For most local businesses, the Google Business Profile does more work than the website. It is what appears in the map pack, the three listings under the map when someone searches for a service nearby. This checklist covers what to get right, in order of importance.
The basics: get these right first
- Business name exactly as it appears on your signage. Adding keywords (“Smith Plumbing Emergency Plumber London”) breaks Google’s guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
- The right primary category. This is the single biggest setting. Pick the category that matches your main service, then add secondary categories for the rest.
- Address or service area, set honestly. If customers do not visit you, hide your address and list the areas you cover instead.
- Phone number and website that match your website exactly.
- Opening hours, including bank holidays. Profiles with wrong hours lose trust fast.
Fill in everything Google offers
- Services, each with a short plain-English description.
- Products, if you sell them, with prices where you can.
- Attributes such as wheelchair access or online appointments.
- A business description that says what you do, where and for whom, in the first sentence.
Photos
- Real photos of your premises, your team and your work. No stock images.
- Add new photos regularly. A profile with recent photos looks alive.
Reviews
- Ask every happy customer. The best time is just after a job goes well. A short link sent by text works better than an email.
- Reply to every review, good and bad, briefly and politely. Future customers read the replies.
- Never buy or swap reviews. Google removes them, and it can penalise the profile.
Keep it active
- Post updates when you have something real to share: a finished job, a seasonal offer, a new service.
- Answer questions in the Q&A section before someone else does.
- Check your profile monthly. Anyone can suggest edits, and Google sometimes accepts them without telling you.
Then check where you actually rank
Your ranking changes street by street. Searching from your own shop tells you very little. A geo-grid check, which searches from many points across your area, shows where you appear and where you vanish.
That check is part of every free Search MOT, along with the rest of this list.