The Google Business Profile checklist: 10 settings contractors get wrong

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that shows up on Google Maps and in the map results on Google Search. For most home-service businesses it brings in more calls than the website does. It's free, and most of it takes an afternoon to get right.

When we checked 664 home-service businesses in 21 U.S. markets this October, 38 of them hadn't even claimed their profile. Here's what to check, in order of importance.

1. Claim and verify it

If you haven't claimed your profile, you can't review or respond to the changes people suggest to it, including your hours, phone number and website. Search for your business on Google Maps, choose Claim this business or Own this business?, and follow the verification steps. Make sure the owner, not a past employee or old agency, holds the main access.

2. Pick the right primary category

Local search experts surveyed by Whitespark rank it as the most important ranking factor on the profile. It strongly affects which searches you show up for. Choose the category that matches the work you most want, as specifically as Google allows: "HVAC contractor," "Plumber," "Roofing contractor," "Electrician." Then add secondary categories for the other real work you do.

A common mistake: a roofer listed as "General contractor," or an HVAC company listed only as "Air conditioning contractor" when most of its work is furnaces.

3. Use your real business name, nothing extra

Your profile name should match your real-world name: what's on your trucks, signs and invoices. Adding keywords ("Smith Plumbing - Best Plumber in Fargo, 24/7 Drain Cleaning") breaks Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended, and competitors do report it.

4. Set your service areas, and your address correctly

If customers come to your location, show your address. If you go to customers and don't serve them at your address, Google wants you to hide it and list service areas instead. Read should you hide your address on Google before you change it, because it affects how you rank. In our October check, 110 of 664 businesses had a hidden address.

5. List your services

Add each service you offer, with a short description. It gives Google more to match against what people search ("water heater installation," "sump pump repair") and tells customers you do that work.

6. Keep hours and phone accurate

Use a phone number that's answered (or texts back when it isn't). If you offer emergency service, set your hours to match. Wrong hours lead to calls that never connect and to customers who head somewhere else.

7. Link your website, to the right page

Link the most relevant page of your website. For a single-location business that's usually the home page. If you have several locations, link each profile to its own location page.

8. Add real photos, regularly

Photos of your team, trucks, and finished jobs, not stock images. Add a few every month. Photos help customers trust you, and an active profile looks like an active business.

9. Post updates

Google lets you publish short posts on your profile: a seasonal offer, a job you just finished, a tip. They don't take long and they keep the profile current.

10. Get reviews steadily, and reply to all of them

Reviews are a big part of how prominent Google thinks you are and the first thing customers read. Ask every customer, reply to every review, and keep the pace steady. See how to ask for reviews and how many you need for your trade.

Bonus: check for duplicates

Old addresses, a second phone number, or a past business name can leave duplicate listings that split your reviews and confuse Google. Search for your business name and phone number on Google Maps. If you find a duplicate, ask Google support to merge or remove it.

Then check the result

After the profile is fixed, the question is whether it changed where you show up across your service area, not just at your shop. The free KarpOS audit shows your Google Maps rank at points across your whole area and the businesses ahead of you at each one.

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