Google Business Profile Checklist for Contractors

For a lot of contractors, the Google Business Profile brings in more calls than the website does. It's what shows up on the map when someone searches "plumber near me." Most profiles are half filled out, have a few blurry photos, and haven't been touched in a year. Here's a checklist to fix that, based on Google's own guidelines.

1. Set up as a service-area business

Most contractors go to the customer. Google calls that a service-area business, and it has its own rules.

• Hide your address if customers don't come to you. Google's guidelines say: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." Google's own example is a plumber running the business from a home address, who should clear the address from the profile.
• Only show an address if it's a real customer-facing location. A hybrid business, like a shop with a showroom, should have a location staffed by your team and able to receive customers during its stated hours.
• Don't use a virtual office or P.O. box. Google says virtual offices aren't eligible, and P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes aren't acceptable addresses.
• One profile per business. Google says businesses without a storefront are allowed one service-area Business Profile. Don't create extra profiles for each town you serve.
• Add your service areas. Per Google's service area help page, go to your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Location, and select Edit next to "Service area." You can add up to 20 areas by city, postal code, or other region.
• Keep the area realistic. Google's guidelines say the overall service area shouldn't extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where you're based, though larger areas may be appropriate for some businesses.

2. Get your business name right

This is where most suspensions start. Your name on Google should match your real-world name, the one on your truck, your invoices, and your sign.

• Use your real business name only. Google's guidelines don't allow marketing taglines, service or product descriptions, location details, phone numbers, URLs, business hours, or fully capitalized words in the name.
• Don't add keywords. "Smith Plumbing" is fine. "Smith Plumbing - Best Emergency Plumber Dallas 24/7" is not. Google says unnecessary information in the name "could result in the suspension of your Business Profile."
• Only use LLC or Inc if you can back it up. Google says legal terms and special characters require real-world proof such as signage or invoices.
• No trademark symbols. Google lists the ® and ™ signs as not allowed.

If a competitor's profile is stuffed with keywords and ranks well, that's not a reason to copy it. It's a rule they're breaking, and their profile is at risk.

3. Pick the right categories

• Choose the primary category that best describes what you are. Plumber. HVAC contractor. Roofing contractor. Electrician.
• Add only the categories you need. Google says to "choose the fewest number of categories it takes to describe your overall core business."
• Categories describe what you are, not what you have. Google says to pick categories for what the business "IS," not what it "HAS," and not to use categories "solely as keywords or to describe attributes of your business."

4. Add your services

Categories are the broad label. Services are the specific jobs you do, and this is where you can describe your work in detail.

• Add services from Google's suggestions. Per Google's services help page, the editor offers suggested services based on your business type.
• Add custom services for anything missing. Water heater replacement, drain cleaning, panel upgrades, roof inspections. Whatever you actually sell.
• Add descriptions and prices where it makes sense. Google lets you add both. Plain descriptions in your customers' words work best.
• Only list work you really do. If you don't do commercial, don't list it.

5. Set accurate hours

• List your regular customer-facing hours. That's Google's guideline.
• Only list 24/7 if you really answer at 3 a.m. If a customer calls at night and gets voicemail, you've lost the job and maybe earned a bad review.
• Update holiday hours. A profile that says "open" on a holiday when nobody answers is a fast way to annoy people.
• Seasonal business? Mark it temporarily closed in the off-season. Google's guidelines say seasonal businesses should do this.

6. Add real photos

Homeowners want to see real trucks, real crews, and real work. Stock photos don't help.

• Meet Google's file requirements. Per Google's photo tips: JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, recommended 720 by 720 pixels, minimum 250 by 250.
• Keep them real. Google says photos should be in focus, well lit, and without significant alterations, heavy filters, or AI use. The image should represent reality.
• Add photos of your team at work. Google suggests at least three showing your team providing different services.
• Add team photos. Google suggests at least three, including less formal shots.
• Add job photos. Before and after shots of finished work. A new panel, a clean install, a finished roof.
• Add photos regularly. A phone and 30 seconds at the end of a good job is enough.

Note that photos only show publicly once the profile is verified.

7. Post updates

• Know the three post types. Per Google's posts help page: Updates, Offers, and Events.
• Create a post. Go to your Business Profile, select Posts, then Add post, and choose the type. You can schedule posts or set them to repeat.
• Post on a regular schedule. Google archives posts older than 6 months unless you set a date range.
• Leave phone numbers out of the post text. Google says posts with a phone number in the description may be rejected if it can't verify the number belongs to the business. Use a call button instead.
• Post useful stuff. Seasonal reminders (furnace tune-ups before winter, AC checks before summer), recent jobs, and real offers work better than filler.

8. Check Q&A and messaging status

These two features have changed, so verify what you see in your own profile.

• Messaging: don't rely on Google chat. Google ended Business Profile chat on July 31, 2024. Calls from your profile still come through. Google says eligible accounts can have customers contact them through text or WhatsApp. Check your profile to see what's offered to you.
• Q&A: check your profile. Google discontinued the Q&A API on November 3, 2025, and said it was reworking the Q&A experience. What owners see on the profile itself may vary, so look at your own listing. If Q&A is there, answer real customer questions with short, accurate answers.

9. Reviews

Reviews are their own topic, but the profile checklist isn't done without them.

• Get your review link. On a computer, go to your profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers the full steps and the rules.
• Reply to reviews. Per Google's help page, you need a verified profile to reply, and the reviewer is notified when you do. See our reply examples.
• Ask every customer. Google's content policy prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews.

10. Connect it to your website

• Link your website. Point the website field to your real site, not a Facebook page if you can help it.
• Match your name, phone, and service areas. Keep what's on your site consistent with your profile.
• Have a page for each main service. If your profile lists drain cleaning and water heaters, your site should cover both. A contractor website built around your services and towns backs up what your profile says.

What gets profiles suspended

Google's guidelines list the rules. The business name rule is the one Google ties directly to suspension, but every item below breaks the guidelines and puts your profile at risk:

Keep it current

A profile isn't a one-time setup. New photos, regular posts, and quick replies to reviews keep it fresh. Check your hours before every holiday and your services whenever you add a new line of work.

How Snag helps

Snag handles the ongoing work for home service contractors: review requests after every job, 12 social posts a month, and a local SEO website that matches your profile. It's built for trades like HVAC and roofers. See pricing for what's included.