Google Business Profile checklist for tradies

Why the map pack matters

Search "electrician near me" on a phone and the first thing you see is a map with three businesses under it, each with a star rating and a call button. That's the map pack; the website results start below it, and many people never scroll that far. Google says the three are chosen on relevance (does your profile match what was typed), distance and prominence (how well known you are: mostly reviews and a complete profile). A one-van business with a finished profile and sixty honest reviews sits next to the franchise. A half-filled one doesn't appear.

Claim it and get verified

Search your business name in Google Maps. If a profile already exists (Google creates them from directories), open it and choose Own this business? If an old marketing company owns it, request ownership through the profile. Create a new one only if there genuinely isn't one; two profiles for one business is the quickest route to a suspension.

Google decides how you verify, and for tradies it's now usually a video recording: recorded live from your phone inside the Business Profile, unedited, at least 30 seconds, showing where you are (a street sign, a building number), that the business is real (tools, the branded van, a uniform) and that you run it (unlocking the van, an invoice or permit with the business name). Keep ABNs, bank details and other people's faces out of frame. Google reviews it within about five business days and says why if it's rejected. You might instead be offered a phone or text code, an email, a live video call, or a postcard that takes up to a fortnight.

Anyone selling "instant verification" will either do what you'd do yourself or get the profile suspended.

The fields that matter

Business name

Your real-world name, exactly as it's on the van and the invoices: "Smith Electrical", not "Smith Electrical – 24/7 Emergency Electrician Frankston". Google's guidelines bar extra words (services, suburbs, taglines, phone numbers). They get removed, and if you keep putting them back the profile gets suspended.

Categories

The primary category is the most important field on the profile. It should say what you are, as specifically as possible: "Electrician", "Plumber", "Air conditioning contractor". Add secondary categories only for real lines of work; Google asks for as few as possible and warns against using them as keywords.

Address and service area

If you work from home and go to customers, remove the address and set service areas instead. Google allows up to 20 suburbs or postcodes and says the whole area shouldn't stretch much past two hours' drive from your base. "All of Victoria" is a flag, and a home address on a public map is a privacy problem as well as a guideline one. A real shopfront can show its address and set a service area too.

Hours

The hours you actually answer the phone. Mark yourself open 24 hours only if someone will pick up at 3 am; a missed after-hours call becomes a one-star review. Set special hours for public holidays.

Phone and website

Your mobile or office number, one you control. Link the website to the matching page: usually the home page, or the service page for that area if you have one. Not a Facebook page, not a redirect. Add tracking tags (something like ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=business-profile) so Google Analytics shows profile visits separately from search.

Services and description

Add each service you want calls for, with a plain sentence: "Switchboard upgrades: old fuse boards replaced with safety switches, same week in most of the south-east." Tick the attributes that apply (online quotes, on-site service). The description is 750 characters: what you do, where, since when, and your licence number. Google rejects descriptions with prices, promotions or links.

Photos

Real ones: the van with its signage, the team, a switchboard before and after, the trailer full of gear. Phone photos are fine; stock photos of a model in a hard hat look like every other profile. Set a logo and a cover photo, then add a few job photos a month rather than fifty on day one. Customers add their own, which you can't control, so get yours up first.

Posts, Q&A, messaging and bookings

• Posts: one a week, two minutes each: a job you finished, a seasonal reminder (smoke alarm checks, aircon service before summer, EV chargers), a tip, with a photo and the call button. Old posts drop off; the habit is the point.
• Q&A: anyone can ask a question on your profile and anyone can answer, including a competitor. Post the five questions you get on the phone every week ("Do you do after-hours?", "Which suburbs?", "Are you licensed?", "Free quotes?") and answer them yourself.
• Messaging: turn it on only if you'll reply the same day; Google shows your response time, and a slow one is worse than none. Turn it off on holidays.
• Booking link: if your job software has an online booking page, link it. Otherwise leave it empty.

Reviews: the part that moves the needle

Reviews are most of "prominence" and most of why a stranger picks you. The routine is simple: ask at the end of every job, while the customer is still pleased, with the link in a text. Your profile's Ask for reviews button gives you a short link and a QR code; put the QR on the invoice and a card you leave behind. Reply to every review within a few days: thank people by name and mention the job; for a bad one stay calm, stick to facts and offer to sort it out by phone. Arguing in public loses the next ten customers, not the one who complained.

The rules are real and enforced. Under the Australian Consumer Law it's illegal to write fake reviews or arrange for anyone else to, and the ACCC has taken businesses to court for copied testimonials, self-written reviews and hidden or edited negative ones. Its guidance is specific:

• Reviews from family, staff or anyone you've paid are misleading unless the connection is disclosed.
• Suppressing, editing or selectively deleting negative reviews can be misleading conduct.
• Incentives for reviews must be offered regardless of whether the review is good or bad, and disclosed. In practice, don't offer them at all.

Google goes further on its own platform: a discount or gift for a review, or for removing a bad one, counts as fake and misleading content; it removes the reviews and can suspend the profile. The same goes for "review gating", asking "were you happy?" and only sending the link to those who said yes. Send it to everyone; the happy ones are the ones who click anyway.

Tracking what it brings in

Open the profile's Performance report monthly. It shows the searches people typed and how many called, asked for directions, clicked the website or messaged. With the tracking tags on the link, Google Analytics shows what those visitors did next, including whether they sent an enquiry. Write down calls, website clicks and enquiries each month; after a few months you'll know what a batch of photos or reviews is worth. While you're there, check the edits Google has made: the public can suggest changes, and a wrong phone number or a "permanently closed" flag can sit unnoticed.

What gets profiles suspended

Google suspends profiles that break its guidelines, often with no warning and a slow appeal. The usual causes for tradies:

• Keywords or suburbs stuffed into the business name.
• More than one profile for the same business (one per van, one per suburb, or an old agency's still live).
• A home address, PO box or virtual office shown as the business address.
• A service area that covers half the state.
• A website link that redirects somewhere else, or prices and links in the description.
• A burst of edits at once (new name, new category, new address) that looks like the profile changed hands.
• Fake or incentivised reviews.

If it happens, Google's "Fix suspended or disabled profiles" page (in the sources) is the appeal route; have your licence, an invoice and a photo of the van ready. Keep the profile owned by a Google account the business controls; give an agency manager access, never ownership.

The checklist

Where we fit

This checklist is the first month of our local search and reviews service. We claim and verify the profile, fix categories, service area and photos, run the review routine (a message after each job, a card to leave behind, every review answered), add a suburb or service page to your website every second month, keep the other directories consistent and report monthly on search terms and calls. It runs in your own Google account, so if you ever stop, the profile and reviews stay yours.