How to set up your Google Business Profile properly

The short answer

Claim it, verify it, set the correct primary category, list every service, add ten or more real photos, then post weekly and ask for reviews after every job. Most businesses do the first two and stop, which is why they sit below competitors with worse businesses.

Why it matters more than your website

When someone searches for a local service, the map pack sits above the normal results. That pack is drawn almost entirely from Google Business Profiles. If yours is thin, you are invisible in the bit of the page people actually look at first, no matter how good your website is.

Step 1: claim and verify it

Search your business name. If a profile already exists, claim it. If not, create one. Verification is usually by video these days, where Google asks you to film your workspace, some branded material and proof you run the business. Have a business document handy and it is straightforward.

Step 2: get the primary category right

This is the field that matters most and it is the one people get wrong. Your primary category tells Google what searches you are eligible for. Be specific. If you are an electrician, do not pick "contractor". Add secondary categories for the other things you genuinely do, but the primary one should be your main money service.

Step 3: fill in every single field

Services, service areas, hours, attributes, a proper description, the lot. Google rewards complete profiles because a complete profile is a more useful result. Empty fields are just lost ground.

If you are a mobile or home-based business, set yourself up as a service area business and hide the address rather than publishing your house.

Step 4: photos, and real ones

Aim for at least ten. Real jobs, real team, real premises. Stock photography is obvious and it undermines you. Photos are also one of the things people actually judge you on before they call.

Step 5: post weekly

This is the one almost nobody does, which is exactly why it is worth doing. A post takes two minutes. A finished job, an offer, a note about availability. It is a live signal that the business is active and it costs nothing.

Step 6: reviews, properly

Ask after every job, while they are still pleased. Send the direct review link rather than telling them to find you. Reply to every review, good or bad, because that is visible to everyone reading later. A calm, straight reply to a bad review often reads better than the review itself.

The mistake that gets profiles suspended

Do not stuff keywords into your business name. "Dave's Plumbing Brisbane Emergency 24/7" is not your business name and Google will eventually act on it. Use the real trading name. The categories and services are where the keywords belong.