When someone in Guildford searches "boiler repair near me" or "office cleaners Horsham", the first thing they usually see isn't a website. It's a map with three businesses underneath it. If you're one of those three, the phone rings. If you're not, most people never scroll far enough to find you.
Your Google Business Profile is the listing behind that map. It's free, you already control it, and a lot of what holds it back can be fixed in an afternoon. Here are twelve fixes, in the order we'd tackle them.
In short
- Get your primary category exactly right. It's the most powerful setting you control.
- Fill in every section Google offers: services, description, hours, photos and attributes.
- Keep the profile active with fresh photos, updates and reviews every month.
- Tag your website link so you can see how many visits and enquiries it brings.
Before you start: make sure you can get in
Sign in to business.google.com with the Google account you use for the business and check you're listed as an owner. If someone else set the profile up years ago, such as an old web designer or a former employee, ask them to add you as an owner today. Being locked out of your own profile is surprisingly common, and it's a real headache to fix when you urgently need to change something.
1. Choose the right primary category
Your primary category tells Google what you are. It has more influence on which searches you appear for than almost anything else on the profile. Pick the most specific option for your main money-making service: "Roofing contractor" rather than "Contractor", or "Commercial cleaning service" rather than "Cleaning service" if offices are your bread and butter.
Tip
Search for your main service and your town, then look at the top three businesses on the map. Each one's primary category shows just under its name. If they're all using one you aren't, find out why.
2. Add secondary categories, but only true ones
You can add up to nine more categories. Add the ones that genuinely describe work you do and want more of. A heating engineer might add "Plumber" and "Gas engineer". A landscaper might add "Paving contractor" and "Fence contractor".
Don't add categories for things you only do once in a blue moon. It blurs what Google thinks you're about.
3. List every service in plain English
In the Services section, add each service you offer, with a short description. Use the words customers actually type: "boiler service", "leak detection", "gutter clearing", not "comprehensive property solutions". Each service you list gives Google one more clue about which searches you're a good match for.
4. Write a description that sells
You get 750 characters. Most people only see the first couple of lines, so lead with what you do, who you do it for and where. Then give a reason to choose you. Google doesn't allow links or special offers in the description, so keep it factual.
Example to adapt
Family-run roofing company covering Horsham, Crawley and mid Sussex since 2009. We repair and replace pitched and flat roofs, fix leaks, clear gutters and repair chimneys for homeowners and landlords. Every job is photographed before and after, and every quote is fixed and in writing. Fully insured, with a written guarantee on all new roofs.
5. Set your service area, and hide your address if customers don't visit you
If you go to your customers rather than them coming to you, Google's guidelines say you should hide your address and set a service area instead. You can list up to 20 towns or areas. Choose the places you actually want work from, not every town in the South East. (Listing a town doesn't guarantee you'll show up there. We explain why in how to win work in towns you aren't based in.)
6. Get your hours right, including bank holidays
Nothing loses a customer faster than calling when Google said you were open and getting no answer. Set special hours for bank holidays and Christmas. Google often prompts you to confirm them, so do it when it asks.
7. Upload real photos, and keep adding them
Profiles with plenty of real photos look busier and more trustworthy. Add photos of you, your team, your van, your premises and, above all, your finished work. A few new ones every month beats fifty in one go and then nothing for a year.
What makes a good profile photo:
- Taken in daylight, in landscape.
- Shows a finished job, the team or the van. Never stock images.
- No heavy filters and no text written over it.
- No customers' faces, door numbers or car number plates unless you have permission.
Tip
Don't waste time "geotagging" photos before you upload them. There's no good evidence it makes any difference. Spend the time taking better photos instead. Our guide to turning job photos into enquiries shows you how.
8. Point your booking link at your quote form
If Google offers an appointment or booking link for your category, point it at your quote or contact page so people can go straight there without hunting around your website.
9. Tick the attributes that apply
Attributes are the little extras shown on your profile, such as "Online estimates", "Onsite services" or "Wheelchair-accessible entrance". They take seconds to fill in and help people who are filtering for exactly that.
10. Post an update every week or two
Updates (Google sometimes still calls them posts) let you share a recent job, a seasonal tip or an offer. A profile that's clearly active looks like a business that's clearly busy. A photo of last week's job with two lines about it is plenty.
Example update
New patio finished in Petersfield this week: Indian sandstone, a new drainage channel and fresh pointing throughout. The owners now have somewhere to sit out that doesn't flood every time it rains. Planning a garden project for spring? Get your free quote in now.
11. Ask for reviews after every job, and reply to them
Reviews help you rank and help people choose you. Find the "Ask for reviews" option on your profile to get your review link, and send it after every job. Then reply to every review, good and bad. We've written separate guides on getting more Google reviews and replying to them.
12. Tag your website link so you can see what it brings in
Add a small tracking tag to the website link on your profile. Google Analytics will then show visits from your profile separately, instead of lumping them in with everything else from Google. For example:
Website link with tracking tag
https://www.yourwebsite.co.uk/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp
Then check the Performance section of your profile each month for calls, website clicks and direction requests. Our guide to the six numbers worth tracking explains what to look for.
Your monthly 15-minute routine
Put this in your diary
- Add three to five new photos of recent work.
- Post one or two updates.
- Reply to every new review.
- Check your phone number, website, hours and categories haven't changed.
- Note your calls, clicks and direction requests for the month.
Step four matters more than it sounds. Anyone can suggest an edit to your profile, and Google sometimes accepts those changes. A quick monthly check catches a wrong phone number before it costs you a week of calls.
