GBP photo benchmarks: how many photos top performers have, by vertical
BrightLocal's 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey says photos drive 60% of local-business decisions. Here's what good actually looks like, by category.
We audit Google Business Profile photo count for every client. Across 47 audited profiles in 2025, the gap between top-quartile and bottom-quartile photo counts maps directly to the gap in local-pack visibility and consumer click-through. Here are the benchmarks worth knowing.
Source: TNova audits 2025, n=47 profiles; BrightLocal 2024 recommended minimums shown in parentheses
Top-quartile vs bottom-quartile
| Vertical | Top 25% | Median | Bottom 25% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant | 120+ | 64 | 18 |
| Med-spa | 80+ | 38 | 12 |
| Retail (small) | 65+ | 30 | 10 |
| Dental | 55+ | 28 | 8 |
| HVAC | 50+ | 24 | 9 |
| Plumbing | 45+ | 22 | 7 |
| Roofing | 40+ | 18 | 6 |
| Legal | 30+ | 12 | 4 |
Source: TNova audits 2025, n=47 GBP profiles
Why the gap matters
Per BrightLocal 2024, profiles with 25+ photos receive ~2.5x more click-throughs to website than profiles with under 10 photos at the same local-pack rank. Per Google's own GBP help documentation, photos affect engagement and "completeness" signals that influence local-pack visibility.
What photo types correlate with engagement
Source: TNova audits 2025 + Google GBP Insights data from client profiles
Do customer-uploaded photos count toward my total?
Yes, and they're often more trusted by viewers than owner-uploaded photos. Don't try to suppress them. Just upload enough good owner photos that they remain a small share of the carousel.
What size and format should photos be?
Google recommends JPG or PNG, 720×720px minimum, ideally landscape 16:9 or 4:3 at 1200px+ width. Photos must be under 5MB. Don't upload heavily edited or filtered images — Google's automated quality systems can deprioritize them.
Should I geotag photos before upload?
It doesn't hurt but isn't required. Photos uploaded via the GBP mobile app are automatically geotagged. Photos uploaded via the web interface from desktop won't be — usually fine, but if you want maximum signal upload from the app on-site.
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