Keeping your services up to date helps customers find you. The more relevant services you list, the more searches you can show up for. Updating every location by hand doesn’t scale.
GMBapi’s bulk editing and service templates take the manual work out. This guide shows you how to build a template and apply it across your locations.
1. Create your Template
Before you start, make sure one location has all the services you want to copy to the others.
- Go to the Locations tab and open your most complete location.
- Go to the Services tab.
- Click Apply template.
- From the dropdown menu, select Save as template.
- Check the list to make sure no services are missing.
- Name your template and save it.
GMBapi mirrors Google’s logic. Templates save services by category. Google services are universal and apply across all categories. Custom services depend on the category, so each one is tied to a primary or secondary category. When you apply a template, universal services go everywhere, and custom services stay with their own categories. You don’t need to sort or re-categorise anything.
2. Apply Changes in Bulk
Once your template is ready, use the bulk edit tool to apply it to the rest of your listings.
- Under the Locations tab, select all the locations you want to update.
- Click Bulk Edit Locations (or Bulk Actions) and select Services.
- Choose your categories. The system defaults to Google Services. To include others, select specific categories or click All.
- Click Apply template.
If you only need a subset of categories, save that configuration as its own template and reuse it next time. Service text supports dynamic insertion, so each location’s services can carry its own local details
Understanding the modes
The bulk edit has three modes:
Add to Existing
Adds the template’s services to the current list without deleting anything.
Replace
Overwrites existing services with the template’s.
Apply per Category
Lets you hover over and select specific categories to update, leaving the others untouched.
Note: Templates are language-specific. If you have locations in different regions, for example, London and Madrid, a template written in English won’t translate itself. Create a separate template for each language you support. The Generate feature can write localised service descriptions in multiple languages, and what’s new in advanced bulk editing explains how.
Conclusion
Manual data entry doesn’t scale. Build one template, apply it across your locations, and every profile lists the same up-to-date services. That saves hours of admin and keeps every location complete.
Open your Locations tab and build your first template today.
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