The Google Business Profile checklist

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees when they search for your trade, before your website and before they call. This checklist covers the full setup and the small monthly habits that keep a profile accurate and active. Work through it once from top to bottom, then use the last section every month. Google changes its tools often, so if a setting looks different in your profile editor, look for the closest match.

Claim and verify

• Search Google Maps for your business name and phone number to see whether a profile already exists before you create a new one
• Claim the existing profile, or create one at business.google.com if you can't find one
• Complete verification using whichever method Google offers you, and have proof of your business ready, such as your vehicle, tools and paperwork for a video check
• Add at least one other trusted person as an owner or manager so you are never locked out of your own profile
• Remove access for former employees and agencies you no longer work with

Business details

• Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your signs, trucks and paperwork, with no added keywords or city names
• Choose the primary category that best matches your main business, such as Plumber, Electrician, HVAC contractor or House cleaning service
• Add additional categories only for work you do regularly and want to be found for
• Hide your address if customers don't come to your location, and never list a virtual office or P.O. box
• Set your service area to the towns or areas you actually serve and can reach
• Use a local phone number that someone answers during your listed hours
• Link your website with a tracking tag added to the address, such as ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=profile, so profile visits show up separately in your analytics
• Add your online booking page as your appointment link if you take bookings online

Hours

• Enter your regular hours for every day of the week, including the days you're closed
• Set 24-hour hours only if someone genuinely answers and can respond around the clock
• Add special hours for every public holiday before the holiday arrives
• Update your hours the same day if you close unexpectedly for weather, illness or a company event

Services and description

• List every service you offer in the services section, using the words customers search for, such as "drain cleaning" rather than "drainage solutions"
• Add a short, plain description to each service saying what's included
• Write a business description that says what you do, where you work and what makes you different, in plain language
• Mention licenses, insurance, years in business and guarantees in the description only if they are true and current
• Keep sales offers and web links out of the description and put offers in profile updates instead
• Add every attribute offered for your category that honestly applies to your business

Photos and video

• Upload your logo and a cover photo that shows your team, vehicles or finished work
• Add at least 10 real photos to start: your team at work, your vehicles, finished jobs and clean work areas
• Add new job photos every week or two instead of uploading a big batch once a year
• Take photos in good light and close enough to see the quality of the work
• Get permission before showing a customer, their house number or their belongings
• Add a short video, such as a walk-through of a finished job or a tour of a stocked truck
• Check photos uploaded by the public and report any that break Google's policies or aren't of your business

Reviews

• Copy your direct review link from your profile and save it in your phone and your job software
• Ask every customer for a review in person when the job is done and they've seen the result
• Send the review link by text the same day, with a short thank-you message
• Reply to every review, positive or negative, within a day or two
• Reply to negative reviews calmly, without private job details, and give a direct way to reach you
• Never offer discounts, gifts or prize entries in exchange for reviews
• Never ask only the customers you expect to be happy, or steer unhappy customers somewhere else
• Flag reviews that break Google's policies, such as spam or reviews from people who were never customers

Updates

• Post an update every week or two with a recent job photo and a sentence about the work
• Post seasonal advice ahead of your busy season, such as AC checks in spring or frozen pipe tips before winter
• Post real offers with clear terms, eligible services and an end date
• Announce real changes, such as a new service, a newly covered town or a new certification

Tracking

• Check your profile's performance view once a month for calls, website clicks and direction requests
• Look at the searches that showed your profile and note whether they match the services you want more of
• Compare profile visits in your website analytics using the tracking tag on your website link
• Ask every new customer how they found you and record the answer in your job software

Every month

• Search for your business on Google and Google Maps from a phone and check that every detail is right
• Review suggested edits from the public and correct anything that is wrong
• Check that your name, address and phone number match your website and major directories exactly
• Update or remove any old phone numbers or addresses you find on other sites
• Look at the top three businesses in the map results for your trade and note their categories, review counts and photos
• Confirm that everyone with access to your profile still needs it

Want to see how your profile stacks up? The free Zome AI report checks your rating, hours, photos and website link, compares your review count with nearby competitors and shows who ranks above you, in about a minute.