An Australian agency’s approval workflow for client Google Business Profiles

Short answer: keep your Australian client as the primary owner of their Google Business Profile, give the agency manager access, and agree in writing what needs approval. Use AI to prepare drafts, not to authorise publication. Check local details such as postcode, state, mobile number and public holiday hours, then record approval against the exact version that will go live.

For an agency handling several Australian businesses, the difficult part is rarely writing one review reply. It is knowing which client approved which version, whether a trading-hours change is confirmed, and who can make a decision when the usual contact is unavailable.

A useful workflow puts those decisions ahead of the publishing calendar. It also recognises that a customer in Perth may be reading a post written by an agency in Sydney, while the client approver is in another time zone. Clear responsibilities matter more than another reminder email.

Start with client control, not shared logins

The client should retain primary ownership of the Google Business Profile. Add the agency through its own Google account as a manager rather than sharing the owner’s password. Google explains the available roles in its guidance on managing profile owners and managers.

Record who owns each profile, which agency account has access, and which person at the business can resolve an access problem. For a multi-location client, map each profile to its actual branch and responsible approver. Do not assume the head office contact knows every location’s hours or service arrangements.

Make offboarding part of the initial agreement. When the engagement ends, remove agency access and hand over approval records, outstanding drafts and unresolved customer issues. The client should not have to recover control of its profile after changing suppliers.

Manager access is a technical permission, not blanket editorial permission. Your agreement should still say what the agency may publish and when client sign-off is required.

Build an Australian location brief before drafting

Create a short, client-approved reference sheet for each location. This becomes the factual input for AI-assisted drafts and the checklist for human review.

Include:

• The real business name and the location’s approved contact details.
• The suburb, city, postcode and state, checked against the client’s records.
• The correct mobile or landline number for customer enquiries.
• Regular opening hours and the person responsible for confirming public holiday hours.
• Services genuinely offered at that location and any service-area limits.
• Approved descriptions of pricing, availability and qualifications.
• Relevant directory listings, such as Yellow Pages and True Local, where the business actually has a listing.

Keep the brief factual. Do not let an AI tool fill gaps with a plausible street address, nearby suburb, licence claim or service promise. If the client has not confirmed something, mark it as awaiting confirmation and leave it out of publishable copy.

Local content should reflect the business, not merely repeat city names. An agency planning a Melbourne local SEO campaign, for example, should establish the client’s genuine coverage before drafting suburb-specific messaging. A city landing page is not evidence that a client operates across that entire city.

Agree approval levels and escalation rules

At the start of an engagement, require approval for all review replies, posts and profile edits. Once the client is comfortable with the process, you can document narrow exceptions, such as a pre-approved acknowledgement for straightforward positive feedback.

Write down the content types covered by each exception. Permission to publish a routine thank-you reply should not extend to changing a phone number, announcing a discount or responding to a dispute.

Your agreement should identify:

• A main approver and a backup approver.
• The approval deadline, including the relevant time zone.
• What happens when nobody responds: ordinarily, the draft remains unpublished.
• Which changes require renewed approval.
• Who handles urgent corrections outside normal working hours.

Always escalate complaints involving safety, refunds, alleged misconduct, legal threats or disputed facts. The agency can prepare a neutral draft, but the client should verify the circumstances and decide the response. Avoid publishing customer account details or private information in a public reply.

For review-related claims, use the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) as the regulatory reference point. Its guidance on false or misleading claims explains the broader requirement for truthful business communications. AI-generated copy is not an exemption from the Australian Consumer Law.

Use AI for drafting, then run a factual check

Give the drafting tool a limited brief: the review or proposed update, verified business facts, approved tone and any prohibited topics. Avoid including unnecessary personal information. Ask for a draft that makes no promises beyond the brief.

A human reviewer should then check whether the draft introduces anything new. Common problems include implying that a refund has been approved, saying a staff member remembers a visit, or promising that a problem will never happen again. None of those statements should appear simply because they sound reassuring.

For posts, check dates, offer conditions, service availability and the destination link. For profile edits, compare the proposed field with the client-approved location brief. For review replies, check that the response addresses the actual feedback without inventing an interaction.

Never generate customer reviews or testimonials to make a profile appear more established. The task is to help a real business communicate accurately, not manufacture evidence of customer satisfaction.

Organise approval batches around local trading needs

A weekly batch can reduce interruptions, but it should accommodate the client’s calendar rather than follow a rigid Monday-to-Thursday sequence.

One workable sequence is:

1. Collect new reviews, planned updates and requested profile changes.
2. Draft the content and complete the agency’s factual checks.
3. Send one approval pack per client, grouped by location and content type.
4. Record approval or requested changes against each item.
5. Resubmit changed drafts before publishing or scheduling them through an available channel.

Keep public holiday hours separate from routine marketing copy. Ask the client to confirm each location’s actual trading arrangements before Australia Day, Anzac Day and relevant state or regional holidays. Do not assume a business is closed because a public holiday appears on the calendar.

Google provides instructions for setting special hours, which can be used for public holiday hours. The client’s approval should identify the location, date and exact hours, including any closure.

Use explicit dates and time zones in requests. A deadline described only as “close of business” can be ambiguous when an agency and client are on opposite sides of Australia, particularly during daylight saving.

Worked example: an illustrative Melbourne plumbing business

Illustrative example only: this scenario describes a hypothetical Melbourne plumbing business. It is not a client testimonial and makes no claims about rankings, enquiries or revenue.

The business owner retains primary ownership of the Google Business Profile and adds the agency as a manager. The office manager is the usual approver; the owner is the backup. Their agreement requires approval for every post, review reply and profile change.

Ahead of Anzac Day, the agency asks whether the office will open, whether phone enquiries will be answered, and which services will actually be available. It does not infer emergency availability from the fact that the business is a plumbing company.

The agency prepares an approval pack containing a proposed public holiday hours update, a factual customer-information post and draft replies to recent reviews. Each item has its own identifier and version. The pack includes the confirmed mobile number and links to the relevant location brief.

The office manager approves the hours update but changes the post’s description of available services. That revised post returns for approval. Approval of the original wording does not carry over to the edited version.

A complaint about a disputed invoice goes to the owner rather than into the routine publishing batch. The agency leaves the response unpublished while the owner checks the facts.

Once the approved items are published through the available Google workflow, the agency records the publication date and checks the live details. The audit trail shows what was authorised without implying that publication produced any particular commercial result.

Keep a record that supports straightforward reporting

For every item, retain the location, content type, exact draft, version, approver, approval time and publication status. Distinguish between approved, scheduled and published: these are different states.

If approved content changes, obtain approval again. That includes seemingly minor changes that alter meaning, such as adding “all suburbs” or replacing a limited availability statement with an unconditional promise.

A monthly report should summarise posts published, reviews answered, profile edits completed and issues awaiting a client decision. Include one practical recommendation, such as confirming the next set of public holiday hours or checking inconsistent directory contact details.

Do not describe profile interactions as sales. Calls, website visits and other recorded actions need appropriate context, and a completed approval workflow is not a ranking guarantee.

Where Local SEO AI fits into the workflow

Local SEO AI records approvals against the exact content. If a draft changes after approval, that approval no longer applies. Agency workspaces keep clients separate, with their own locations, content and reports.

Use those records alongside the client’s Australian location brief and escalation rules. Software can preserve a decision trail, but the client still needs to confirm business facts and authorise sensitive responses.

Custom domains and commissions are not included. Publishing to Google is awaiting Google’s connection approval; do not present direct publishing as currently available or describe this as a Google partnership. Keep a separate publication step until the connection is available. For subscription details, consult pricing; pricing is billed in GBP (£), not Australian dollars.

Frequently asked questions

Which Australian regulator should guide our approach to review content?

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is a key reference for understanding misleading business communications under the Australian Consumer Law. Keep review replies truthful and never create fake customer reviews or testimonials. Client approval does not make a misleading statement acceptable. Escalate disputed claims and sensitive complaints to the business, and seek qualified legal advice where the situation requires it.

Should we include Yellow Pages and True Local in the approval workflow?

Yes, if the client has listings on Yellow Pages or True Local. Include relevant changes to contact details, services and trading information in the same factual review process, while treating each platform as a separate publication task. Confirm the actual listing before requesting edits. Do not promise that directory submissions will improve rankings, and do not create listings using unverified business details.

How should we approve public holiday hours across Australian locations?

Ask the client to confirm actual trading hours for each location and date. Australia Day and Anzac Day are useful planning prompts, but state and regional calendars, observed days and business arrangements also matter. Record approval for the precise hours or closure, then use Google’s special-hours workflow where appropriate. Do not copy one branch’s public holiday hours to every other branch without confirmation.

Which Australian terms and contact details belong in the location brief?

Use postcode rather than ZIP code, state rather than a US-style regional label, and mobile for a mobile contact number. Record the suburb and city separately when needed to distinguish locations. Use public holiday hours in client-facing instructions. More importantly, verify every detail with the client: Australian terminology will not fix an incorrect postcode, an outdated mobile number or an unsupported service-area claim.