Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears beside the map when someone searches for a trade near them. For most trades it is the single most valuable piece of free visibility available, and it is often the most neglected. We make it accurate, complete and active, within Google's rules, and then measure what it brings in.
What the service covers
The work has two phases: a careful setup, then steady upkeep. The setup does most of the heavy lifting; the upkeep keeps the profile from going stale.
Setup, in the first month:
- Name and categories. Your real business name, with no added keywords. A primary category that is as specific as possible ("Roofing contractor", "Electrician", "Landscaper") and only the secondary categories that describe what the business is. Google's guidelines ask for as few categories as possible, chosen for accuracy rather than as keywords.
- Address and service area. For businesses that travel to the customer, the address is hidden and the service area lists the towns you genuinely want work from.
- Services and products. Each job type you offer, with a short plain description. Products can be used to show packages such as "spring cleanup" or "panel upgrade consultation".
- Photos. Real crew, real vans, real finished work. No stock images.
- Hours, phone and links. Consistent with your website, with call tracking set up so calls from the profile can be counted.
- Duplicates and old listings. Old profiles from a former address or business name are merged or removed, because they split your reviews and confuse Google.
Upkeep, every month:
- New job photos and at least a couple of posts about recent work or seasonal services.
- Answers to customer questions and replies to every review, coordinated with the review earning system.
- Checks for suggested edits from the public, which can quietly change your hours or category if no one is watching.
Who it suits
Every trade that serves a local area benefits, but the payoff is fastest for trades whose customers search with urgency: plumbers, electricians, locksmiths, garage door technicians, roofers after a storm, and pest control. Project trades such as landscapers and renovators still need a strong profile, because customers check it before they ever open the website.
It is also the right first step for new businesses. A new profile with accurate categories and a handful of genuine reviews can start appearing for nearby searches well before a new website has earned any rankings.
Timeline and what to expect
- Weeks 1–3: audit, corrections, photos and service list. Profile views often rise first.
- Months 2–4: reviews and posts accumulate; you start appearing for more searches and in more of your nearby towns.
- Months 4–12: gains depend on competition and distance. In a dense city you may rank strongly within a few kilometres of your base and weakly beyond. That is normal, and it is why we pair the profile with service and town pages for farther areas.
How results are measured
We report on what matters to the business, not just on activity:
- Calls from the profile, counted through a tracking number.
- Website visits and direction requests from the profile.
- Search terms that triggered the profile, as Google reports them.
- Ranking checks for your main job types at several points across your service area, because the map results change from street to street.
- Review count and recency, compared with the businesses beside you.
Mistakes that cost trades the map
- Keyword-stuffed names. "Bob's Plumbing Vancouver Burnaby Emergency 24/7" invites a suspension.
- A service area drawn far too wide. Listing every town in the province does not make you rank in them.
- Virtual offices and borrowed addresses. Google treats these as misrepresentation, and suspensions are painful to reverse.
- A profile that goes silent. No new photos, posts or replies for a year tells customers, and possibly Google, that no one is home.
- Two profiles for one business. Usually left over from an old phone number or a move; it halves your reviews.
Want to see how your profile compares with your competitors? Read our guides, look at our pricing, or contact us by call, text or email.
Frequently asked questions
I run my business from home. Will my address show?
It should not. Google's guidelines say businesses that serve customers at the customer's location should hide their address, and they use a home-based plumber as the example. You list your service area instead.
Can I add my city to my business name to rank better?
No. Google asks that the profile name match your real-world business name, without location details or taglines. Stuffing a name can lead to suspension, which costs far more than it ever gains.
How far can my service area reach?
Google's guidelines say service areas generally should not extend beyond about two hours of driving from your base, though some businesses may justify more. In practice we set it to the towns you actually want calls from.
How quickly will I see a change?
Corrections to categories, photos and the service area often show up in profile views within a few weeks. Ranking movement in a busy city usually takes longer and depends heavily on reviews and distance.