Google Business Profile optimization

Your profile has to be verified to show up properly, and you should own it, not a former employee or an old agency. Google may verify by phone, email, postcard or a short video.

Your legal name or official DBA, with no extra keywords. The same phone and address on your profile, your website and every directory that lists you.

The primary category is one of the strongest signals in the whole profile. Pick the one that matches your main service, then add the secondary categories that apply. Google allows up to nine more.

What you do and where you do it, in the first 250 characters, because that's what people read. Factual, with no links or promotional claims, which Google doesn't allow in this field.

Regular hours kept up to date and special hours for holidays. If you work at the customer's location, like most contractors, you can hide your address and list a service area instead.

Your logo, a cover photo, your team, your vehicles and finished jobs. New photos every few months keep the profile active and give people a reason to trust you before they call.

Each service listed with a clear name and a short description, a post every week or two, and your website linked with tracking so you can see which calls came from the profile. A good contractor website makes the link worth clicking.