Understand Profile completeness
What does Profile completeness measure, and why is it different for each publisher?
Profile completeness is the column of four rings on Clients → All locations → Manage, one each for Google, Facebook, Apple and Bing. Each ring shows how many of the profile fields that publisher accepts you have filled in Synup, as a percentage printed under the ring. Publishers accept different fields, so one location normally shows four different percentages. None of them measures whether the location is connected, whether a directory is live, or whether a publisher has accepted your data.
Key facts
| Where it lives | Clients → All locations → Manage, in the Profile completeness column. It is on by default |
| What each ring counts | The fields that publisher accepts, filled with the value that publisher will receive |
| Denominators | Google 12, Apple 11, Bing 11, Facebook 9 |
| What fills a field | Any content at all. Three photos and a one-line description count the same as a thorough profile |
| Colour | Green at 80% and above, the publisher's own colour from 40% to 79%, grey below 40% |
| Sorting | The column sorts on the average of the four rings, so the lowest sorts first in ascending order |
Steps
Open Clients → All locations and stay on the Manage tab. If the column is missing, open Columns and tick Profile completeness.
Read the four rings for each location. The percentage under each ring is the score for that publisher.
Sort the column to rank the portfolio. Choose the lowest-scoring location and open it.
Open its Master tab. Master is where you fill a field once and every publisher inherits it. The empty sections each have a button such as Add description, Set hours, Add media, Set status or Set area.
Fill the sections that apply and save each one; every section saves on its own. Choose the Primary category in the identity card at the top too, because it is one of the counted fields.
Return to the Manage list. The rings redraw from what you saved, and each one moves by a different amount.
What each ring counts
All four rings draw on one list of fields. A publisher is scored only on the fields it can accept.
- All four publishers (8 fields): business name, address (street and city), phone, website, primary category, hours, photos and open status.
- Google, Facebook and Apple add: description. Bing has no description field.
- Google, Apple and Bing add: attributes and payment methods. Facebook accepts neither.
- Google and Bing add: service area. Facebook and Apple do not score it.
That gives Google 12 (8 + 1 + 2 + 1), Facebook 9 (8 + 1), Apple 11 (8 + 1 + 2) and Bing 11 (8 + 2 + 1).
A field counts as filled when it has any content. The address needs both a street and a city. Photos count when the location has any photo in its media.
Why one profile gives four different numbers
Look at the Downtown row in the example above. It reads Google 83%, Facebook 100%, Apple 91% and Bing 82%. The profile is the same. Google is missing attributes and a service area, which is two of twelve. Facebook does not accept either field, so it has nothing missing out of nine. Apple does not accept a service area, so only attributes are missing, one of eleven. Bing does not accept a description but does accept both missing fields, so it is two short of eleven.
So a higher percentage on Facebook means a shorter checklist, not a better profile.
If you override a field for one publisher, that publisher's ring uses the override, because the ring measures what that publisher will receive. In the example, the Evanston location has a Google-only description, which lifts its Google ring from 33% to 42% and leaves the other three where they were. The address and photos are shared and cannot be overridden per publisher.
Percentages that look alike
The rings are one of several percentages in Listings, and each answers a different question:
Profile completeness
- Where
- Clients → All locations → Manage
- Answers
- How many of the fields each publisher accepts have I filled in?
Listing overview
- Where
- A location → Listings → Overview
- Answers
- How many of this location's eligible directories are live?
Connection score
- Where
- A location → Listings → Published
- Answers
- Are Google and Facebook connected, healthy and collected?
A location can read 100% on every ring and still be live on no directory, and a location that is live everywhere can have thin profile rings. See the Listings Overview and Connection score.
Completeness is also separate from fixes that a publisher asks for. On the Overview, the View issues drawer lists problems such as a rejected value or a missing primary category, and its buttons open the editor at the right section. Filling a field clears a ring gap straight away, but an issue clears only once the publisher accepts the new value.
What you'll see when it's done
- The rings for that location redrawn from your saved values, each by a different amount
- A ring that did not move for a field its publisher does not accept
- The location sorted higher in the Profile completeness column
Watch out for
- Facebook usually looks best. It has the shortest list of fields, so it reaches 100% first.
- Google is the strictest ring. It has the most fields to satisfy, which makes it the useful one to work against.
- Address and photos are shared. They cannot be overridden for one publisher.
- Websites show blank rings. A website record has no per-publisher profile, so the column leaves it empty.
- Rings say nothing about connection or publishing. Connection status is on the Connected column next to the rings and on the Published tab.
Questions people ask
Why is Google always my lowest ring?
Because it has the most fields to satisfy: twelve, against nine for Facebook. Google is the strictest scorer of the four.
I filled in a field and one ring did not move. Why?
That publisher does not accept the field. A service area moves Google and Bing only, attributes and payment methods move Google, Apple and Bing, and a description does not move Bing.
Does this score affect my rankings?
Not directly. It is Synup's measure of how much of the profile you have supplied. What reaches the publishers is what matters for visibility, and completeness is the input.
Does the percentage change when a publisher accepts my update?
No. The rings read the values saved in Synup, so they change when you save, not when a directory publishes. To see whether directories have accepted your changes, use the Published tab and when your changes go live.
Next
To fill the fields the rings count, see editing a location profile. To check that the profile reaches the directories, see Connection score.