The Google Business Profile Checklist for Local Service Businesses

When someone searches for a plumber, an auto shop or an accountant “near me,” the first thing they often see isn’t a website. It’s the map and the business profiles next to it. That’s where many customers decide who to call.

Google says local results are mainly based on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. You can’t change your distance to the searcher, but you can control a lot of the other two. Here’s the checklist we use.

The basics: get them exactly right

• Ownership. Make sure the profile is verified and owned by an account your business controls, not a former employee or an agency that disappeared.
• Business name. Use your real-world business name. Adding keywords or city names that aren’t part of your actual name goes against Google’s guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
• Address or service area. If customers come to you, show your address. If you travel to customers and don’t serve them at your location, set a service area and hide the address.
• Phone, website and hours. Keep them accurate, including holiday hours. Nothing loses a customer faster than showing up to a closed door.

Categories: the setting most businesses get wrong

Your primary category is one of the strongest relevance signals on your profile. Pick the one that best describes your main line of business, as specifically as possible. Then add secondary categories for other services you genuinely offer.

A quick way to sanity-check your choice: search for your main service in your area and look at the categories the top-ranking competitors use.

Services and description

• List each service you offer, in the words your customers use, with a short description.
• Write a business description that says what you do, who you serve and what makes you different. Skip the fluff and the keyword stuffing.
• Link to the matching service pages on your website when the profile allows it.

Photos: show the real thing

Profiles with real, recent photos look active and trustworthy. Add photos of your storefront or vehicles, your team, your work and before-and-after shots where it makes sense. Add new ones regularly instead of uploading everything once.

Reviews: build a simple system

Reviews influence both your ranking and whether people call you. The businesses with the most reviews usually aren’t lucky: they ask every customer, every time.

• Ask right after a job well done, while the experience is fresh.
• Make it easy: send a direct link to your review form by text or email.
• Reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and professionally. Future customers read your replies.
• Stay within the rules: Google doesn’t allow offering incentives for reviews or only asking customers you expect to be happy.

Posts: keep the profile active

Google posts let you share updates, offers and recent jobs right on your profile. They won’t transform your rankings on their own, but an active profile gives customers more reasons to choose you. A simple rhythm, like one post a week, is enough.

Track what the profile brings in

The performance section of your profile shows calls, website clicks and direction requests. Add tracking parameters to your website link so visits from your profile show up separately in Google Analytics. Then you can see what the profile is really worth.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Duplicate profiles for the same location.
• Phone numbers or hours that don’t match your website.
• Ignoring negative reviews instead of answering them.
• Setting it up once and never touching it again.

Want a second pair of eyes on your profile? Our free audit covers it, along with your website and ads. Learn more about our Google Business Profile service, or read why your website might not be getting calls.