Keep the business in control of its profile
Confirm that a business-controlled account has ownership access and that recovery details are current. Give an agency its own appropriate access rather than sharing the owner password. Record the profile URL, verified business name and the person responsible for updates.
Before creating a new profile, check whether one already represents the business. Resolve ownership and duplicate issues through the appropriate Google process rather than leaving multiple versions with conflicting phone numbers.
Represent the real location and service area
A contractor that visits customers and does not receive them at its address should hide that address on the profile. A business that also receives customers may be a hybrid business. Follow Google’s service-area guidance rather than using a virtual office or a borrowed address to suggest a branch exists.
Keep the website’s coverage description consistent with where the team can actually work. Adding a distant city to a profile does not guarantee rankings there. Google describes local ranking in terms of relevance, distance and prominence.
The short versionShow the operation customers will actually experience.
Match categories, services and contact details to the business
Choose the most accurate available primary category and add only relevant additional categories. List services you actually provide, with clear language such as air-conditioning repair or drain cleaning. Use the real-world business name, not a name expanded with extra search terms.
Check the phone number, website destination, regular hours and holiday hours. If someone answers the phone overnight but a technician is not available overnight, explain the difference on the website. Test the journey from profile to the relevant service and enquiry page.
Build a repeatable, honest review process
After completing a job, invite the customer to share an honest review using the profile’s review link. Google prohibits incentives for posting, changing or removing reviews. Keep requests neutral and respond professionally without exposing customer details.
Add original team and project photos with permission. A useful photo explains the business or the work; avoid exposing addresses, paperwork or people who did not agree to publication. Assign someone to check reviews and outdated photos regularly.
Record what changes and what enquiries follow
Keep a simple monthly log of profile changes, website clicks, calls and the qualified enquiries your team records. Profile interactions are not the same thing as completed jobs. A click on a call button does not establish that a conversation happened.
Use the downloadable worksheet below to assign each issue an owner, a due date and evidence of completion. Review the same period each month and note seasonal demand, holidays and advertising changes.
