When someone searches your company name, or "plumber near me," the first thing they see is a box with a name, a star rating, a phone number and a map. That box is your Google Business Profile. It is free, it shows up before any website does, and most contractors have filled in about half of it.
Here is the whole thing in the order that matters. Set aside an hour.
1. Claim it and verify it
Search your business name on Google. If a profile already exists, claim it. If not, create one at google.com/business. Either way, Google will ask you to prove the business is real. These days that is often a short video on your phone showing your truck, your tools and something with the business name on it. Do it the day they ask. An unverified profile doesn't show up.
2. Use your real business name
If your company is Smith Plumbing LLC, the profile says Smith Plumbing. It does not say "Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Brandon FL." Adding keywords to the name is the most common reason contractor profiles get suspended, and getting one back takes weeks.
3. Pick the most specific category
The primary category does more than any other field. Choose the one that says exactly what you are: Plumber, Electrician, HVAC contractor, Roofing contractor, Painter, Handyman. Don't settle for "Contractor" if a closer one exists. Add second categories only for work you really do.
4. Set a service area and hide your home address
If customers don't come to you, you're what Google calls a service-area business. Turn off the street address so your house isn't on the map, then list the towns you cover by name. You can add up to twenty. Pick the ones you'd happily drive to on a Tuesday afternoon, and leave off the far edge of the county.
5. Put in a phone number you answer
Use the number that rings in your pocket. If it goes to a voicemail that's full, or a greeting that doesn't say the business name, fix that first. Half the point of the profile is the call button.
6. Set real hours
Put in the hours you pick up the phone. If you take emergency calls at night, say so in the description. Listing 24 hours when you're asleep earns you one-star reviews from people who called at 2 a.m.
7. Add your website
The website button is where people go to check you out before calling. If you don't have a site, the field stays empty and the profile looks unfinished. If your site is old, make sure the phone number on it matches the profile exactly.
8. List your services by name
There's a services section. Fill it in with the jobs you do, in the words customers use: water heater replacement, panel upgrade, AC repair, roof leak repair. Google reads this when it decides who to show for a search, and customers read it to see if you do their job.
9. Write the description
You get 750 characters. Say what you do, where you do it and how long you've been at it, in plain sentences. Put your license number here too. It tells a homeowner you're legitimate before they've clicked anything.
10. Add photos of real jobs
Ten photos is a good start. Finished work, your truck, you or your crew on a job. Phone photos are fine. Add a few every month, because a profile with recent photos looks like a business that's working. Skip stock photos here. This is the one place they hurt you.
11. Get the review link and use it
Inside the profile there's an "Ask for reviews" button that gives you a short link. Save it on your phone and text it to customers the day the job is done. We wrote a separate post on getting your first ten reviews, because that number is where a new profile starts to get calls.
12. Reply to every review
Good ones and bad ones. A reply takes thirty seconds and shows the next reader that somebody's home. Keep the reply to a bad review short and calm. You're writing it for the people who read it later.
13. Make everything match
Your business name, phone number and website should be identical on the profile, your website, your Facebook page and anywhere else you're listed. "Smith Plumbing" in one place and "Smith's Plumbing & Drain LLC" in another makes Google less sure they're the same company.
14. Look at it once a month
Google lets the public suggest edits, and sometimes it accepts them. Hours change, a category gets swapped, a photo you didn't take shows up. Five minutes a month catches it.
Two things that get profiles suspended
Keywords in the business name. Covered above, and worth repeating because it's so common.
An address you don't work from. A virtual office or a mailbox store used to look like you're in a town you aren't. Google checks, competitors report it, and the whole profile comes down.
Where the website fits
The profile gets you found. The website is where people go to decide. They tap through to see your services, your photos and whether you look like a real company. If you want help with both, our Pro plan includes setting up the profile alongside the site. You can see a free preview of yours first, with no card needed.