A Google Business Profile for contractors, tradies and builders is the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Maps. Fill it in with your real business name, a service area instead of a street address if you work at people’s homes, and the fewest, most specific categories. Break Google’s rules and the profile can be changed or removed. Everything below about the platform comes from Google’s own help pages.
What a Google Business Profile does for a contractor
When a homeowner searches for a fencer, electrician or builder near them, the listings with a phone number, reviews and photos often appear before the website links. For a trade business without a shop, the profile may be the first thing a homeowner sees.
Google’s guidelines say businesses that travel to customers can have a profile, and that you should keep one profile per business (Google Business Profile guidelines). A profile is not a website. It will not replace one. We compare the two in a website or a marketplace listing for tradies, and a good website is still where you send people for detail.
Name, categories and service area
Name. Google says to use your real-world name, as it appears on your signage, website and stationery. Do not add taglines, phone numbers, URLs, service descriptions or location details. Adding unnecessary information to the name could result in suspension. So “[Surname] Carpentry” is fine and “[Surname] Carpentry Best Decks Sydney Call Now” is not.
Categories. Use as few as possible, and make each as specific as possible. Choose what the business is. If you build decks, choose the most specific category that fits. Do not stack categories as keywords.
Service area. If you do not serve customers at your address, Google says to remove the address and enter a service area only. Its separate help page says you can add up to 20 service areas, based on cities, postal codes or other named areas, and you cannot define the area as a radius around your business. It also says the area should not extend more than about two hours of driving time from your base (Google, add or edit service areas). Edits can take up to 48 hours to appear.
Phone and website. Google asks for a phone number or website that connects to your individual location. The business must control the number, and the number should not redirect to another business or a landing page. Use a number you answer. If you miss calls, see the last section.
Photos, services and posts
Google has a separate content policy for photos, videos and posts. We have not summarised it here, so read it before you upload anything unusual. What follows is our own advice. It is not a Google rule.
- Use photos of your own finished work and your own crew. Stock images tell a homeowner nothing.
- Show the kind of job you want more of. If you want bathroom renovations, do not fill the profile with fence repairs.
- Take photos in good light, from the street or the room, with the work in frame.
- Ask homeowners before you upload anything that shows their house or family.
For services, Google’s guidelines say service businesses must list the complete set of available services. List the jobs you do, in plain words. For the business description, Google says to describe your services honestly and not to focus on promotions or prices, and it does not allow links in the description.
Posts are optional. Post when you have something real to show, like a finished job. A profile with nothing posted is fine. A profile full of recycled offers is worse.
Reviews and replies
Reviews help homeowners decide who to call. Google’s review policy lets you encourage genuine reviews, but forbids several things (Google, prohibited and restricted content).
- You cannot offer payment, discounts or free goods or services in exchange for a review, for changing one, or for removing a negative one.
- You cannot discourage or block negative reviews, or ask only the customers you think are happy.
- You cannot set quotas for staff to collect reviews, or require reviews with specific content.
- Paid or fake reviews, and reviews posted from several accounts, are not allowed. Neither is posting on a competitor’s listing to undermine it.
So the safe routine is to ask every finished customer, the same way, and do not pay for or script the answer.
Google’s page on this does not cover how to reply to reviews. That part is our advice. Reply to every review, short and in your own words. Thank the happy ones. For a bad one, stay calm, say you will call, give a number and do not argue in public. A homeowner reading the reply is judging you, not the reviewer.
Rules that get a profile suspended
From Google’s guidelines, these are the ones trade businesses trip on.
- Keyword names. Stuffing the name with services or suburbs.
- Fake addresses. A P.O. box or remote mailbox is not an acceptable address, and a virtual office is not eligible.
- Multiple profiles. One per business. Duplicates can cause display problems.
- Landing page phone numbers. A number or URL that redirects to another business or landing page, including a social media page, is not acceptable.
- Fake or paid reviews. See above.
Google says violations can lead to changes to your information or removal of your business, and that it may suspend access. If your profile is hit, read the notice and fix the cause before you appeal. Do not open a second profile to get around it.
Your licence number
Separate from Google, licensing laws can require your licence details in advertising. These rules depend on your state, so check yours.
- NSW. The state government says the licensee’s name and licence number must be shown in all advertising, and that advertising residential building work over $5,000, or specialist work of any value (electrical wiring, plumbing, draining, gas fitting, and air conditioning and refrigeration), without a current contractor licence is prohibited. The page covers print, internet, television, radio and other advertising (NSW Government, building and trade advertisements).
- Queensland. The QBCC says licensed contractors must include their licence name, a statement that they are licensed under the QBCC Act and their licence number. It lists websites and social media pages among the media covered (QBCC, advertising).
Neither page says how it applies to a Google Business Profile in particular. Ask the regulator. Do not put the licence number in the business name field, because Google restricts what goes there. Put it on your website, quotes and vehicle signage, and ask the regulator whether your profile needs it too.
Linking it to your answering routine
A profile that generates calls is only useful if someone answers. Check these.
- The phone number is one you answer or return the same day.
- Missed calls get a text. See missed call text back for tradies.
- Calls from the profile get the same questions as any other enquiry, written down the same way.
The profile is also separate from Google’s paid local ads. How those charge is in Local Services Ads: how it charges. If you want more homeowners than the profile brings, running ads in your own account is the other option.
Common questions
Do I need a shop to have a Google Business Profile?
No. Google says businesses that travel to customers can have a profile. If you do not serve customers at your address, you remove it and set a service area.
Can I use keywords in my business name?
No, not unless they are part of your real-world name. Google says to avoid taglines and service descriptions, and extra information in the name could lead to suspension.
How many service areas can I add?
Up to 20, based on cities, postal codes or other named areas. Keep it within about two hours of driving from your base.
Can I offer a discount for a review?
No. Google does not allow payment, discounts or free goods or services in exchange for reviews.