When someone searches for "plumber near me," Google shows a map with three businesses under it. Those three get a large share of the calls. Your Google Business Profile decides whether you're one of them. Here's the checklist we run for every contractor we work with.
1. Get the basics exactly right
- Your real business name, with no extra keywords stuffed in. Google can suspend profiles for that.
- The same address and phone number you use on your website and in directories.
- Accurate hours. Only list 24/7 service if someone really answers the phone at 2 a.m.
2. Choose the right categories
Your primary category matters most. Pick the one that matches the work you most want, such as "HVAC contractor" or "Roofing contractor," then add secondary categories for the other services you actually offer. Don't add categories for work you don't do.
3. Set your service areas
If you work at customers' homes, list the cities or ZIP codes you serve. Keep it realistic. Listing towns two hours away won't get you ranked there, and it can make your profile look less relevant.
4. Add your services and a real description
Add each service you offer, with a short description. Write your business description for homeowners, not for Google: what you do, where you work and why people call you.
5. Build a steady flow of reviews
Reviews are one of the biggest things homeowners look at before they call. Make asking easy: a short text with your review link, sent by the tech right after a job goes well. A steady trickle every month beats a burst followed by nothing. Reply to every review, good or bad, politely and briefly.
6. Post real photos
Upload photos of your team, your trucks and finished jobs. Real photos build trust in a way stock images never will, and an active profile looks like an active business.
Want more inquiries from your website?
We'll look at your website and rankings and tell you plainly what we would fix first. No charge and no sales pitch.
7. Keep your details consistent everywhere
Check that your name, address and phone number match on your website, Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps, the BBB and industry directories. Mismatches confuse Google and can hold your rankings back.
8. Track the calls
Your profile shows how many people called or asked for directions. Compare that month to month, and ask new customers how they found you. That tells you whether the work is paying off.
Not sure how your profile compares to the companies above you on the map? Ask us for a free Local SEO audit and we'll show you exactly what to fix.
Does a Google Business Profile help with SEO?
Yes, but not in the way people expect. Your profile is what decides whether you appear in the map results, the box of three businesses above everything else. That is a separate competition from the regular blue links, and for a home service business it is usually the one worth more.
Your website still matters to it: Google looks at the site your profile points to, what it says about your services and towns, and whether people stay on it. So the profile and the website pull each other up. Doing one and ignoring the other is the most common mistake we see.
Is a Google Business Profile worth it for a contractor?
It is free, it takes an hour to set up properly, and for many trades it is the source of emergency calls. So yes. The catch is that it needs feeding: fresh photos, new reviews, hours kept right, services updated as you add them. A profile set up once and forgotten slides down over a year while a competitor who tends theirs moves up.
Where the profile sends people
A complete profile wins the click. What happens after the click is your website's job, and it is the part most contractors leave alone. If the page is slow, or the number is buried, the work you did on the profile just hands the job to whoever is listed under you.
That is why we start with website design and development and build the rest around it: Local SEO for the map, SEO for the searches that never open a map, and conversion work so more of those visits end as calls. The profile brings them to the door; the website decides whether they knock.
In short
Work down the list once, properly, then keep it alive:
- Name, address, phone and hours exact, and the same everywhere online.
- Right primary category, real services, honest service areas.
- Ask for a review on every job and reply to all of them.
- Add real photos of your crew and finished work, not stock images.
- Send the traffic to a website built to convert, or the rest is wasted.
Ten minutes a week keeps a profile healthy. Neglect it for a year and you will be rebuilding trust you had already earned.
Want more inquiries from your website?
We'll look at your website and rankings and tell you plainly what we would fix first. No charge and no sales pitch.
