Set Up a Google Business Profile: A Step-by-Step Guide for Trades

If you want to set up a Google Business Profile, the good news is that it's free and you can do it yourself in an evening. The bad news is that plenty of trades set it up the way the screens nudge them to, which isn't always the way that suits a business that goes out to customers.

This is how I'd add a trade business to Google, step by step: hiding a home address, setting service areas, choosing the right category, adding services and photos, and avoiding the mistakes that come back to bite later.

What a Google Business Profile is (and isn't)

Your Google Business Profile is the free listing that shows up on Google Maps and in the map results when someone searches "plumber near me" or "roofer in Doncaster". It used to be called Google My Business, which is why plenty of people still search for "Google My Business setup". If you've been wondering how to get your business on Google Maps, this is it.

It isn't a website and it isn't an advert. You can't pay Google to move it up. Google says so itself: there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. It's a listing, and how well it does depends on how well it's set up and how you look compared with other trades nearby.

To qualify, a business has to deal with customers in person during its stated hours. Trades that go to people's houses qualify easily. Online-only businesses and lead generation companies don't.

Before you start: check you're not already on Google

Lots of trades already have a listing they never made. Sometimes a customer has added you to Maps, or a previous web person set one up and walked off with the login.

1. Open Google Maps and search your business name and town. Then search your phone number, and your old address if you've moved.
2. If a listing appears that nobody has claimed, you'll see an option to claim it. In the Maps app it's under About, then Claim this business, then Manage now.
3. If someone else has already verified it, Google lets you request ownership from the current owner rather than starting again.

Claim what exists rather than making a second one. Google wants one profile per business, and duplicates cause problems that are a pain to undo. Google's add or claim page covers the details, and it's worth a look if your situation is messy.

What to have ready before you add your business to Google

• A Google Account you'll keep. Ideally one tied to a business email you control. Not your nephew's, and not your web designer's.
• Your exact business name. As it appears on your van, invoices and signs. No extras.
• A phone number you answer. Google wants a number under the business's control, and verification codes often come by call or text.
• Your website address, if you have one. If you don't, you can still set up the profile.
• A list of the towns or postcode districts you cover. Realistic ones.
• A list of the jobs you do, in the words customers use. "Boiler repair", not "domestic heating solutions".
• A handful of real photos: finished jobs, your van, you.
• Your phone, charged. If Google asks for video verification, you film it on your phone through your profile.

How to set up a Google Business Profile, step by step

Google tweaks these screens regularly, so the wording may be a little different when you do it. The questions are the same.

1. Start at business.google.com/add

   On a computer, go to business.google.com/add, sign in with the account you'll keep, and choose to add your business to Google. Then follow the questions on screen.

2. Enter your business name, exactly

   Type the name customers see on your van and your paperwork. Google's guidelines say not to add service descriptions, locations, taglines or phone numbers to the name, and stuffing it is one of the classic ways to get a Google Business Profile suspended. "Dave Smith Plumbing" is right. "Dave Smith Plumbing Sheffield Emergency Plumber" is wrong, however many other profiles you see doing it.

3. Choose your main category

   Start typing your trade and pick from Google's list. You can't make up your own. Pick the one that describes the work you most want, for example "Roofing contractor" or "Electrician". You can add more categories later. My Google Business Profile checklist has the categories I'd look at for each trade.

4. Say whether customers visit you

   Google asks if you have a location customers can visit, like a shop or office. For most trades the honest answer is no. If you work from home or a yard nobody visits, don't put that address on show. Google's own example is a plumber working from home, who it says should clear the address from the profile.

   If you do have premises with signage that are staffed and open to customers, such as a showroom or a trade counter, you can show that address and add a service area as well.

5. Add your service areas

   List the towns, cities or postcode areas you cover. Google allows up to 20, and its service area help page says the overall area shouldn't stretch beyond about two hours' drive from where you're based. You can't set a radius any more, so name the places.

   Be honest. Listing towns you'd never drive to won't get you shown there, because distance still counts. More on that in my guide to service area pages for trades.

6. Add your phone number and website

   Use a number you control and answer. Google prefers a local number over a call centre line, and won't accept premium rate numbers. For the website, link to your own site. If you haven't got one, you can skip it, though the profile works much harder with a decent site behind it.

7. Verify the business

   Google picks how you verify: a phone call or text, an email, a video recording, a live video call or a postcard. You can't choose. Video is common for trades. My guide to Google Business Profile verification covers each method and what to film. Google says verification reviews take up to five working days.

Google business profile setup for a service-area trade: getting the basics right

The two settings that trip up most trades are the address and the service area, and they're linked.

If you're a service-area business, you go to customers and they don't come to you. Your profile shows the areas you cover instead of a pin on your house. That's the right setup for most roofers, plumbers, electricians, plasterers and the like.

If you're a hybrid business, customers can visit you and you also go out to them. A bathroom fitter with a showroom, or a locksmith with a shop, might fit here. You show the address and set a service area.

What you shouldn't do is show an address customers can't actually visit. A home address on display, a virtual office or a PO box all break Google's guidelines, and they're common reasons for suspensions. If you need to change any of this later, it's under Edit profile, then Location, on your profile. Google says approved service area changes can take up to 48 hours to show.

After you're verified: fill in the rest

Getting verified is the start, not the finish. A half-empty profile tells customers and Google very little. Here's what I'd fill in straight away. Google checks changes before they go live, so they won't always appear immediately.

Services

Choose Edit services on your profile (Google's services help page has the details). For many trades, Google suggests ready-made services. Its own example for a plumbing business includes things like "Install tap" and "Repair toilet". Tick the ones you do, then use Add custom service for anything missing.

Add a short description to each one, in normal language. A roofer might have "Slipped and broken tile repairs", "Flat roof replacement", "Chimney repointing" and "Gutter and fascia repairs". Google says custom services that break its policy are rejected automatically, and advises keeping prices and phone numbers out of service names.

Description

You get up to 750 characters. Google says not to include web addresses or HTML, and to focus on the business rather than promotions, prices or sales. Write it the way you'd describe yourself on the phone.

Say you're a roofer in Barnsley. Something like: "Roofing business based in Barnsley, covering Penistone, Wombwell and Hoyland. Most of the work is repairs on 1930s semis and terraces: slipped tiles, leaking valleys, flat roofs and chimneys. Fully insured, free quotes, and photos of the problem before and after every job." Plain, specific and true.

Hours

Set the hours you actually answer the phone. Add special hours for bank holidays and Christmas. Only say you're open 24 hours if you'd genuinely pick up at 3am. Nothing earns a bad review faster than "open now" when you're not.

Photos

According to Google's photo guidance, it accepts JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB, and recommends 720 by 720 pixels. It asks for photos that represent reality, so go easy on the filters. Add:

• your logo and a cover photo
• finished jobs, ideally before and after
• your van with the name on it
• you, or your team, at work

Real photos from your phone beat stock images every time. Google says new photos and videos can take 24 to 48 hours to appear.

The smaller bits

Your opening date (month and year is enough), links to your social profiles, a WhatsApp or text chat link if you use one, and attributes, which are tick boxes for things like online estimates. Tick only the ones that are true.

Set-up mistakes that cause trouble later

• Letting someone else own it. Your web person or marketing company should be a manager, not the owner. If they disappear, so does your access.
• Extra words in the name. Tempting, against the rules, and a common reason for suspension.
• Showing your home address. If customers don't visit, hide it.
• Forty towns in the service area. Pick the ones you really cover.
• Making a new profile when you move or change number. Edit the existing one instead, and expect to verify again after a move.
• Stock photos. They look like stock photos.
• Setting it up and never going back. Reviews, photos and replies are what keep a profile alive.

How long until you show up?

Verification can take up to five working days, sometimes longer. After that, your profile can appear when people search your business name fairly quickly.

Showing up for "electrician near me" is a different matter. Google says local results are based on relevance, distance and prominence, and you can only control some of that. In a quiet area a well set up profile can do well fairly quickly. In a busy town with established competitors, it takes longer. I won't promise anyone a position on the map, and you should be wary of anyone who does. My Google Business Profile checklist covers the settings that help with the parts you can control.

Start collecting reviews from the first job

Reviews are the part of your profile that keeps working for you. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and they're the first thing customers read.

Once you're verified, grab your Google review link and send it to every customer when a job's finished. My guide on how to get Google reviews has word-for-word scripts for asking in person and by text.

Quick answers to common set-up questions

Is a Google Business Profile free?

Yes. Google doesn't charge for the profile or for appearing on Maps. Google's adverts, such as Local Services Ads, are a separate, paid thing, and you don't need them to have a profile.

Can I set one up without a website?

Yes. You can leave the website box empty. It's still worth having a simple site, because it backs up what the profile says and gives customers somewhere to check you out. But a profile on its own is better than nothing.

Can I make a profile for each town I cover?

No. Google says a service-area business gets one profile for the whole area it serves. Separate profiles are only for genuinely separate locations with their own staff. Extra profiles for towns where you don't have a base count as duplicates, and they're a common route to a suspension.

Can I do it all on my phone?

Mostly. Google's help page describes adding a new business on a computer, but you can claim an existing listing and edit your profile in the Google Maps app, and video verification has to be done on a phone anyway. If the screens get confusing on a small screen, the computer is easier.

Will my home address be shown?

Not if you tell Google customers don't visit you and leave the address off the profile. You can check what the public sees by searching your business name in a private window.

Where this fits in the bigger picture

A properly set up profile is the foundation of local search for a trade. It works best with a website behind it that backs up what the profile says, which is covered in my local SEO guide for tradespeople.

If you've set yours up and want someone to check it over, along with your website and the competition in your area, that's what the free Search Opportunity Review on my local SEO for tradesmen page is for. I'll tell you what's worth fixing, and if it's already in good shape, I'll tell you that too.