What a Google Business Profile actually needs

If you only do one thing for your search visibility this year, do this one. A Google Business Profile is free, it is the thing that puts you in the map results, and it moves faster than anything else you can work on. Website changes take three to six months to show up. Profile work often shows in four to six weeks.

Most local businesses claim theirs, fill in about a third of it, and never touch it again. Here is the whole list.

The name field, and the mistake nearly everyone makes

Your business name goes in the name field. Just the name. Not "Smith Plumbing - Emergency Plumber Cincinnati". Google's guidelines only allow your real business name and keyword stuffing that field is one of the fastest ways to get your profile suspended, so it is worth checking yours right now.

It is also the most common thing I find wrong when I look at a competitor's profile, and it is reportable, which means one annoyed rival can cost you your listing.

Categories

Your primary category does most of the ranking work, so pick the one that describes what you actually are rather than the one that sounds biggest. Then add secondary categories for the other things you do. A roofer who also does gutters and siding should have all three, and the primary should be roofing.

Service area, or a real address

If customers come to you, put your address in. If you go to them, set yourself up as a service area business instead, which collects your address for verification but never shows it publicly. That matters a lot if you run the business out of your house.

List the towns you actually serve, and keep that list the same as the one on your website. Consistency between the two is a ranking signal and it costs nothing.

The parts everyone skips

Services with prices. Most profiles have an empty services section. Filling it in with real prices is unusual enough that it makes you stand out, and it pre-qualifies the people who call you.

Hours, including holiday hours. Google will nag you about these and it is right to. Showing up as open when you are closed is worse than showing up as closed.

Photos. Even a handful of real ones beats an empty profile or a stock image. Photos of finished work do the most.

The description. 750 characters. Write it like you talk, mention what you do and where, and do not stuff it with keywords.

Reviews, which are the actual lever

Reviews move map rankings more than almost anything else, and the businesses that get them are the ones that ask. Not once in a while, every single time, right when the customer is happiest. That is usually the moment you finish the job, not three weeks later in an email.

Respond to all of them too, including the bad ones, and especially the bad ones. A calm reply to an angry review does more for the person reading it later than the review itself does against you.

Post every week

Google Business Profile posts are the most underused free thing in local search. A photo of a job you finished, a note about a seasonal service, an answer to a question you keep getting. It takes about five minutes and it tells Google the profile is alive.

Watch for edits you did not make

Google lets members of the public suggest changes to your listing, and it sometimes applies them without asking you. Hours, categories, even your phone number. Check the profile monthly or you will find out the hard way.

If that sounds like more than you want to think about, managing exactly this is $249 a month and it is the cheapest thing I offer. Either way, go and look at your profile today, because most of the list above takes an afternoon and it is free!