The Google Business Profile Checklist For Contractors
For most contractors the Google Business Profile drives more calls than the website does — and most are half-finished. This is the checklist, in the order worth doing it.
If you only fix one thing about your online presence this month, fix this. Your Google Business Profile is what appears in the map pack, and for most contractors it generates more phone calls than the website ever does.
It's also free, entirely within your control, and usually about 60% complete.
Get the basics exactly right
Business name
Your actual business name. Nothing else. "Donovan Plumbing", not "Donovan Plumbing — Emergency Plumber Dearborn 24/7 Best Rates". Keyword stuffing the name is a policy violation, competitors report it, and suspensions are common.
Primary category
The single highest-impact field on the whole profile. Pick the one that most precisely describes your main business — "Plumber", "HVAC contractor", "Roofing contractor". Then add every genuinely relevant secondary category, but keep the primary tight.
Address or service area
If customers come to you, use the address. If you go to them — which is most contractors — set it up as a service-area business and hide the address. Then define the areas honestly: the towns and postcodes you actually work in, not a two-hundred-mile radius you'd never drive.
Never invent an address. Virtual offices and mailboxes are the fastest route to a permanent suspension.
Phone number
The number you actually answer, matching what's on your website and everywhere else. If you use call tracking, use the profile's dedicated tracking field rather than replacing your main number.
The fields most contractors skip
Services
List every service individually with a short description. Not "plumbing services" — water heater installation, drain cleaning, leak detection, repiping, each as its own entry. This directly feeds Google's relevance assessment for specific searches.
Business description
750 characters describing what you do, where, and what makes you the sensible choice. Write it for a human deciding whether to call. Include your main services and areas naturally.
Hours, including special hours
Accurate hours matter more than generous ones. If you offer 24/7 emergency cover, say so properly rather than listing yourself as open at 3am for everything. Set holiday hours in advance — Google surfaces them and inaccuracy generates bad reviews.
Attributes
Fill in every relevant one: licensed, insured, veteran-owned, emergency service, free estimates, online quotes. They appear in the listing and act as filters.
Photos
Real photos of real work, added regularly. Not stock imagery — customers can spot it and it does nothing for you.
- Your logo and a cover photo.
- Your vans and crew, so people recognise who's turning up.
- Ten or more job photos, ideally before-and-after.
- A few new ones every month, which signals an active business.
Photo-rich profiles reliably outperform sparse ones on engagement, and engagement feeds ranking.
Reviews
The heaviest lever on the whole profile. Ask after every job, reply to every review — good and bad — and keep the flow steady rather than lumpy. Full method in how to get more Google reviews as a contractor.
Replying matters more than most contractors think. Future customers read your replies to judge how you handle problems.
The ongoing work
- Posts. A short update every week or two — a completed job, a seasonal offer, a reminder. Low effort, and it signals activity.
- Q&A. You can ask and answer your own questions. Seed the five you get asked constantly, especially about pricing and call-out fees.
- Messaging. Turn it on only if it's connected to something you'll actually see. An unanswered message is worse than no messaging.
- Products or service menu. Useful for trades with defined packages — pest control plans, pool maintenance, cleaning schedules.
The traps
- Keywords in the business name — a violation, frequently reported.
- Fake or virtual addresses — suspension risk.
- Service areas covering half the state — dilutes relevance everywhere.
- Letting a lead-gen company "manage" your profile and lose you access to it. Own your profile.
- Setting it up once and never touching it again.
Where it fits
Your profile and your website work together: the profile gets you into the map pack, the website gives Google the relevance signals to justify it, and the review funnel drives the prominence that decides your position. Read how to rank in the map pack for the full picture, or see how we handle local SEO.