Google Business Profile checklist for service businesses

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that can show up in Google Maps and in local results when someone nearby searches for what you do. Google also says a profile can help your services be visible in its AI responses. For a contractor or a service business that travels to customers, a few fields matter more than the rest, and a few common mistakes can get a profile suspended. This checklist goes field by field, using Google's own guidelines. It ends with a 10-minute monthly routine.

How Google ranks local results

Google's help page names three factors:

1. Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searches for.
2. Distance: how far you are from the person searching.
3. Prominence: how well-known your business is.

You can't change distance. You can make your profile more relevant by filling it in completely and accurately. Prominence builds up over time, through real reviews and a business people know.

Google is direct about shortcuts: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."

Before you start: are you eligible?

Google says a business qualifies if it "has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are". Contractors, plumbers, cleaners and other trades that go to the customer fit the second part.

What doesn't qualify: Google says a rented mailing address you don't operate from isn't eligible for a profile. Don't set up profiles at virtual offices or mailbox stores to look bigger or "be in" another town. That's a common route to suspension.

1. Claim and verify the profile

• Search for your business name on Google Maps first. You may already have a profile that a customer or an old directory created.
• Claim it, or create it if none exists, using a business Google account you control and will keep.
• Complete verification. Google says verification helps show you're authorized to represent the business, which makes it more likely to appear in results.
• If someone else manages it for you, make sure you stay the owner and they're added as a manager. Never hand over your only login.

2. Business name

• Use your real-world business name, the one on your truck, invoices and license.
• Don't add extras. Google's guidelines say the name must not include location information, marketing taglines, or service or product information.
• Not allowed: "Smith Roofing – Best Roofer Anytown, Free Estimates"
• Allowed: "Smith Roofing"

3. Address or service area

If customers don't come to you, this section matters most.

• Hide your address. Google says: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." Your home address stays private.
• Add service areas: the cities, postal codes or areas you actually serve. Google allows up to 20.
• Keep it realistic. Google says the overall area "shouldn't be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based". You can't set it as a radius.
• Storefront or hybrid? If customers do visit you, show the real address and set the hours customers can come in.

Listing a town as a service area doesn't create a location there. Distance from the person searching still counts.

4. Phone number and website

• Use one main phone number that reaches the business. Google says the number "must be under the direct control of the business" and should connect to your individual business location.
• Use the same number on your website, invoices and directory listings.
• Add your website (Google asks for one that represents your individual business). Link to the page that best matches the profile, usually your home page or a contact page that works on a phone.
• Check the link on your own phone. Does the page load fast, and can you tap to call?

5. Categories

• Pick a primary category that's as specific as possible. Google says to choose categories "as specific as possible, but representative of your main business". "Roofing contractor" beats "Contractor".
• Add only the extra categories that are truly core. Google says to "Use as few categories as possible."
• Don't add a category for work you only do once in a while.

6. Hours

• Enter your regular hours. Google asks for your "regular customer-facing hours of operation". For a service business, that's when you answer the phone and take jobs.
• Add special hours for holidays and closures. Google lists special hours as part of keeping your information up to date.
• If you offer emergency service, make sure your hours reflect it honestly.

7. Services and description

• List each service you actually offer, in the words customers use ("water heater replacement", not "thermal systems").
• Write a plain description: what you do, who for, where, and what makes working with you different. Keep it factual.
• Keep links, promotions and keyword lists out of the description.

8. Photos and videos

Google suggests adding photos and videos that show what you offer and tell your business's story.

• Your work. Real job photos: before and after, and work in progress.
• You and your crew. A photo of you or your crew, and your truck or van with your branding.
• New photos as jobs finish. Real, recent work beats a one-time upload.
• No stock images. Get permission before posting anything that shows a customer, their face or their house number.

9. Reviews: ask everyone, reply to everyone

Reviews are part of how customers judge you, and Google's local-ranking tips include responding to them.

Do:

• Ask every customer after every job, with a short message and a direct link to your review form.
• Reply to reviews, good and bad. Thank people, and keep replies to criticism calm and specific. Google says helpful replies can help your business stand out.

Don't: Google's policy prohibits these.

• Offering anything for a review: discounts, free service, gift cards or entries into a draw.
• Review gating: asking only happy customers, or discouraging negative reviews. Google's policy prohibits businesses that "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers".
• Reviews from people with a conflict of interest, such as employees, former employees and family. Google lists employment and family relationships as examples.
• Pressuring customers to leave a review on the spot.

10. Keep it current

• Update hours, services and photos whenever something changes.
• Watch for edits suggested by the public, and correct anything wrong.
• Keep your business name, phone and service area exactly the same on your website and the directories you use.

The 10-minute monthly routine

1. Open your profile and read it as a customer would. Is anything out of date?
2. Reply to every new review.
3. Add two or three photos from recent jobs.
4. Check the calls, direction requests and website clicks your profile shows. Note them in a simple log so you can compare months.
5. Search your main service plus your town on your phone, and see how your listing looks.
6. Check that your website's phone number and hours still match the profile.

Printable checklist

• Profile claimed and verified, and I am the owner
• Real business name, no extras
• Address hidden (service-area business) or real address shown (storefront)
• Up to 20 real service areas, within about 2 hours' drive
• One phone number, same as the website
• Website link works on a phone
• Most specific primary category, few extras
• Regular and special hours set
• Services listed in customers' words
• Plain, factual description
• Real job photos added and updated
• Asking every customer for a review: no gating, no rewards
• Replying to every review
• Monthly 10-minute check on the calendar