The free Google tools every local business should use

You don't need expensive software to understand how customers find you online. Google provides a set of free tools that answer the questions that matter most for a local business: How do people find me? What do they search for? Is my website working properly?

This guide explains what each tool does, how to set it up, and the one or two reports worth checking each month.

1. Google Business Profile Performance

What it tells you: how customers find and interact with your Business Profile on Search and Maps.

Set up: nothing extra. If you manage a verified Business Profile, it's built in. Search for your business name on Google while signed in, or open the profile manager, and select Performance.

What to look at monthly:

• Interactions: calls, direction requests, website clicks, bookings and messages (where available).
• Searches: the search terms that showed your profile. This is gold for keyword research: it shows the words real customers used.
• Views: how many people viewed your profile, split by Search and Maps, mobile and desktop.

Compare month on month and against the same month last year if you're seasonal.

2. Google Search Console

What it tells you: how your website performs in Google Search: which searches show it, how often people click, and any technical problems stopping pages from appearing.

Set up (about 15 minutes):

1. Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in.
2. Add a property. A Domain property (covers all versions of your site) is verified by adding a DNS TXT record at your domain provider. A URL-prefix property can be verified other ways, including an HTML tag or file, Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager.
3. Once verified, submit your sitemap (usually /sitemap.xml) under Sitemaps.

Data starts building from when you verify, so set it up early, even before you launch.

What to look at monthly:

• Performance → Search results: total clicks, impressions, average click-through rate and position. Click the Queries and Pages tabs to see which searches and pages perform.
• Pages (indexing): which pages are indexed and why others aren't.
• Core Web Vitals: real-user speed data, grouped into Good, Needs improvement and Poor (when there's enough traffic).
• Manual actions and Security issues: these should say no issues detected.

Quick win: in Performance, filter for queries where your average position is roughly 8–20. These are searches Google already associates with you; improving the matching page can help.

3. Bing Webmaster Tools (a bonus, not Google)

Not a Google tool, but worth ten minutes. Sign up at bing.com/webmasters and you can import your sites from Google Search Console, which verifies them automatically. You get similar search performance and site scan data for Bing.

4. PageSpeed Insights

What it tells you: how fast your pages load and what slows them down.

Set up: none. Go to pagespeed.web.dev and enter a page address.

How to read it:

• Real-user data (top, if available) shows Core Web Vitals from actual Chrome users. Google's "good" thresholds are LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 ms or less and CLS of 0.1 or less.
• Lab data (score out of 100) is a simulated test with a list of suggestions.

Always check the Mobile result. Our website speed guide explains the common fixes.

5. Google Analytics 4

What it tells you: what visitors do on your website: where they came from, which pages they view, and whether they contact you.

Set up:

1. Go to analytics.google.com, create an account and a property for your website.
2. Add a web data stream and install the tag on your site. Most website builders (WordPress plugins, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify) have a simple field for your measurement ID.
3. Mark important actions as key events: contact form submissions, phone number clicks, booking clicks.
4. Link Analytics with Search Console to see search data alongside site behaviour.

Privacy note: Analytics uses cookies. Update your privacy and cookie information, and follow the ICO's current guidance on consent. Some analytics uses became exempt from consent in the UK in February 2026 under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, with conditions, while advertising features still need consent.

What to look at monthly: traffic by channel (organic search, direct, social, referral), top landing pages, and how many key events (enquiries) you got.

6. Google Keyword Planner

What it tells you: search volume ranges and keyword ideas.

Set up: it lives inside Google Ads. Create a Google Ads account at ads.google.com. You don't need to run ads, but the sign-up flow may push you towards creating a campaign; look for the option to switch to Expert Mode or create an account without a campaign. Never enter payment details unless you intend to advertise.

How to use it: Tools → Keyword Planner → Discover new keywords. Enter your services and set the location to your town or region. Without active ad spend, volumes are usually shown as ranges. Use them to compare phrases, not as exact numbers.

7. Google Trends

What it tells you: relative interest in a search term over time and by region.

How to use it: go to trends.google.com, enter a term, set the country to United Kingdom and choose a timeframe (the past five years shows seasonality well). Useful for planning seasonal posts and offers: when do searches for "boiler service", "garden clearance" or "Christmas party venue" start rising in your area?

8. Rich Results Test and Schema validator

If your website uses structured data (for example LocalBusiness, FAQ or Article markup), check it with Google's Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator. Errors here won't break your site, but fixing them helps search engines read your information correctly.

A 30-minute monthly reporting routine

Put this in your calendar for the first Monday of each month:

1. Business Profile Performance (10 min): note calls, direction requests, website clicks and top search terms.
2. Search Console (10 min): note clicks and impressions; check the top queries and pages; check for indexing or Core Web Vitals problems.
3. Analytics (5 min): note enquiries (key events) and where they came from.
4. Action (5 min): write down one thing to improve this month based on what you saw.

Keep a simple spreadsheet so you can see trends. Look at direction over months, not day-to-day noise. Rankings and traffic naturally move around.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Business Profile performance
• Search Console Help: Add a website property
• Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results)
• Analytics Help: Set up Analytics for a website and/or app
• Google Ads Help: About Keyword Planner
• web.dev: Web Vitals
• ICO: Guidance on the use of storage and access technologies

This guide is general information, written to be accurate as of October 2026. Platforms and rules change, so check the official sources linked above. Examples are illustrations, not real businesses or results. Nobody, including BizBoost AI, can guarantee a ranking position on Google, Bing or Apple Maps.