come in four tiers, each designed for different use cases:", "• **Business** — Ideal for single-location businesses. Covers one Google Business Profile per unit.", "• **Business x10** — Cost-effective for multi-location businesses. Each unit includes up to 10 profile slots.", "• **Agency** — Built for agencies. One profile slot per unit, plus the full agency toolkit: white-label client portals and their automations, Lead Finder, custom email and SMS connectors, and removal of GBPly branding from the review widget.", "• **Agency x10** — The same agency toolkit as Agency, with 10 profile slots per unit for larger client portfolios.", "Each unit of a plan grants a set number of profile slots. You can increase the quantity of your plan to add more capacity without changing tiers." ], "tip": "Not sure which plan to choose? Visit the Pricing page to compare plans. Managing profiles for clients, with portals and automations, means Agency or Agency x10; managing your own locations means Business or Business x10." }, { "heading": "Adjusting Subscription Quantity", "content": [ "You can increase the quantity of your subscription to add more profile capacity to your workspace. For example, doubling a Business x10 subscription from 1 to 2 gives you 20 profile slots instead of 10.", "Quantity changes are handled through the billing portal. Charges are prorated — you only pay for the remainder of the current billing cycle.", "This is the simplest way to scale up without changing your plan tier or creating additional workspaces." ] }, { "heading": "Assigning Subscriptions to Workspaces", "content": [ "After purchasing a subscription, assign it to one of your owned workspaces. The subscription's features and limits apply to all profiles in that workspace.", "New subscriptions purchased from within the app start as 'unassigned' — you'll be prompted to create or choose a workspace for it.", "You can reassign a subscription to a different workspace if needed (subject to a grace period).", "**Switching plans** — If you buy a different plan (for example Agency x10 instead of Agency) and assign it to a workspace that already has a plan, we cancel the old plan immediately and put the new one in place in a single step. Your profiles, reviews, credits and settings are untouched and there's no interruption to your service." ] }, { "heading": "Credit Packs", "content": [ "Two types of credits are available as top-up packs, and both require an active subscription:", "• **SMS Credits** — For sending review request text messages.", "• **Credits** — One balance for Rank Tracker scans (1 credit per map point: a 5×5 scan = 25 credits), Citation Management, AI Visibility, social sharing, AI post generation (1 credit per post created), review reply suggestions (1 per set), and Competition Analysis and Lead Finder (5 per search, 5 per report).", "Credits are purchased per-workspace and do not transfer between workspaces.", "Every plan includes a monthly allowance of 250 credits (1 credit per map point, so a 5×5 scan uses 25) per profile, renewed on your billing date. The allowance is refreshed to the full amount each month and is used first; unused allowance doesn't carry into the next month. Top-up packs add extra credits: bought credits last 12 months and bonus credits last 3 months, and the ones expiring soonest are used first. If your plan ends, unused plan credits are removed 7 days after access ends; credits you bought are kept. SMS has no monthly allowance on any plan — SMS credits are available as top-up packs only." ] }, { "heading": "Transaction History", "content": [ "View a full history of credit purchases, usage, and admin grants for each credit type.", "This helps you track spending and plan future credit purchases." ] }, { "heading": "Managing Your Subscription", "content": [ "Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your subscription from the Billing page. Changes are prorated — you'll receive credit for unused time on downgrades.", "Access your payment portal to update payment methods, view invoices, or manage billing details.", "**How to cancel your subscription**", "For security and account-verification reasons, please manage cancellations through your account billing page.", "To cancel your subscription, go to the Billing & Subscriptions page, click the three-dot menu on your subscription card, then select **Cancel Subscription**." ] }, { "heading": "Paused Subscriptions and Access Holds", "content": [ "A subscription can be paused so billing stops while access continues until a set date. Until that date passes, the workspace keeps working exactly as before.", "The plan card shows the status and any scheduled change — for example when the subscription is due to resume or when it will be cancelled — so you always know what happens next." ] }, { "heading": "How to buy credits", "content": [ "Credits power every tool and can be topped up at any time." ], "steps": [ "Click **Billing**.", "Click **Buy Credits** (also at the top right of most tool pages).", "Pick a pack and complete checkout." ] }, { "heading": "How to change your plan", "content": [ "Upgrade, downgrade or change the quantity of profiles." ], "steps": [ "On your subscription card, click **Change Plan**. The **Change Subscription** dialog opens.", "Pick the new plan or **New quantity** and click **Preview Price**.", "Check **Charge Today** and **Next billing**, then click **Confirm Change**." ] }, { "heading": "How to update payment details or get invoices", "content": [ "Handled securely by our payment provider." ], "steps": [ "On your subscription card, click **Update Payment Method**, or **Manage Payments & Invoices** for receipts." ] }, { "heading": "How to assign a plan to a workspace", "content": [ "Each plan covers one workspace you own." ], "steps": [ "On a card showing **Not assigned to workspace**, click **Assign to Workspace** (or **Reassign Workspace**).", "Pick one of your workspaces and confirm." ] }, { "heading": "How to cancel a subscription", "content": [ "You keep access until the end of the paid period." ], "steps": [ "On your subscription card, click **Cancel Subscription**.", "In the **Cancel Subscription?** dialog, click **Continue to Cancel** (or **Keep Subscription**)." ] }, { "heading": "How to start a new subscription", "content": [ "Add another plan, for example for a new workspace." ], "steps": [ "Click **New Subscription** and complete checkout." ], "tip": "Not sure what you need? Click **Billing Help**." } ] }, { "slug": "ai-connector", "title": "MCP Server / AI Connector", "intro": "GBPly has its own MCP server (also called the AI connector). Any AI assistant or automation tool that supports MCP servers, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor or Make, can connect to it so it can read your profiles, reviews, posts and reports, draft replies and posts, and ask you to approve changes. The assistant works as you: it sees only the workspaces and profiles you can see, and it can never publish or change Google without your approval in GBPly. The one exception for credits is post generation, described below.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/ai-requests", "location": "Setup & Account > Workspaces > Assistant requests", "prerequisites": [ "An AI assistant or automation tool that supports remote MCP servers.", "AI connectors allowed in Workspace Settings (on by default)." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Always Allow: Letting an Assistant Act Without Asking", "content": [ "By default every change an assistant wants to make waits for you on the Assistant requests page. You don't have to wait for a request to arrive: as soon as an assistant is connected it appears on the Connected assistants tab (highlighted until you choose its settings). Use a quick choice (Ask me every time, Allow anything that spends credits, Allow anything that writes to my profile, or Allow everything (at your own risk)) or switch on Always allow for each kind of action: Publish to Google (posts, post edits, review replies, FAQs), Schedule & campaigns (repeating posts and evergreen campaigns, including pausing, resuming and changing them), Change my Google profile, Spend credits (with a most-per-request and most-per-24-hours limit) and Delete things (review replies and posts that aren't live yet).", "Settings belong to one assistant in one workspace. Connecting a second app, or working in another workspace, starts with everything off again, and disconnecting an assistant removes its settings.", "When you switch one on, GBPly asks you to confirm that you accept responsibility for what the assistant does without asking. Your role, plan limits, credit balance, the daily post limit and GBPly's post checks still apply, and anything over your credit limits still comes to you for approval. Every auto-approved action is listed as Auto-approved on the Requests and Activity tabs.", "Workspace owners can switch off \"Let members use Always allow\" in Workspace Settings. Then every request in that workspace needs approval, whatever members have set. In workspaces that require two-factor sign-in, Always allow can only be switched on from a 2FA sign-in." ] }, { "heading": "Before You Start", "content": [ "You need a GBPly account with access to at least one workspace, and any AI assistant or automation tool that supports remote MCP servers (sometimes called custom connectors). Examples include Claude (web and desktop), ChatGPT (with connectors or developer mode enabled on your plan), Cursor, VS Code, Make and the MCP Inspector. We're also preparing GBPly for Google's Connected Apps in Gemini and Search; that isn't available yet.", "The MCP server address is the same for everyone:", "code:https://mcp.gbply.net/v1", "You don't need an API key. When you add the connector, your assistant opens a GBPly sign-in and approval screen where you choose Approve or Deny." ] }, { "heading": "Connecting Claude", "content": [ "In Claude, open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.", "Name it GBPly and paste the connector address above. Leave any client ID and secret fields empty.", "Click Connect. A GBPly window opens; sign in if asked, check the screen says it's your account, then click Approve.", "Back in a Claude chat, enable GBPly in the tools menu and try: \"List my GBPly business profiles.\"" ] }, { "heading": "Connecting ChatGPT", "content": [ "1. Open ChatGPT Plugins at chatgpt.com/plugins.", "2. Click + Add → Add custom MCP server.", "3. Name it GBPly MCP.", "4. Paste https://mcp.gbply.net/v1 as the server URL.", "5. Choose OAuth as the authentication method (that's how GBPly signs you in).", "6. Accept the security warning (ChatGPT shows it for every custom server) and click Create as a plugin.", "7. Install the new plugin, approve the GBPly sign-in screen on gbply.net when it opens, then try it in a new chat, for example \"list my business profiles\".", "If GBPly was connected before, remove the old entry in ChatGPT first, then add it again." ] }, { "heading": "Connecting Cursor, VS Code and Other Assistants", "content": [ "Any assistant that supports remote MCP servers over HTTP with OAuth sign-in can connect. Add a server with the connector address; for example, in Cursor's mcp.json:", "code:{ \"mcpServers\": { \"gbply\": { \"url\": \"https://mcp.gbply.net/v1\" } } }", "The assistant registers itself automatically and opens the GBPly approval screen the first time it connects." ] }, { "heading": "Connecting Make and Other Automation Tools", "content": [ "In a Make scenario, add the MCP Client app (or open a Make AI Agent and click Add under MCP).", "Create a connection, choose + New MCP Server and enter https://mcp.gbply.net/v1. Save, sign in to GBPly in the window that opens and click Approve.", "Use Call a Tool to list your profiles, read reviews and more. There are no webhooks, so schedule the scenario to check for new data, for example once a day. Other tools that support remote MCP servers connect the same way." ] }, { "heading": "What the Assistant Can Do", "content": [ "Read: your workspaces and profiles, profile details and completeness, performance insights (Google's data runs 2–3 days behind), monthly search terms, reviews and rating stats, posts, repeating and evergreen campaigns (with their planned dates), photos, Q&A, Profile Guard changes, Rank Tracker scans and results, citation scans, your latest Website SEO Audit (score, fixes and ready-made markup), review sentiment and insights (from reviews you've already analysed; the connector can't start a paid analysis), analysis reports, and credit balances.", "Draft (nothing is posted): AI review reply suggestions (1 credit per set, charged straight away), AI Q&A suggestions and cost previews for Rank Tracker scans. A well-behaved assistant tells you the cost before it spends credits.", "Ask you to approve: posting, editing or deleting a review reply; publishing, scheduling, editing or deleting a post; starting a repeating post, creating an evergreen campaign, adding a post to one, or pausing, resuming or cancelling a campaign; publishing a saved FAQ; editing your description, phone, website, hours, special hours, services or categories; accepting, dismissing or reverting a Profile Guard change; running a Rank Tracker scan, a citation scan or an industry analysis.", "Directly: sync a profile from Google (a few times an hour at most).", "The connector doesn't handle billing, plan changes, workspace members, connecting Google accounts, review-request contact lists, account deletion or data export. Use GBPly for those." ] }, { "heading": "Approving Requests", "content": [ "When the assistant wants to change something, it creates a request and gives you a link. Open it (or go to Assistant requests in the menu) while signed in to GBPly.", "Each request shows exactly what will happen: the reply or post text, the image, the current and new value of a profile field, or the credit cost. Choose Approve or Reject, or Approve all when several are waiting (for example, a week of posts).", "Requests wait for you for 24 hours, then expire, and can only run once. Everything from the last 90 days (done, auto-approved, rejected, failed or expired) is listed on the History tab. When you approve, GBPly checks again that you still have permission, have enough credits and are within your plan limits and daily post cap. The usual safeguards still apply: posts that fail the post policy check are kept as flagged, not published.", "Your assistant can check the result afterwards. It should never tell you a change was made until GBPly reports it as done." ], "tip": "If you didn't ask your assistant for a change, just reject the request. Nothing happens to rejected or expired requests." }, { "heading": "Permissions, Limits and Safety", "content": [ "The assistant gets exactly your permissions in each workspace. Viewers can read and draft but can't create requests; owners, admins and editors can. Staff and admin features are never available through the connector, and demo profiles are read-only.", "If a workspace requires two-factor authentication, you need to sign in with 2FA to approve requests there.", "Usage is rate-limited per person (reads, AI drafts, syncs and requests each have their own limit). If you hit one, the assistant is told how many seconds to wait.", "Contact lists, sign-in tokens, billing details and other people's email addresses are never sent to the assistant.", "Generating posts: the generate_posts tool runs straight away without an approval step. It creates 1 to 8 posts and costs 1 credit per post actually created. The posts are saved as pending for you to review; nothing is published. Drafting review reply suggestions also runs straight away and costs 1 credit per set. If there aren't enough credits, nothing runs or is charged and the assistant is told to suggest buying credits." ] }, { "heading": "Switching Off or Disconnecting", "content": [ "Workspace owners can switch AI connectors off for a workspace in Workspace Settings → AI connectors. This takes effect immediately for every connected assistant.", "The same card lists the assistants you've connected. Click Disconnect to remove one; it will need your approval again to reconnect. You can also see recent assistant activity in that workspace." ] }, { "heading": "Example Prompts", "content": [ "Small business: \"Which of my reviews haven't been answered? Draft friendly replies and send them for my approval.\" · \"Write three posts for next week about our spring offer and schedule them for 9am.\" · \"How did my calls and website clicks change last month?\"", "Agency: \"Across all profiles in my agency workspace, list any with unanswered 1–2 star reviews.\" · \"Preview the cost of a 7×7 rank scan for 'emergency plumber' for each client, then request scans for the three with the lowest scores.\" · \"Summarise Profile Guard changes Google made this week and suggest which to revert.\"" ] }, { "heading": "Related feature page", "content": [ "Explore MCP Server / AI Connector features for an overview of what this feature does." ] }, { "heading": "How to connect an AI assistant", "content": [ "Add GBPly as an MCP server in your assistant." ], "steps": [ "In your assistant's connector or MCP settings, add a custom MCP server with the address https://mcp.gbply.net/v1.", "When asked to sign in, sign in to GBPly and approve the connection. No API key is needed.", "In GBPly, open **Assistant requests** and click the **Connected assistants** tab to see it listed." ] }, { "heading": "How to choose what an assistant can do without asking", "content": [ "Set this straight after connecting; you don't need to wait for a request. A new assistant is highlighted with **Choose what this assistant can do without asking.**" ], "steps": [ "Open **Assistant requests** and click the **Connected assistants** tab.", "On the assistant's card, click a quick choice: **Ask me every time**, **Allow anything that spends credits**, **Allow anything that writes to my profile** or **Allow everything (at your own risk)**.", "Fine-tune the switches if needed: **Publish to Google**, **Schedule & campaigns**, **Change my Google profile**, **Spend credits**, **Delete things**.", "If **Spend credits** is on, fill in **Most credits per request** and **Most credits per 24 hours**.", "Click **Save**, tick **I understand GBPly won't ask me first and I accept responsibility for what this assistant does.**, then click **Turn on**." ], "tip": "Generate posts and Draft review reply always run straight away (they only make drafts and charge credits)." }, { "heading": "How to approve a request", "content": [ "Actions that change things or spend credits wait for your approval." ], "steps": [ "Open **Assistant requests** and click the **Waiting for you** tab (it shows a pending count).", "Read the request, including **Cost: N credits** if shown.", "Click **Approve** (or **Reject**). Use **Approve all N** to approve every pending request.", "The request shows **Approved and done** or **Not carried out**." ], "tip": "Requests wait 24 hours, then expire. Expired ones stay on the History tab." }, { "heading": "How to set limits or disconnect an assistant", "content": [ "Control how many credits an assistant may spend." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Connected assistants** tab.", "Set **Most credits per request** and **Most credits per 24 hours**.", "Click **Disconnect** to remove an assistant; if it shows **Needs reconnecting.**, reconnect it from your assistant." ] }, { "heading": "How to see what assistants did", "content": [ "Every action is logged." ], "steps": [ "Click the **History** tab for every request from the last 90 days, or the **Activity** tab for the full log.", "If several assistants are connected, use **Filter by assistant**." ] } ] }, { "slug": "developer-api", "title": "Developer API", "intro": "Some GBPly features can be driven from your own software over HTTP. Each API is documented below, with the key type it uses, its endpoints and worked examples. Keys are created inside the app, are scoped to a single workspace, and can be revoked at any time.", "location": "Performance > Rank Checker", "prerequisites": [ "API keys belong to the current workspace; checks made through the API use its credits." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "How API Access Works", "content": [ "Every API uses a key that belongs to one workspace. A key can only see that workspace's data, can never create further keys, and can never reach features it wasn't issued for.", "Keys are shown once, at the moment they're created. Store the value somewhere safe — if it's lost, revoke it and create a new one. You can hold up to five active keys per workspace.", "Usage through an API counts against exactly the same allowances and credits as usage inside the app, so there's one bill and one set of limits however you drive it.", "All requests must be made over HTTPS. Never embed a key in a public web page, a mobile app, or anything a customer can view the source of — call the API from a server, a scheduled job or an Apps Script project instead." ], "tip": "Treat an API key like a password. If you think one has leaked, revoke it in the app first and investigate afterwards — revoking takes effect immediately." }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Overview", "content": [ "The Free Rank Checker API runs the same local map ranking checks as the Free Rank Check page: a 5×5 grid of 25 points around a centre coordinate, returning the business's Google Maps position at each point.", "The base URL for every call is https://api.gbply.net/v1/rank-tracker, and every request carries your key in an x-api-key header.", "code:x-api-key: frt_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx", "You must supply the exact Google Place ID for the business. Coordinates are optional — if you leave them out, we look the location up from the Place ID for you. The API never looks a business up by name; a business name can be sent, but it is only used as a display label." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Creating a Check", "content": [ "Send a POST to /scans with the business's Place ID and the search term. Every create request must also carry an Idempotency-Key header that you generate (8–200 characters).", "code:POST /scans x-api-key: frt_... Idempotency-Key: 8f2c1b9a-4d7e-4a11-9c33-6b0e2f5d7a10 Content-Type: application/json { \"placeId\": \"ChIJ...\", \"keyword\": \"emergency plumber\", \"gridSpacingKm\": 1.5, \"languageCode\": \"en\", \"countryCode\": \"GB\" }", "That is the smallest useful request. You can still send latitude and longitude to pin the business yourself, and centreLat/centreLng to centre the grid somewhere other than the business. If you send coordinates, they're used exactly as given and no lookup happens; if either is missing, both are resolved from the Place ID.", "code:{ \"placeId\": \"ChIJ...\", \"latitude\": 53.4084, \"longitude\": -2.9916, \"centreLat\": 53.4084, \"centreLng\": -2.9916, \"keyword\": \"emergency plumber\", \"gridSpacingKm\": 1.5, \"zoomLevel\": 14 }", "gridSpacingKm accepts 0.2–10, zoomLevel accepts 3–21, and the language and country codes are two letters each. Only the Place ID and search term are required.", "If the Place ID can't be found you'll get invalid_place_id, and if the lookup itself fails you'll get place_lookup_failed. Neither uses up a free check or a credit.", "A successful call returns 202 Accepted with the new check and a hint for how long to wait before polling.", "code:{ \"scan\": { \"scan_id\": \"...\", \"status\": \"running\", \"keyword\": \"emergency plumber\", \"points\": null, \"summary\": null }, \"poll_after_seconds\": 5 }" ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Retries and Idempotency", "content": [ "The Idempotency-Key makes retries safe. If a request times out or the connection drops, send the identical request with the same key and you'll get the original check back — never a second one, and never a second charge against your allowance.", "Use a fresh key for every genuinely new check. Reusing a key from an earlier check returns that earlier check instead of starting a new one.", "If two copies of the same request land at the same instant, one gets duplicate_request; read the check back with a GET and carry on." ], "tip": "A random UUID per check is the simplest approach. If you're driving this from a spreadsheet, the row ID plus the search term plus the date works just as well." }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Polling and Results", "content": [ "Read a check by its ID, or list your recent checks.", "code:GET /scans/{scan_id} GET /scans?limit=20", "While the status is queued or running, the response includes poll_after_seconds and a Retry-After header. Don't poll faster than that. Checks normally finish within one to two minutes.", "code:{ \"scan\": { \"scan_id\": \"...\", \"status\": \"complete\", \"place_id\": \"ChIJ...\", \"keyword\": \"emergency plumber\", \"grid_size\": 5, \"grid_spacing_km\": 1.5, \"points\": [{ \"row\": 0, \"col\": 0, \"lat\": 53.4, \"lng\": -2.9, \"rank\": 4, \"status\": \"found\" }], \"summary\": { \"points_total\": 25, \"points_found\": 19, \"points_failed\": 0, \"avg_rank_where_found\": 6.2, \"pct_top_3\": 24.0, \"pct_top_10\": 68.0 }, \"created_at\": \"...\", \"completed_at\": \"...\" } }", "A check's status is queued, running, complete, partial (some points failed) or failed. Each point's status is found, not_found or failed.", "Responses contain ranking data only — no internal costs, account identifiers or provider details." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Remaining Allowance", "content": [ "Check how much of the monthly free allowance is left before you start a batch.", "code:GET /usage { \"scans_limit\": 10, \"scans_used\": 3, \"scans_remaining\": 7, \"period_month\": \"2026-09\" }", "The allowance is per account, renewed monthly from the date you joined, and is shared with in-app usage. Once it's spent, checks draw on the workspace's paid credits; with no credits left you'll get no_credits." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Limits", "content": [ "• One active check per workspace at a time.", "• 10 create requests per minute and 300 per day, per key.", "• 120 read requests per minute, per key.", "• The grid is fixed at 5×5 (25 points); spacing 0.2–10 km.", "If you exceed a limit you'll get rate_limited with a Retry-After header — wait that long and try again rather than retrying immediately." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Errors", "content": [ "Every error response has the same shape: a human-readable message plus a stable machine code you can branch on. Match on the code, never on the message text.", "code:{ \"error\": \"Monthly free allowance used up\", \"code\": \"quota_exhausted\" }", "• invalid_api_key (401) — missing, unknown or revoked key.", "• forbidden (403) — not permitted for this caller.", "• validation_error (400) — a field failed validation.", "• scan_not_found (404) — unknown check, or not yours.", "• scan_in_progress (409) — one active check per workspace.", "• duplicate_request (409) — concurrent retry; read the check back.", "• quota_exhausted (429) — monthly free allowance spent.", "• no_credits (402) — allowance spent and no credits left.", "• rate_limited (429) — slow down; honour Retry-After.", "• api_disabled (503) — API temporarily switched off.", "• invalid_place_id (400) — the Place ID could not be found.", "• place_lookup_failed (502) — the location lookup for that Place ID failed.", "• provider_unavailable (502) — upstream ranking data unavailable.", "• internal_error (500) — unexpected failure." ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Example: curl", "content": [ "Create a check, then poll it until it finishes.", "code:BASE_URL=\"https://api.gbply.net/v1/rank-tracker\" # create curl -s -X POST \"$BASE_URL/scans\" \\ -H \"x-api-key: $FRT_KEY\" \\ -H \"Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)\" \\ -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\ -d '{ \"placeId\": \"ChIJ...\", \"keyword\": \"emergency plumber\", \"gridSpacingKm\": 1.5 }' # poll curl -s \"$BASE_URL/scans/SCAN_ID\" -H \"x-api-key: $FRT_KEY\" # remaining allowance curl -s \"$BASE_URL/usage\" -H \"x-api-key: $FRT_KEY\"" ] }, { "heading": "Free Rank Checker API — Example: Google Sheets", "content": [ "This Apps Script function runs a check for one row of a spreadsheet and writes the average position back. Store the key in Script Properties rather than in the sheet itself.", "code:const BASE_URL = 'https://api.gbply.net/v1/rank-tracker'; function runCheck(placeId, keyword) { const key = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty('FRT_KEY'); const headers = { 'x-api-key': key }; const create = UrlFetchApp.fetch(BASE_URL + '/scans', { method: 'post', contentType: 'application/json', headers: Object.assign({ 'Idempotency-Key': Utilities.getUuid() }, headers), payload: JSON.stringify({ placeId: placeId, keyword: keyword, gridSpacingKm: 1.5 }), muteHttpExceptions: true }); const created = JSON.parse(create.getContentText()); if (create.getResponseCode() >= 400) throw new Error(created.code); const id = created.scan.scan_id; for (var i = 0; i < 24; i++) { Utilities.sleep(5000); const read = UrlFetchApp.fetch(BASE_URL + '/scans/' + id, { headers: headers, muteHttpExceptions: true }); const scan = JSON.parse(read.getContentText()).scan; if (scan.status !== 'queued' && scan.status !== 'running') return scan; } throw new Error('timed_out'); }", "Because Apps Script triggers can re-run, always generate the idempotency key once per row and reuse it on a retry — that way a re-run can never spend a second check." ], "tip": "Sheets formulas time out quickly. For more than a handful of rows, run the checks from a time-based trigger and write results back as they arrive rather than from a custom function." }, { "heading": "How to create an API key", "content": [ "The key is shown only once, so copy it straight away." ], "steps": [ "Click **Rank Checker** under **Performance** in the sidebar.", "Scroll to the API keys card.", "Optionally type a **Name (optional)**, e.g. Website widget.", "Click **Create key**.", "Click **Copy API key** (copy icon) and store the key safely." ] }, { "heading": "How to revoke an API key", "content": [ "Revoking stops the key working immediately, with no confirmation step." ], "steps": [ "In the API keys card, click **Revoke key** next to the key." ] } ] }, { "slug": "support", "title": "Help & Support", "intro": "The Support page is where you raise anything you need help with — questions, bugs, and ideas for new features — and track the replies. You'll find it under Help & Support at the bottom of the sidebar.", "appRoute": "/dashboard/support", "location": "Help & Support > Support & Features", "prerequisites": [ "Signed in." ], "subsections": [ { "heading": "Support Menu", "content": [ "When you're signed in, the small help tab on the right edge of the screen opens four buttons: Open Chat, Report a Bug, Request a Feature and User Guide (opens this guide in a new tab).", "Minimize shrinks the button to a small tab on the right edge so it doesn't cover anything. Click the tab to bring it back. On public pages the button opens the chat directly." ] }, { "heading": "Support Tickets", "content": [ "Open a support ticket for anything you're stuck on — a profile that won't connect, a subscription question, or a change you'd like us to make on your account.", "Replies appear in the ticket thread, and tickets with an unread reply are marked with a dot so you can spot them at a glance. Use the status pills (All, Open, Awaiting, Closed) to filter your list.", "When a ticket is resolved you'll be asked to rate how we did — that feedback goes straight to the team." ] }, { "heading": "Bug Reports", "content": [ "Report a bug from the Bug Reports tab. Describe what you expected to happen and what actually happened, and include the profile involved if it's specific to one.", "Bug reports are tracked separately from support tickets so they can be routed to the engineering team directly." ], "tip": "The more specific the report, the faster the fix. Screenshots and the exact page you were on both help." }, { "heading": "Feature Requests", "content": [ "Submit a feature request with a title, a description, and the use case behind it. The use case matters most — knowing what you're trying to achieve often leads to a better solution than the one originally asked for.", "Requests are reviewed as part of the roadmap and you'll be notified on the thread when there's news." ] }, { "heading": "AI Assistant", "content": [ "The AI assistant on the Support page can answer most questions about using the app immediately, drawing on this guide and our knowledge base.", "If it can't help, you can escalate straight to a human ticket without retyping anything." ] }, { "heading": "User Guide", "content": [ "The Support page links back to this user guide, which covers every feature in detail. It's often the quickest route to an answer.", "The Granting Access to Your Google Business Profile section can be downloaded as an unbranded PDF, so agencies can send it to clients as-is." ] }, { "heading": "How to get help quickly", "content": [ "Start with the guide or the AI assistant." ], "steps": [ "Click **Support & Features** under **Help & Support** in the sidebar.", "Click **Open User Guide**, or **Open AI Assistant** to ask a question." ] }, { "heading": "How to report a bug", "content": [ "Screenshots help us fix things faster." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Bug Reports** tab (or **Report a Bug** in the sidebar).", "Describe what happened and add a screenshot.", "Click **Submit Bug Report**. It appears under **Your Bug Reports**." ] }, { "heading": "How to request a feature", "content": [ "Tell us what would make GBPly better." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Feature Requests** tab.", "Click **Request a Feature**, describe it and submit. It appears under **Your Feature Requests**." ] }, { "heading": "How to follow a support ticket", "content": [ "Replies also arrive by email." ], "steps": [ "Click the **Support** tab.", "Open a ticket under **Your Support Tickets** to read and reply." ] } ] }, { "slug": "granting-gbp-access", "title": "Granting Access to Your Google Business Profile", "intro": "This guide is for business owners who need to give someone else access to manage their Google Business Profile.", "subsections": [ { "heading": "Before You Start", "content": [ "You must be logged into the Google account that owns or has owner-level access to the Business Profile you want to allow another user to manage." ] }, { "heading": "How to Add an Owner or Manager", "content": [ "Follow these steps while logged into the Google account that owns the Business Profile:", "• **Step 1** — Go to business.google.com, or search for your business name on Google and click your Business Profile.", "• **Step 2** — Click the three-dot menu (⋮), then select 'Business Profile settings', then 'People and access'.", "• **Step 3** — Click the 'Add' button (top-left of the People and access screen).", "• **Step 4** — Enter the email address of the person you want to grant access to.", "• **Step 5** — Under 'Access', choose either 'Manager' (recommended) or 'Owner'.", "• **Step 6** — Click 'Invite'.", "• **Step 7** — The invited person will receive an email and can accept the invitation immediately." ], "tip": "You can also reach People and access by going to business.google.com, selecting the profile, and clicking 'People and access' from the left-hand menu." }, { "heading": "Owner vs Manager — Which to Choose?", "content": [ "Managers can edit profile information, respond to reviews, create posts, and manage photos — everything needed for day-to-day management.", "Owners have the same abilities plus they can add or remove other users and delete the profile entirely.", "For most agency relationships, Manager access is sufficient and recommended. Only grant Owner access if you want the person to be able to manage other users on the profile." ] }, { "heading": "What Happens After the Invite", "content": [ "The invited person receives an email from Google and can accept straight away. Once accepted, the Business Profile will appear in their Google account.", "There may be a short waiting period (up to 7 days) before certain admin actions — like removing users or transferring ownership — become available to newly added users." ] }, { "heading": "Revoking Access", "content": [ "To remove someone's access, go to People and access on the Business Profile, select the user, and click 'Remove person'.", "Any reviews replies, posts, or edits they made while they had access will remain on the profile." ], "tip": "Agencies: if your client can't complete these steps — they've lost the managing login, or they simply aren't responding — you can ask Google to pass a request to whoever manages the profile instead. See Requesting Access to a Client's Google Business Profile." } ] }, { "slug": "requesting-gbp-access", "title": "Requesting Access to a Client's Profile", "intro": "This guide is for agencies and consultants who manage Business Profiles on behalf of clients. Use it when the client hasn't invited you and you need Google to pass an access request to whoever currently manages the profile.", "subsections": [ { "heading": "Which Route to Use", "content": [ "The quickest route is always the client inviting you directly from their own Business Profile. That takes a couple of minutes and gives you access immediately — send them the Granting Access to Your Google Business Profile guide, which can be downloaded as an unbranded PDF and forwarded as-is.", "Use the request route on this page when that isn't possible: the client can't find the login that manages the profile, the managing email belonged to a former employee or a previous agency, or the client simply isn't responding.", "Before you start, decide which Google account you'll use. Request access with the same Google account you intend to connect in GBPly, because access is granted to the account that sent the request." ] }, { "heading": "Requesting Access Through Google Search", "content": [ "This route is open to every agency, whether or not you're registered with Google as an agency.", "• **Step 1** — Search Google for the business name, adding the town or city if the name is common, so the Business Profile panel appears on the right of the results.", "• **Step 2** — In that panel, scroll to the bottom and click 'Own this business?'.", "• **Step 3** — Google shows 'Someone else may manage this Business Profile', along with a partly masked version of the managing email address. That masked address is useful on its own — read it back to your client to work out which of their accounts holds the profile.", "• **Step 4** — Click 'Request access'.", "• **Step 5** — Under 'What level of access would you like?', choose **Management**. That covers day-to-day editing, posts, photos and review replies, and it's the level GBPly needs.", "• **Step 6** — Under 'What's your relationship to the business?', choose **Agency**.", "• **Step 7** — Enter your contact name, phone number and agency name.", "• **Step 8** — Tick the box that lets the profile owner see your public information and email address. This is optional, but recommended — it helps the current manager recognise who is asking and approve faster.", "• **Step 9** — Click 'Submit'." ], "tip": "Sign in to the correct Google account before you begin. If you're logged into a personal account by habit, the request — and any access granted from it — will land on the wrong account." }, { "heading": "What Happens Next", "content": [ "Your request goes to the person or account that currently manages the profile, not to Google's support team. They choose whether to approve or decline it, and Google gives them a window of several days (commonly around seven) to respond before further options open up to you.", "You can check the status of a request from the same 'Own this business?' route on the profile, and Google emails you when the outcome changes.", "Tell your client to expect the email. Access requests are the single most common thing clients delete as spam — a quick heads-up before you submit saves days of waiting." ] }, { "heading": "If You're a Google-Registered Agency", "content": [ "Agencies registered with Google have an extra route through an organisation account. It's optional — most GBPly users never need it — but it's tidier if you manage a large number of profiles.", "Sign in to Business Profile Manager, click 'Manage invites' (choosing the right organisation if you belong to several), click 'Request access', search for the business by name, choose the business group the profile should be added to, then follow the prompts. Requests you've sent are tracked under the 'Requests sent' tab.", "Clients can also invite your organisation directly using your business group ID or organisation ID, rather than inviting an individual email address.", "Google's own documentation covers this in detail: Overview for agencies, Manage agency invites and Register your agency for Business Profiles.", "Registering requires a Google account tied to your company email that doesn't already own or manage any Business Profiles, so it's a decision to make before you start claiming client profiles under a personal account." ] }, { "heading": "Once Access Is Granted", "content": [ "When the request is approved, the profile appears in that Google account. Connect the account in GBPly and import the profile — see Managing Business Profiles for the steps.", "If the profile doesn't appear in GBPly straight away, sign in to business.google.com with the same account and confirm it's listed there first. If it isn't listed with Google, GBPly can't see it either." ] }, { "heading": "Troubleshooting", "content": [ "**No 'Own this business?' link.** The panel wording varies — look for 'Own this business?', 'Claim this business' or 'Suggest an edit'. If none appear, the profile may already be verified and managed, in which case try the same search while signed out to confirm what a visitor sees.", "**The masked email belongs to a former employee or old agency.** Ask your client to try recovering that Google account first — that's usually faster than a request that nobody will answer. Google's account recovery guide is linked from the same request screen.", "**The request was declined or ignored.** Fall back to asking the client to invite you directly from their own login using the Granting Access guide. If the client is certain nobody at their business manages the profile, Google's conflict and recovery process for claimed profiles is the next step.", "**Duplicate listings.** If you find two profiles for the same business, request access to the verified one that appears in search results, and report the duplicate to Google rather than managing both." ] } ] } ]