Google Business Profile: Setup and Optimization

Why This Is Your Most Important Online Account

Before someone follows you on Instagram or finds your Facebook page, they search Google. "Plumber near me." "HVAC repair Wilmington." "Best electrician in Jacksonville." If your business does not show up in those results, you are invisible to the people who are ready to spend money right now.

Google Business Profile is the single most direct lead funnel available to a local business, and it is free. When someone searches for your type of service, your profile can appear in the Map Pack -- the top three local results that show up with a map, reviews, phone number, and a link to your website. That is prime real estate. The businesses in the Map Pack get the vast majority of clicks and calls.

This is not a social media profile you hope people stumble across. This is a listing that intercepts people at the exact moment they are looking for what you sell. Setting it up correctly is not optional.

Claiming and Verifying Your Profile

If you have not claimed your profile yet, go to business.google.com and search for your business name. If it already exists (Google often creates listings automatically from public data), claim it. If it does not exist, create it.

Google will ask you to verify that you actually own the business. Verification methods include:

• Postcard by mail: Google sends a postcard with a PIN to your business address. Takes 5-14 days.
• Phone verification: Google calls or texts you with a code. Available for some businesses.
• Email verification: Google sends a code to your business email. Less common.
• Video verification: You record a short video showing your business location and signage.

Do not skip verification. An unverified profile has limited visibility and you cannot respond to reviews or make certain edits.

Filling Out Every Field

Google rewards complete profiles with better placement in search results. Every empty field is a missed opportunity for visibility and a leak in your lead funnel. Here is what to fill out and why it matters:

Business name: Use your exact legal business name as it appears on your signage and marketing. Do not stuff keywords into your business name ("Smith Plumbing - Best Emergency Plumber in Wilmington"). Google penalizes this and can suspend your listing.

Category: Your primary category is the single most important ranking factor. Choose the most specific option that describes your core service. "Plumber" is better than "Home Services." You can add secondary categories for additional services.

Address and service area: If customers come to your location, enter your address. If you go to customers, set a service area instead (you can list specific cities, counties, or a radius). You can do both if applicable.

Phone number: Use a local phone number, not a toll-free number. Local numbers perform better for local search. Make sure someone answers this phone -- a missed call is a missed lead.

Website: Link to your homepage or a dedicated landing page. If your website is outdated or broken, fix that before you worry about anything else on this list.

Hours: Keep these accurate and update them for holidays. Businesses with current hours rank better and convert better. If someone sees you are open, they call. If your hours are wrong, they find someone else.

Business description: You get 750 characters. Use them. Describe what you do, who you serve, what area you cover, and what makes you different. Write for the customer, not for Google. Include your primary service and location naturally.

Photos Make or Break Your Listing

Businesses with photos get significantly more requests for directions and more clicks to their website than those without. These are not vanity metrics -- they are funnel metrics. More clicks means more leads.

Upload at minimum:

• Logo: Your official business logo
• Cover photo: The image that appears first when people view your listing. Make it count -- a completed project, your team, your storefront.
• Interior and exterior photos: If customers visit your location
• Work photos: Before-and-after shots, projects in progress, finished results
• Team photos: Faces build trust

Add new photos regularly. Businesses that upload photos weekly see higher engagement than those with static galleries. Make it a habit -- snap a photo at every job site.

Reviews Are Your Lead Conversion Engine

Reviews are the most powerful element on your profile. They influence both your ranking in search results and whether someone actually calls you after finding your listing.

How to get more reviews:

1. Ask every satisfied customer. Make it a standard part of your process, not an afterthought.
2. Send a direct review link. In your Google Business Profile dashboard, you can generate a short link that takes customers straight to the review form. Text it or email it immediately after the job.
3. Respond to every review -- positive and negative. Thank people who leave good reviews. For negative reviews, respond professionally, acknowledge the concern, and offer to make it right. Potential customers read your responses as much as the reviews themselves.

What not to do:

• Do not offer incentives for reviews. Google prohibits this and will remove them.
• Do not create fake reviews. Google's detection is good and getting better.
• Do not ignore negative reviews. Silence looks like you do not care.

Aim for 50 or more reviews as a baseline. In competitive markets, the businesses in the Map Pack typically have 100+.

Google Posts -- Free Content in Search Results

Google Posts let you publish short updates directly to your listing. They appear when people view your profile and can include photos, text, calls-to-action, and links. Think of them as mini social media posts that show up in Google search instead of in a feed.

Types of posts to publish:

• Updates: Company news, seasonal tips, community involvement
• Offers: Promotions, discounts, limited-time deals with a clear call-to-action
• Events: Open houses, community events, workshops

Post weekly. Each post stays visible for about seven days. A fresh post signals to Google that your business is active, which can help your ranking. More importantly, a post with a strong call-to-action ("Call now for 10% off seasonal maintenance") can convert a searcher into a lead on the spot.

Q&A Section -- Control the Conversation

Your Google listing has a Q&A section where anyone can ask questions -- and anyone can answer them, including random people on the internet. If you are not monitoring this, strangers may be answering questions about your business incorrectly.

Take control:

1. Monitor your Q&A section weekly
2. Answer questions quickly and accurately
3. Seed it with your own frequently asked questions and answers. You can ask and answer your own questions. Add the questions customers ask you most -- pricing ranges, service areas, hours, emergency availability.

This section functions as a mini FAQ that appears right on your listing. Use it to address objections and move people from browsing to calling.

Tracking Performance

Google Business Profile includes built-in analytics called Insights. Check these monthly:

• Search queries: What terms are people using to find you? This tells you what to emphasize in your content and on your website.
• How customers find you: Direct searches (they searched your name) vs. discovery searches (they searched a category or service). Discovery is where the growth is.
• Customer actions: Phone calls, website visits, direction requests. These are your lead metrics. If calls are flat but views are up, something on your profile is not converting.
• Photo views: How often people view your photos compared to similar businesses.

These numbers tell you where your funnel is working and where it is not. If discovery searches are low, you need better categories and keywords. If views are high but calls are low, your profile is not convincing enough -- update your photos, get more reviews, and add Google Posts.

Monthly Maintenance Checklist

A Google Business Profile is not a set-it-and-forget-it asset. Treat it like a storefront. Keep it clean, current, and working for you.

• Update hours for any upcoming holidays or schedule changes
• Upload 2-3 new photos from recent work
• Publish at least one Google Post
• Check and respond to any new reviews
• Review and answer any new Q&A entries
• Check Insights for trends in search queries and customer actions
• Verify all contact information is still accurate

Fifteen minutes a week. That is what it takes to maintain the most effective free lead generation tool available to your business.

Google Business Profile Attributes and Services: Advanced Optimization

Beyond the basics, Google Business Profile offers advanced fields that many businesses overlook. Each one adds relevance signals that help Google match you with more searches.

Business Attributes:

• Veteran-owned, Women-owned, Black-owned, LGBTQ+-friendly -- select all that apply. These show up as badges on your listing and match you with filtered searches.
• Health and safety attributes (mask required, appointment required, etc.) -- keep these current.
• Payment methods accepted -- list all of them. Customers filter by payment type more often than you think.
• Accessibility features -- important for compliance and for reaching customers with accessibility needs.

Service Catalog: List every service you offer with a description and price range. Google uses this data to match your listing with specific service searches. A plumber who lists "water heater installation - $800-$2,500" will appear for "water heater installation cost" searches that a plumber with no service catalog will miss entirely.

Products Section: Even service businesses can use the Products section. List your service packages, maintenance plans, or seasonal offerings with photos, descriptions, and prices. This gives searchers immediate pricing context and makes your listing more informative than competitors.

Understanding Google Business Profile Insights

GBP provides free analytics that tell you exactly how your listing is performing. Here is what each metric means and what to do about it:

Metric	What It Tells You	Action If Low
Direct searches	People searched your exact business name	Build brand awareness through other channels
Discovery searches	People searched a category or service and found you	Optimize categories, add services, get more reviews
Phone calls	Calls made directly from your listing	If views are high but calls are low, your listing is not converting
Website clicks	Clicks to your website from the listing	Make sure your website link is correct and your site is fast
Direction requests	People asked for driving directions to your business	More relevant for storefronts than service-area businesses
Photo views	How often your photos are viewed vs. competitors	Upload more and fresher photos to increase engagement

The most important trend to watch: Discovery search growth. This tells you whether your optimization efforts are working. If discovery searches are increasing month over month, Google is showing your listing to more people who did not know about you before.

Handling Google Business Profile Spam From Competitors

In competitive markets, some businesses use unethical tactics to manipulate GBP rankings. Common spam tactics and how to report them:

Fake business listings: Competitors create fake business listings at addresses where no business exists to flood the Map Pack. Report these through Google's Business Redressal Complaint Form.

Keyword-stuffed business names: A competitor named "Joe's Plumbing" changes their GBP name to "Joe's Plumbing - Best Emergency Plumber Dallas TX 24/7." Report this through the "Suggest an edit" feature on their listing.

Review manipulation: Competitors buying positive reviews for themselves or negative reviews for you. Report suspicious reviews through Google's review flagging tool.

Listing hijacking: Someone edits your listing through "Suggest an edit" to change your phone number, hours, or address. Monitor your listing weekly and turn on notifications for suggested edits.

The best defense against spam is a strong, legitimate profile. Businesses with hundreds of real reviews, active posting, and complete profiles are harder for spammers to outrank.