About this site

Hi, I'm Baris.

I work in SEO and performance marketing at a Toronto agency, and I live in The Beaches. This site is where I write up what I find when I look at the Google Business Profiles of businesses around me. The contractor down the street, the salon on Queen East, the clinic that has been in the neighbourhood for years.

Why I write these

I kept noticing the same handful of problems on profile after profile. Not complicated problems either. A category set once and never revisited, an empty services section, an Updates tab that went quiet two years ago. Writing them down forces me to check whether I actually understand why they matter, rather than repeating something I read somewhere.

Additionally, it keeps me honest. If I get something wrong here, it is written down with my name on it, and I would rather correct it in public than quietly move on.

What you will find here

• Notes on one specific part of a Google Business Profile at a time, with what I keep seeing go wrong.
• Observations from real profiles in east Toronto, with the business names left out.
• A free check that scores your own local search setup, if you would rather start with your own profile than read about someone else's.

Toronto, east end

Most of what I look at sits between The Beaches and Leslieville, which is close enough to walk. Being local matters more than it sounds. How people search for a plumber in this part of the city is not how a national playbook assumes they do.

If something here is wrong or you disagree with it, my email is at the bottom of every page. I read everything.