The Google Business Profile checklist for service businesses
For local searches, the map pack shows up before your website does. Here's every field worth filling in, and the ones people skip.
If you fix roofs, pull teeth or cut hair, a lot of your customers will never see your website before they call. They'll see your Google Business Profile in the map results, compare you with two competitors, and pick one. That makes the profile one of the most valuable pages you own, and most businesses fill in about half of it.
Work through this list once, properly.
The basics, exactly right
- Business name: your real name, as it appears on your signage and paperwork. Don't add keywords like "Best Roofer London". Google's guidelines forbid it and it can get the profile suspended.
- Primary category: the single most important choice on the profile. Pick the one that describes your main service as specifically as possible ("Roofing contractor", not "Contractor").
- Secondary categories: add the other things you genuinely do.
- Phone and website: a number that's answered, and a link to the page that best matches your main service.
- Hours: real hours, plus holiday hours. A business shown as open that doesn't answer loses the customer and gets bad reviews.
Service area and services
If you go to customers rather than them coming to you, set a service area and hide your address. List the towns and areas you actually cover.
Then fill in the Services section, one entry per service with a short description. It's tedious, and that's why most competitors haven't done it.
Photos
Upload real photos: your team, your vehicles, finished jobs, before and after. Add new ones regularly. Stock photos don't help anyone choose you.
Reviews: the part that compounds
Reviews influence both where you appear and whether people click. Three habits make the difference:
- Ask every happy customer, right after the job, with a direct link. You can get the link from the profile dashboard ("Ask for reviews").
- Reply to every review, good and bad, briefly and like a human.
- Never buy or swap reviews. Google removes them and can restrict the profile.
Posts and questions
Posts don't move rankings much on their own, but they show the business is active. A short update every week or two, with a photo of recent work, is enough.
Check the Q&A section too. Anyone can ask or answer there, so answer common questions yourself before a stranger does.
Make it match your website
Use the same name, address and phone number on your website, in the footer and on your contact page, and on any directory listings. Consistency helps Google trust that it's all the same business.
Once this is done, read why your site might still not be ranking. The profile and the website work together.