When someone nearby searches for what you do, Google usually answers with a map and three businesses before any website appears. That box is fed by Google Business Profiles, not by web pages. In our scans of local markets, the businesses winning the map pack are rarely the ones with the prettiest sites — they’re the ones with the most complete, most active, most reviewed profiles.
Claim it and verify it
Search your business name plus your city. If a profile card appears with an “Own this business?” link, claim it. If nothing appears, create one at business.google.com. Verification (postcard, phone, or video) is tedious and worth it — an unverified profile is a ghost.
Get the category exactly right
The primary category is the strongest single field on the profile. “Roofing contractor” and “General contractor” live in different result sets. Pick the most specific primary category that truly describes you, then add secondary categories for real sidelines. We regularly see businesses invisible for their main service because their category says something adjacent.
Fill every field like it’s being graded — it is
- Services: list each one individually with a sentence of description. These map to searches.
- Hours: keep them true, including holidays. “Hours unconfirmed” erodes trust with Google and customers alike.
- Phone and website: the website link is also how measurement tools (ours included) confirm the profile is really yours.
- Service area: for businesses that travel to customers, define it honestly — it affects which towns you can appear in.
- Description: plain language about what you do and where. No keyword stuffing; Google suspends profiles for it.
Photos are a ranking signal wearing a disguise
Profiles with regular, real photos get measurably more calls and direction requests, and engagement feeds ranking. Ten genuine job photos beat one logo. Add a few every month — before/after shots, the crew, the storefront. Customers click the business that looks alive.
Reviews: volume, recency, and replies
The review count customers compare, the recency Google weighs, and the replies both notice. Build one habit: ask every happy customer at the moment the job closes, with the direct review link (Profile → “Ask for reviews”). Reply to every review, especially the bad ones — a calm, specific reply to a one-star review is marketing gold sitting where every future customer reads it.
What’s decoration
Posts and Q&A help engagement modestly but won’t rescue a thin profile; products/menus matter mainly where customers expect them. Do the sections above first — completely — before polishing these.
How to know it’s working
The profile dashboard shows searches, views, and calls. For the competitive picture — whether you actually appear in the map results for the searches that matter, and how your review standing compares with the rivals winning them — that’s what our scan measures directly, query by query, with your market’s real numbers.