Google Business Profile Checklist for Tradies

Why Your Google Business Profile Matters More Than Your Website

When someone in Craigieburn searches for 'electrician near me', the first thing they see is not a list of websites. It is a map with three businesses under it. Those three listings come from Google Business Profiles, and for most trades that box is where the phone calls start.

The good news is that a Google Business Profile is free, and most of your competitors have filled in about half of theirs. Working through the checklist below properly takes an afternoon. It is the highest-value afternoon you can spend on your marketing.

1. Get the Basics Exactly Right

Google cross-checks your details against your website and every directory that lists you. Small differences, like 'Dr' in one place and 'Drive' in another, or an old mobile number on an old listing, make it less sure about who you are.

• Business name: your real trading name, with no keywords or suburbs added. Adding them breaks Google's rules and can get the profile suspended
• Phone number: the one you actually answer during work hours
• Website: link to your homepage, or to the most relevant service page if you only do one thing
• Hours: keep them accurate, including public holidays. 'Open now' matters for urgent jobs
• Address or service area: if customers do not come to you, hide the address and set service areas instead

2. Choose the Right Categories

Your primary category is the single biggest lever on which searches you appear for. Choose the one that describes your main work as specifically as Google allows: 'Roofing contractor' rather than 'Contractor', 'Tree service' rather than 'Landscaper'.

Then add secondary categories for the other work you genuinely do. A plumber who also does gas fitting and hot water should add both. Do not add categories for work you do not take on. It brings the wrong calls and waters down the right ones.

3. List Every Service Separately

The Services section lets you list each job type with a short description. Most tradies leave it empty or accept Google's suggestions without reading them.

Write each service the way a customer would say it. 'Blocked drains', 'Hot water system replacement' and 'Burst pipe repairs' are better than 'General plumbing'. Add one or two plain sentences to each: what the job involves and which areas you cover.

4. Add Real Photos, and Keep Adding Them

Photos are how a stranger decides whether you look like a proper business. Stock images do not help. Photos of your own work do.

• Before-and-after shots of finished jobs
• Your vehicle and signage, so people recognise you when you arrive
• You and your team on site
• Close-ups that show the quality of the finish
• A new photo or two every couple of weeks, taken on your phone at the end of a job

5. Set Your Service Areas Honestly

List the suburbs you actually travel to. It is tempting to add every suburb in Melbourne, but Google mostly ranks you near where you are based, and a long list does not change that. A tight list of the areas you really serve is more believable to Google and to customers.

If you want work in a suburb further away, the way to earn it is reviews from customers there and a page on your website about the work you do in that area.

6. Ask Every Customer for a Review

Reviews are the main thing people read before they call, and a steady flow of recent ones is one of the clearest signals you can send. The tradies who do well here are not the ones with the best work. They are the ones who ask every time.

Send the review link by text the same day you finish the job, while the customer is still pleased with the result. Reply to every review, good or bad, in a sentence or two. Never offer a discount for a review and never write your own. Both are against Google's rules, and fake reviews are also a problem under Australian consumer law.

7. Post an Update Now and Then

Google lets you publish short posts on your profile: a finished job, a seasonal reminder, a change in hours. One post every week or two is plenty. It shows customers the business is active, and it gives you another place to mention the services and suburbs you cover.

8. Check It Once a Month

Profiles drift. Google sometimes accepts edits suggested by the public, competitors occasionally report listings, and hours go out of date. Put ten minutes in your calendar each month to check the details, answer any new reviews, add photos and look at the Performance tab to see how many calls and website clicks the profile produced.

If you would rather hand all of this to someone, that is the work we do for trade businesses across Melbourne's north. A free audit will show you where your profile stands against the three businesses currently in the map results for your trade.