Getting started: create your sphere, your bubble, and connect your Google listing
Who this is for: you just created your GMB Club account and you're staring at the dashboard. This guide takes you from zero to a working account in ~5 minutes.
What you'll do: understand the Sphere → Bubble → Resources hierarchy, create your first sphere, your first bubble, and connect a Google Business Profile to it.
First things first: the GMB Club hierarchy in 30 seconds
GMB Club organizes your account in three levels. It's worth understanding this from the start — everything else flows from it.
Chargement du diagramme…
To remember:
- If you run a single location: create 1 Sphere + 1 Bubble. No shortcut — it's on purpose.
- If you run several locations (franchise, multi-site): create 1 Sphere + as many Bubbles as you have locations. Each bubble gets its own Google listing, its own social accounts.
- A Bubble automatically inherits its Sphere's settings (tone, language, business type) unless you override them.
Step 1 — Find the Sphere › Bubble selector (top right)
Once logged in, you land on the Dashboard. In the top navigation, on the right, you'll see a selector split in two by a › chevron:
This is the GMB Club breadcrumb. To the left of the ›: the active Sphere. To the right: the active Bubble. Every page of the app (Reviews, Social Media, Visibility, Reports…) is contextualized by this selector — what you see depends on which bubble is selected.
Click it to open the selection menu:
You'll see two columns: your Spheres on the left, the Bubbles of the active sphere on the right. And at the bottom of each column, two buttons: "New sphere" and "New bubble".
Step 2 — Create your first sphere
In the Sphere › Bubble selector, click "New sphere" (orange button, left column).
The "New sphere" modal opens:
There's an explanation card at the top ("What is a sphere?" A sphere groups all the resources of a company or brand: Google listings, social networks, site... Create one sphere per company you manage.) that you can dismiss after reading.
Fill in the fields:
| Field | Required? | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | No | JPG, PNG or WebP, max 5MB. Shows in the selector and in some reports. You can add it later. |
| Sphere name | Yes | The name of your brand, not of a specific location. E.g.: Food'Alexandre, not Food'Alexandre Lyon Bellecour. |
| Description | No | Used by the AI to generate a consistent tone (review replies, social posts). E.g.: "Mediterranean snack chain (kebab, tacos, burgers) founded in Marseille. 8 franchises in southern France. Positioning: generous street food, family vibe, homemade sauces." |
| Business type | No (but recommended) | Restaurant, Hotel, Hairdresser, Garage… The AI uses it to adapt vocabulary in suggestions. |
Click "Create sphere" (orange button on the right). You return to the selector with the new sphere already selected.
Step 3 — Create your first bubble
Still in the Sphere › Bubble selector (click it again if you closed it), click "New bubble" (blue button, right column).
The "New bubble" modal opens, scoped to the active sphere ("In Food'Alexandre"):
The explanation card reads: "What is a bubble?" A bubble represents a location or point of sale of your business. Each bubble can have its own Google listing, its own social networks, and its own site.
Fill in:
| Field | Required? | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Bubble name | Yes | Be explicit: Food'Alexandre Lyon Bellecour rather than Lyon. Avoids confusion when you have multiple locations. |
| City | No (but recommended) | Used by the AI for local posts and by SEO Dashboard for geo-targeted keywords. |
| Description | No | If the location has something specific ("franchise in the 7th district", "drive-in franchise"), put it here. |
Click "Create bubble". The bubble is created and becomes the active bubble automatically.
Step 4 — Connect your Google Business Profile to the bubble
This is the step that unlocks most of the features: reviews, AI suggestions, reports, optimization, visibility.
Go to the Bubble Settings
From the navigation (gear icon top right ⚙️ or via the Sphere › Bubble selector), go to "Settings". You land on the "Your bubble settings" page:
The left menu lists the bubble's sections:
- LOCATION:
Information,Connections - GOOGLE REVIEWS:
Auto-replies,QR attribution - AI:
AI Settings,AI Image - MESSAGING:
Preferences - BLOG & SEO:
Articles,API Keys,WordPress Plugin,Wix App,Search Console
Click "Connections"
In the left menu, click "Connections" (under LOCATION). You'll see the list of every external account you can link to this bubble:
- Google Business Profile
- TikTok
- WordPress
If Google Business Profile isn't connected yet, you'll see the "Not connected" status and a "Connect" button on the right.
Launch the Google connection
Click "Connect" next to Google Business Profile. You're redirected to the Google consent screen:
- Pick the Google account that owns the listing (the one you normally use to manage your Google Business Profile)
- Google lists the permissions requested (read/write reviews, post on the listing, access stats) → click "Continue"
- You're automatically redirected back to GMB Club, on the "Select a Google Business listing" page
Pick the listing to link to this bubble
GMB Club lists every Google Business Profile listing accessible from your Google account. You may manage several Google accounts (personal + pro) and several locations.
For this bubble, check a single listing: the one matching this location. You can connect other listings to other bubbles later (step 5).
Click "Confirm". You're back on the Bubble Settings page. The Connections section now shows:
Google Business Profile Food'Alexandre Lyon Bellecour - 12 Place Bellecour, 69002 Lyon
With a "Change listing" button beneath.
✅ Your bubble is operational. You can close Settings and start using the modules: Reviews, Social Media, Reports…
Step 5 — (If multi-location) Add more bubbles
You manage 3, 10, 50 locations? For each one:
- Open the Sphere › Bubble selector at the top
- Make sure the right sphere is selected on the left
- Click "New bubble"
- Fill name/city/description, confirm
- Go to Settings › Connections and link a different Google listing to this new bubble
Franchise tip: the parent sphere is created once and only once. Every bubble for the same brand should sit in the same sphere. Don't create one sphere per location — you'd lose the multi-site benefits (aggregated reports, inherited settings, etc.).
Step 6 — Fine-tune your sphere settings (optional but recommended)
From the navigation, go to "Settings", then in the side panel click "Sphere settings" at the bottom. Or more direct: from the selector, open the settings via the gear icon next to the sphere name.
You land on "Sphere settings":
The tabs in the left column:
- SPHERE:
General(logo, name, description, business type, timezone, contact email, phone, website, Trustpilot link) - ORGANIZATION:
Bubbles(list every bubble, create/archive),Store Locator(interactive map config),Sharing(invite collaborators),AI connectors(Claude/ChatGPT via MCP) - BILLING:
Subscription,Monthly quotas
What we recommend filling in before getting started:
| Field | Why |
|---|---|
| Description | Gives context to the AI for ALL bubbles in the sphere. The more precise it is, the more relevant the review-reply suggestions and generated posts will be. |
| Business type | Same — used by the AI for vocabulary. |
| Timezone | Your timezone (e.g. Europe/Paris (GMT+2)). Used to schedule posts at the right local time. |
| Contact email | Receives alerts (new 1-star review, publishing failure, etc.). |
| Website | Link to your site, used in generated posts and in SEO Dashboard. |
Click "Save" at the bottom of the page after editing.
Recap: where do we go from here?
You now have:
- ✓ A configured sphere (your brand)
- ✓ One or several bubbles (your locations)
- ✓ A Google Business Profile listing connected per bubble
Recommended next steps in this order:
- Review Management — Reply to your Google reviews (manually or with the AI) and turn on auto-replies.
- Get more reviews — Launch your first SMS/email campaign to collect new reviews.
- Social Media — Connect Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn and publish your first post.
- Local visibility — Analyze your Google rankings against your local competitors.
Common issues
I can't connect my Google Business Profile
→ Make sure you're signing in with the Google account that owns the listing. If you use the wrong account, GMB Club won't see your listings. You can sign out of Google in another tab (accounts.google.com) before launching the flow again.
My listing doesn't show up in the "Select a Google Business listing" list → Three possible causes: (1) you're using the wrong Google account, (2) the listing is managed by a delegated Google account (manager) that isn't in your organization, (3) the listing isn't verified by Google yet. Go to business.google.com to check.
I created two spheres instead of one — how do I merge them? → You can't merge automatically. The simplest fix: archive the extra sphere (Sphere settings › "Archive" button at the bottom), then recreate the bubbles in the right sphere.
I see "Missing token" when I land on the listing-picker page → The Google session expired, or you opened the page directly by URL. Restart from Settings › Connections › Google Business Profile › Connect to launch a clean connection flow.