SBN’s Google Business Profile had Environmental Organization set as the primary category, no service areas, no operating hours, and only 2 reviews since 2019. Here’s what changed — and the system built to keep reviews coming in.
Overview
Primary Category
Corrected to Non-profit organization + 5 relevant secondary categories.
Service Areas
20 Bay Area cities and neighborhoods added, up from zero.
Operating Hours
Hours added and synced across Google and Bing.
Directory Consistency
NAP data matched exactly and synced with Bing Places.
Review Generation
Reusable, per-program email template system built.
Table of Contents
Primary category was corrected from Environmental Organization to Non-profit organization, with Environmental organization retained as one of five secondary categories: Hiking club, Outdoor activity organiser, Social services organisation, and Youth Social Services Organisation. Each category was pulled from Google’s fixed list and selected for how closely it matches SBN’s mission and work.
Operating hours were added: Tuesday through Saturday, 9 AM to 5:30 PM
Twenty service areas were added, up from zero. Each one is either a location where SBN runs programs or a community central to its environmental justice mission — populations that have historically had the least access to outdoor space.
SBN’s Bing Places for Business listing was synced with the Google Business Profile to maintain consistency across platforms — matching name, address, phone number, website, category, and hours exactly. Mismatched listings across directories undermine both search engine trust and visitor confidence. The sync also extends SBN’s visibility to Bing’s own search surface, a channel independent of Google.
Three review request email templates were created in Network for Good in January 2026 — one per community program: Senior Wellness Hikes, Community Nature Hikes, and Bay Area Coastal Adventures. Each carries fixed, program-specific copy and a direct CTA to SBN’s Google review page.
For each event, the relevant template is duplicated, with the opening paragraph and a photo from that event swapped in before sending.
Three completed, customized sends:
Before this work, SBN’s Google Business Profile was actively working against its local search visibility — the wrong primary category, no service areas set, and no operating hours meant Google had almost nothing to match against local search intent. Correcting the profile gave Google the information it needed to surface SBN for the searches that actually matter: hikes, programs, and outdoor education across the Bay Area.
The review generation system addresses a different kind of risk. A profile with two reviews since 2019 signals inactivity to both Google’s ranking algorithm and prospective participants comparing options. A repeatable process for requesting reviews after every event keeps review count and recency in step with SBN’s actual level of activity, rather than falling further behind it.
Together, these changes gave SBN’s Google Business Profile the completeness and consistency it needed to compete for local visibility.
