If you're looking at GBP management services, you'll find prices all over the place. Free tools. £30-a-month packages. £150-a-month specialists. Full-service agencies charging £500 or more. It's hard to know what's reasonable without understanding what you're actually buying at each level.
This breaks it down honestly — including where Local Markers sits and why.
What does DIY cost?
Managing your own Google Business Profile costs nothing in money. Google doesn't charge to use it.
The cost is time. Done properly, that's three to four hours a month. For most tradespeople, that time has a real value. If you charge £60 an hour on the tools, three hours of GBP work is worth £180 to you in lost earning time — every month.
That doesn't mean you should never do it yourself. But "it's free" isn't the full picture. See our DIY vs paid management comparison for a breakdown of what those hours actually involve.
What do you get for £30–£50 a month?
At this price point you're usually buying a software tool, not a service. These are platforms that let you schedule Google Posts, monitor reviews, and see some basic analytics.
Some are decent tools if you're prepared to do the work yourself. But they don't do the work for you — they just make it slightly more organised.
Watch out for services at this price point that claim to "manage" your profile. At £30–£50 a month, the economics don't allow for meaningful human time on your account. You'll typically get automated posts (often generic and not trade-specific), no real review strategy, and no one who actually knows your business.
Typically software tools or automation. Useful if you do the work yourself. Limited if you expect someone to manage it for you.
Where genuine human management becomes viable. Quality varies. Ask exactly what's included before committing.
What do you get for £100–£200 a month?
This is where actual human management starts to become economically viable. A specialist spending two to three hours a month on your account — writing real posts, handling reviews, monitoring the profile — is feasible at this price.
Quality varies significantly at this level. Some providers here are doing solid work. Others are managing fifty clients per person, which means your account gets brief attention each month.
Questions worth asking any provider in this range:
- How many clients does each account manager handle?
- What exactly happens each month? Get a specific list, not a summary.
- How do you report on results?
- What's the contract length?
If they can't answer those clearly, keep looking.
What do you get for £300–£500+ a month?
Full-service digital agencies typically charge at this level — often as part of a broader local SEO package that includes citation building, website SEO, and paid advertising.
If you need all of those services coordinated by one team, this can be good value. If you just need your GBP managed properly, you're likely paying for services you don't need.
Some agencies in this bracket are excellent. Some are charging for a brand name rather than results. Ask for case studies from businesses similar to yours — other tradespeople in competitive local markets, not e-commerce brands or national businesses.
Price doesn't equal quality. A specialist charging £150/month who understands local SEO for trades will outperform a £500/month generalist agency more often than not.
Where does Local Markers sit — and what's included?
Local Markers charges £299 one-time for setup and £149/month for ongoing management.
Setup (£299, one-off)
Full profile audit and rebuild — categories, services, description, attributes, service area, photos. The foundation work that most profiles either haven't had done or had done once and never revisited. Billed once.
Ongoing management (£149/month)
Monthly Google Posts, photo uploads from your jobs, review monitoring and responses, Q&A monitoring, profile health checks, and a plain-English monthly report. No upsells. No "premium add-ons" for things that should be standard.
No long-term contract. Monthly rolling. If you're not seeing results or you want to stop, you can. We think that's how it should work.
What should you watch out for when comparing providers?
Lock-in contracts. Some providers require six or twelve-month contracts. That's a significant commitment before you know whether the service works for you. Prefer monthly rolling arrangements where possible.
Vague inclusions. "Profile optimisation" and "content creation" can mean almost anything. Ask for a specific list of what happens each month.
Automated content. Generic, templated Google Posts do very little. Posts that relate to your actual work, your service area, and the season perform better. Ask how posts are written and whether they're specific to your business.
Promises about rankings. No one can guarantee you'll rank first. Anyone who says otherwise is either mistaken or not being straight with you. A good service improves your competitive position and tracks what's happening.
No reporting. If a service doesn't send you monthly data on how your profile is performing, you have no way to judge whether it's working. Reporting should be standard, not an extra.
Before signing up with any provider, ask them to show you a before and after for a tradesperson in a competitive local area. A good provider will have examples ready without hesitation.
How do you decide what's right for your business?
If you're a tradesperson doing enough volume that one or two extra jobs a month would cover the cost, managed GBP at £100–200/month is worth considering. The maths isn't complicated: one boiler installation or one bathroom refit covers several months of fees.
If you're earlier stage and cash is tight, do it yourself properly — not the twenty-minute version — and revisit in six months when the business has more headroom.
If you want to see where your profile stands before spending anything, the free assessment takes us about twenty minutes and gives you a clear picture of what's working, what isn't, and what the realistic opportunity looks like in your market. No pitch at the end — just the information you need to make a sensible decision.