Google Business Profile Optimization for Contractors: A Plain Checklist

Google Business Profile optimization for contractors comes down to a few settings and a few habits: a specific primary category, a service area instead of a home address, your real business name, real job photos, and reviews with replies. Google says it ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and that businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up, so the goal is a profile that's complete, honest and kept up.

Plenty of contractors set their profile up once and never touch it again. Here's the checklist, with a link to Google's own help page for every rule.

How does Google decide which contractors show up in the map results?

Google's help page on local ranking names three things:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searched.
• Distance: how far you are from the person searching.
• Prominence: how well known your business is, which includes how many reviews you have and how many websites link to you.

You can't change distance. You can change relevance with the right category and a complete profile, and you can build prominence with reviews and a real website.

What category should a contractor choose?

Your primary category tells Google what you are. Google says to pick a primary category that best describes your business and to choose a specific one rather than a general one. "Flooring contractor" beats "Contractor." "Electrician" beats "Service."

For extra categories, Google says the opposite of what a lot of people assume. Its profile guidelines say to "use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business," and to pick categories that complete the sentence "this business IS a," not "this business HAS a." Categories are not keywords. If you're a remodeler who also does kitchens and bathrooms, "Kitchen remodeler" and "Bathroom remodeler" can make sense. Adding ten loosely related categories doesn't.

What should my business name be on Google?

Your real name, exactly as it appears on your truck, your invoices and your website. Google's guidelines say that adding unnecessary information to your business name isn't permitted and could get your profile suspended.

So "Rivera Plumbing" is fine. "Rivera Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber 24/7" is asking for trouble, even if a competitor gets away with it for a while.

How do I set up a Google Business Profile if I work from home?

This is where a lot of contractors go wrong. If customers don't come to your address, you're what Google calls a service-area business, and the rules are specific.

Hide your home address. Google's guidelines say: "If you're a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers." They even give this example: "if you're a plumber and run your business from your residential address, clear the address from your Business Profile."

Set your service areas instead. Google's service area help page says you can have up to 20 service areas, and the boundaries of your overall area "shouldn't be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based." To set them, open your Business Profile, choose Edit profile, then Location, then edit the service area.

List the towns you actually work in, not just your home base.

Be ready to verify. If your business is eligible, Google recommends verifying with a video. Its verification page says to be ready to show your location (for example a street sign), your equipment or the tools you use to serve customers, and proof that you manage the business. For a contractor working from home, that can mean your truck, your tools and some non-sensitive business paperwork.

What photos should a contractor add?

Real ones. Finished jobs, before and after shots, your crew on site, your truck with your name on it. Google says photos let you show customers what you offer and tell the story of your business.

Skip stock photos. A slightly crooked phone photo of a real kitchen you finished is worth more than a smiling model in a hard hat. Add a few photos after every job so the profile never looks frozen in time.

Are Google Business Profile posts worth doing?

They're one of the easiest ways to show you're active. Google lets you publish three kinds of posts: updates, offers and events. Google also notes that posts older than six months are archived unless you set a date range.

For a contractor, the simplest post is a finished job: two photos and one sentence. "New oak floors in a 1960s ranch in [town], done in three days." Google doesn't say posts improve your ranking. Think of them as proof of life for the homeowner scrolling your profile.

How should I handle reviews on my profile?

Ask every customer, reply to every review, and never pay or trade for one. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and that replying to reviews shows you value customer feedback.

Two rules to know: Google prohibits offering incentives for reviews, and its policy also forbids selectively asking only happy customers. We go deeper on how many reviews you need and how to get them in how many Google reviews do I need.

The 20-minute checklist

None of this requires an agency. It requires about 20 focused minutes and then a habit.

1. Fix your primary category. Specific, matching your main service.
2. Trim extra categories to the few that describe what your business is.
3. Check your business name against what's on your truck and invoices.
4. Hide your home address and set your real service areas if customers don't come to you.
5. Update hours, including holiday hours, your phone number and your website link.
6. Upload real job photos, at least a handful today.
7. Write a plain business description: what you do, where, and for whom. No keyword stuffing.
8. Reply to every review you haven't answered yet.

Then keep it going: photos after jobs, a post when you finish something you're proud of, a reply to each new review within a few days.

Where does your website fit in?

Your profile puts people one tap from your phone and one click from your website. If that click lands on a slow site with no real photos, you lose them anyway. The profile gets you found. The website and how fast you answer decide what happens next.

Everything on the checklist above is something you can do yourself. Medalist's plan covers the website that click lands on, one of the places Google and AI assistants read about your business: $1,000 to set up, then $297 a month on a 12-month plan or $397 month to month, with one new article a week, hosting, the domain and up to 30 minutes of site changes a month. Google Business Profile management isn't part of that plan. It can be added for $497 to set up, then $897 a month: details are on medalisthq.com/websites.

FAQ

Can I use my home address on Google Business Profile? If customers don't come to your address, Google says to hide it and set a service area instead. Its own example is a plumber working from a residential address.

How many service areas can I add? Up to 20, according to Google, and the overall area shouldn't extend past about 2 hours of driving from where your business is based.

How many categories should a contractor pick? As few as possible. Google says to use as few categories as possible to describe your core business, starting with one specific primary category.

Can I put my city or services in my business name? Only if that's your real business name. Google says adding extra information to the name isn't permitted and can lead to suspension.

Do posts help my Google ranking? Google doesn't say they do. They help homeowners see you're active, which is reason enough to post finished jobs.

Want to see what we build and what it costs? It's all at medalisthq.com/websites. Or call Henrique at (407) 890-7557.