Getting into the map results: a Google Business Profile checklist
When someone nearby searches for what you do, the businesses in the map are usually the first ones they call. Here's how to set up your listing so you have a real chance of being one of them.
Your Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows your business on Google Maps and in the map results at the top of local searches. For many service businesses it brings in more calls than the website does. It's also the piece most often set up once and never touched again.
Google says local results are based on three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well-known your business is, including reviews and links). It also says plainly that there's no way to pay for a better local ranking.1 You can't change distance. The checklist below is about the other two.
1. Use your real business name
Your name on the profile should match the name on your signs, trucks and invoices. Google's guidelines don't allow extra keywords, city names or taglines in the name field.2 “Smith Plumbing” is fine. “Smith Plumbing – Best Emergency Plumber Calgary” breaks the rules, and profiles that do it risk being suspended.
2. Pick the right primary category, and as few as possible
Your primary category tells Google what you are, and it's one of the strongest relevance signals you control. Google's own test is to finish the sentence “This business is a…” rather than “has a…”, and it asks you to use as few categories as possible.2 Add secondary categories only for services that are a real, separate part of what you do.
3. If customers don't come to you, hide your address
Plumbers, electricians, cleaners, mobile groomers and other service-area businesses should hide their street address and list the areas they serve instead. Google asks that service areas stay within about two hours' driving of your base.2 A home address shown on a profile for a business that only works at customers' homes is a common reason listings get flagged.
4. Fill in everything, and keep it current
- Hours, including holiday hours. Google calls out special hours specifically.1
- A local phone number rather than a central call-centre line, where you can.2
- Your website, ideally linked to the page that matches your main service.
- Services and a short description written the way a customer would describe the job.
Google lists keeping this information complete and accurate as one of the main ways to improve local ranking.1
5. Add real photos, and keep adding them
Photos of your work, your team, your vehicles and your location show people what they're getting. Google recommends adding photos and videos to your profile.1 Use your own; stock photos don't help a customer decide.
6. Ask every customer for a review, the right way
More reviews and higher ratings help your local ranking, according to Google, and replying to reviews shows customers you value them.1 How you ask matters, though. Google's policies don't allow businesses to:3
- offer discounts, freebies or payment in exchange for a review;
- ask only happy customers, or discourage unhappy ones from posting (often called “review gating”);
- ask people to include specific content, such as naming a staff member.
What's allowed is simple: ask every customer, make it easy with a direct link, and reply to every review, good or bad.
7. Verify it, then check it regularly
A verified profile is more likely to show up in search.1 Once it's live, check it every so often. Anyone can suggest edits to a public listing, and changes to your hours or phone number can slip through unnoticed.
None of this guarantees a spot in the map results. Distance still matters, and so does competition. But a complete, accurate, well-reviewed profile gives Google every reason to show you.