Google Business Profile: the one-hour setup most businesses never finish

For a local business, the Google Business Profile — the panel with your map pin, hours, photos and reviews — is seen by more people than your website, and it is what decides whether you appear in the map results at all. Most owners claimed theirs years ago, filled in the name and phone number, and never went back. Here is the hour of work that separates a listing that shows up from one that does not.

Categories first

Your primary category is the single strongest signal of what searches you can appear for. “Plumber” and “Plumbing supply store” are different categories with different searches. Choose the one that describes what you mainly do, then add every secondary category that is genuinely true. Do not add categories for things you do not do; it dilutes the primary and Google notices the mismatch with your reviews.

Services and products

Under Services, list each thing you actually sell as its own line, with a short description and, where you can, a price or “from” price. This is not decoration: Google matches searches to these lines. A profile that just says “HVAC” will lose to one that lists “AC repair”, “AC installation”, “Furnace repair” and “Duct cleaning” individually.

Hours, including the special ones

Wrong hours are the most common reason a customer turns up to a closed door and leaves a one-star review. Set your regular hours, then add holiday hours for the year ahead. If you offer 24-hour emergency service, say so in the “more hours” section rather than setting your main hours to 24/7, which Google may flag.

Photos, and lots of them

Profiles with more photos get more clicks and more direction requests; Google has said so and it matches everything we see. Add your storefront from the street so people recognise it, the inside, your team, your vehicles, and your work. Aim for twenty or more, and add a few every month — recency counts. Do not upload stock photos; customers can tell and Google can too.

The description and the attributes

Seven hundred and fifty characters to say who you serve, what you do and what makes you different, in plain language, with the areas you cover named. Then go through the attributes and tick every one that is true: wheelchair accessible, women-owned, veteran-owned, free Wi-Fi, appointment required. Some of these appear as filters in search.

Questions and answers

Anyone can ask a question on your profile and anyone can answer it, including a competitor. Seed it yourself: post the five questions customers actually ask you, and answer them. Turn on notifications so you see new questions the same day.

Reviews: link, ask, reply

Google gives you a short review link. Put it in your email signature, on your invoices, and in the text you send when a job is finished. Then reply to every review, good and bad, within a few days. Replying is a ranking signal, and the reply is read by the next twenty people deciding whether to call you.

Posts

Google Posts are short updates that appear on your profile for a week or so. An offer, a finished project, a seasonal reminder. Two a month is enough to signal that the business is alive, which is exactly what a dormant listing fails to do.

If you would rather someone did it

Our local SEO service starts with exactly this setup, done properly, for $499 — waived when you start the $400-a-month plan in the same month, which then keeps the profile active with posts, review responses, citations and a monthly report on calls, direction requests and where you rank on the map for the searches that matter to you.