For a contractor with a service area, your Google Business Profile is the closest thing to free money in marketing. It is what puts you in the map results when someone nearby searches for your trade. Most profiles are half-finished, which is exactly why a complete one wins. Here is the checklist.
1. Claim and verify
Search your business name on Google, claim the profile, and complete verification. In 2026 this is often a short video walkthrough showing your signage, vehicle, and work area. Prepare it before you start, because you get limited attempts.
2. Pick the right primary category
This is the biggest ranking lever you control. Choose the narrowest accurate category, for example "Window cleaning service" rather than the broad "Cleaning service." Add a few accurate secondary categories after it.
3. Fill in every field
Google favors complete profiles. Hours, description, opening date, services, attributes: fill all of it. An empty field is a ranking left on the table, and wrong hours quietly kill you in the "open now" filter.
4. List services with descriptions
Add each service you offer as its own entry with a short description that uses the words customers search. This feeds both your ranking and the summary Google shows.
5. Set service areas as specific towns
Instead of one big radius, list the individual towns you serve. Granular areas help you show up in each of them rather than blurring into one region.
6. Add real photos, and keep adding them
Ten or more real photos at launch: your crew, trucks, and finished jobs. Then add a few every month. Fresh, genuine photos signal an active business and get pulled into Google's results.
7. Build a steady flow of reviews
Reviews are the biggest prominence signal. Ask every satisfied customer with a direct review link, ideally by text right after the job. Steady beats sudden: a few real reviews a week outperforms a suspicious burst. Never buy reviews.
8. Coach customers to mention the service and town
A review that says "great window cleaning in Plano" carries keywords Google reads and ranks with. You cannot script reviews, but you can gently prompt people to mention what you did and where.
9. Reply to every review
Respond to all of them, good and bad, within a couple of days. Most businesses never reply, so doing it is an easy edge and a trust signal that both customers and AI summaries pick up.
10. Post and seed questions
Post a short update every week with a photo and a booking link. Seed the questions-and-answers section with the five things customers actually ask, and answer them from your own account.
The mindset
A Google Business Profile is not a one-time setup, it is a small weekly habit: a photo, a post, a review reply. Fifteen minutes a week keeps it active and climbing while dormant competitors slide.
Managing this for every town you serve is part of what we do. Learn more about local SEO for contractors, or get a free mockup to start.