For most local service businesses, the Google Business Profile is the most valuable free listing they have. It is what appears in Google Maps, and in the map results when someone searches for a plumber, an accountant or a nursery near them. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and a complete, accurate profile helps with the two you can influence.
What Google says it looks at
Google’s help page puts it simply: “Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity” (Google Business Profile Help).
Relevance is how well your profile matches what someone searched for, which is why complete, detailed information matters. Distance is how far you are from the person searching, or from the place they searched for, and you cannot change it. Popularity, which the same page also calls prominence, is how well known the business is; Google mentions links from other websites, and your reviews and ratings.
The same page says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Setting it up properly
Work through these once, carefully:
- Verify the profile. Google says verified businesses are more likely to appear in results.
- Use your real business name. Google’s guidelines say “Including unnecessary information in your business name isn’t permitted” (Guidelines for representing your business). Adding keywords or areas to the name can get a profile suspended.
- Choose the right primary category. Pick the one that describes your main service, then add a few accurate secondary categories.
- Get the address or service area right. If customers come to you, show your address. If you go to them, the guidelines say a service area business should hide its address and list the areas it covers.
- Add your hours, including bank holidays.
- List your services in the words customers use.
- Write a short description of what you do, who for and where.
- Add photos of your work, your team and your premises.
- Link to the right page on your website, ideally one about your local service.
Looking after it
Profiles that are looked after tend to do better than ones set up and left. The habit that makes the biggest difference is asking for reviews as a normal part of finishing a job, with a direct link, and replying to every one. Google’s tips page recommends responding to reviews, and people deciding whether to call you read the replies as closely as the reviews.
Beyond that, post an update when you finish a notable project or change what you offer, and check the details whenever your hours or address change. Keep the name, address and services consistent with your website, Companies House and any directories. That consistency also helps AI search tools describe you accurately.
Where enquiries quietly go missing
The problems I come across most often are dull ones. A name stuffed with keywords that risks suspension. A second profile left over from an old address. Hours that are wrong every bank holiday. Negative reviews with no reply. A website link that lands on a page that never mentions the area.
None of these takes long to fix, and most can be sorted in an afternoon.
