Google My Business Optimization Checklist for Contractors
Your Google Business Profile description has a hard 750-character limit, you get exactly one primary category, and you cannot pay to get a better position for either. Most of this checklist is just filling those limits correctly, and most contractors never do.
Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile, but the search term “Google My Business” is still what most people type. Same product. It is also the most valuable free asset a local contractor has. The profile is yours, the reviews attach to your listing, and the work you put in compounds month after month.
Below is the checklist, field by field, then a monthly routine to keep it working.
A Google Business Profile optimization checklist covers: verifying the listing, choosing one accurate primary category and relevant secondary ones, using your real business name, setting service areas and hours, listing every service, writing a 750-character description, uploading real photos, and replying to every review. Work top to bottom, then repeat monthly.
Before You Start: Audit What Exists
Search your business name on Google and on Maps. Check three things before editing anything:
- Is there a duplicate listing? Same phone or address, different listing. Duplicates split your reviews and signals. Report or merge them.
- Is the profile verified? An unverified profile cannot be fully managed.
- Does anything look wrong? Old hours, a former address, a disconnected phone number. Write it down. You will fix it in a minute.
Part 1: The Foundation Fields
These fields control whether Google understands what you are and where you work. Get them right once.
| Field | Limit or rule | What to put |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | Your real-world name, as on your truck and invoices | No city, no keywords, no “24 hour” unless it is legally part of your name |
| Primary category | Exactly one | The service that earns you the most, such as “HVAC contractor” |
| Secondary categories | Up to nine | Only services you actually perform |
| Service areas | Up to 20 cities or zip codes | Places you actually serve, closest first |
| Address | Hide it if you do not meet customers there | Match it exactly to your website and directories |
| Phone | One primary number | A local number, ideally the same one on your website |
| Hours | Per day, with special hours | Real hours, updated for holidays |
| Website | One URL | The most relevant page for your main service |
Choosing the Primary Category
This is the single highest-leverage choice on the profile. If you do both heating and cooling but your jobs are mostly furnace work, choose the heating category as primary and add air conditioning as secondary. Review what your top-ranking local competitors use. Do not copy blindly, but if every competitor ranking above you uses a category you skipped, find out why.
Your Business Name
Google’s guidelines say your name should match how your business presents itself in the real world. Stuffing a service and city into the name is the most common reason contractor profiles get suspended, and a suspension can take weeks to resolve. Not worth it.
Part 2: The Content Fields
This is where relevance gets built. The more specifically you describe what you do, the more searches you can match.
Services
Add every service as its own entry, with a one-or-two sentence description. A plumber might list water heater replacement, drain cleaning, sewer line repair, leak detection, and repiping. Use the words customers use, not trade jargon. Add a price range where you can. Ranges build trust and filter out bad leads.
The 750-Character Description
Lead with who you are, what you do, and where. Mention how long you have been in business and any licenses you hold. Leave out phone numbers, URLs, and hype. A good test: could a homeowner read it and decide whether to call?
Attributes
Check the attributes that apply: “Veteran-owned,” “Online estimates,” “Emergency service,” “Wheelchair accessible.” Only select what is true. They show up on your profile and help customers filter.
Photos
Upload real photos of your trucks, your crew, your shop, and finished jobs. Google can read what is in an image and weighs original photos over stock. A realistic target is 10 to 15 photos to start, then a few every week. Full details are in our GBP photos guide.
Part 3: The Trust Fields
Relevance gets you considered. Prominence gets you picked.
Reviews
Reviews are the part you cannot fake and cannot finish. Ask after every job, at the moment the customer is happiest, with a direct review link. Reply to all of them, including the bad ones, calmly and specifically. Two rules from Google: no incentives in exchange for reviews, and no screening so only happy customers see the link. The step-by-step process is in our review guide.
Posts and Updates
Use Google Posts to share job completions, seasonal reminders, and offers. Posts do not have the ranking impact of reviews, but they keep the profile current and give customers a reason to trust it.
Messaging and Calls
If you turn on messaging, you have to answer it. A slow response is worse than no option. If you cannot respond within a few hours, leave it off.
Where to Spend Your First Weekend
You can do all of the above yourself, and plenty of contractors do. The reason most do not is time. Our estimate is 3 to 5 hours for the initial setup, then 2 to 4 hours a month, forever. If you would rather it just get done, Contractor Bear builds and runs these channels for you starting at $500/mo. Your profile is yours, the reviews are yours, and when you leave you keep all of it.
Part 4: The Off-Profile Work
A perfect profile still depends on what the rest of the web says about you.
- Citations: Your name, address, and phone number should match across directories like Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, and industry sites. Inconsistencies erode trust. See our NAP consistency guide.
- Website: One page per core service, with real content, your service area, and photos of your own work. Link your profile to the matching page.
- Local links: Sponsorships, chamber memberships, and supplier pages that link to your site all count.
These items live on assets you own, which is why they keep working if you stop spending money.
The Monthly Maintenance Routine
Set this on a calendar. These time figures are our estimates.
| Task | Frequency | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Upload 10 or more new photos | Weekly or monthly batch | 10-15 min |
| Request reviews from recent customers | After every job | 5 min per job |
| Reply to new reviews | Within a few days | 10 min |
| Publish one Google Post | Monthly or more | 10 min |
| Check hours, services, and attributes | Monthly | 10 min |
| Look for duplicate listings or suggested edits | Monthly | 10 min |
| Review profile performance (calls, direction requests) | Monthly | 15 min |
Where Paid Fits In
Once the profile is working, paid placement can sit on top. Google’s Local Services Ads put you above the Map Pack, and you pay per lead. They work, but they are rented: the leads stop when the billing does. The order that makes sense is owned first, rented second. Read our Local Service Ads guide for how to decide, and our Map Pack breakdown for how organic ranking works. For a broader look at setup, see our Google Business Profile guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I pay Google to rank higher?
Not for your organic listing. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance, and prominence, and ad spend is not part of that. You can buy ad placements, such as Local Services Ads or Google Ads, but they are separate from your profile’s ranking, and they end when the payment does. A strong profile is the part you keep.
How many 5 star reviews do I need to increase my rating on Google?
Use this formula: (current rating × current reviews + 5 × new reviews) ÷ (current reviews + new reviews). A 3.9 rating across 30 reviews needs about 36 new 5-star reviews to reach 4.5. A 4.6 across 100 reviews needs about 100 to reach 4.8. More existing reviews means more effort per tenth of a point.
Your Checklist, in Short
Verify, choose the right categories, use your real name, set accurate service areas and hours, list every service, write the description, add real photos, and earn reviews continuously. Then check in monthly. Nothing here costs ad money, and everything stays yours.
If you want help, see our pricing. Plans start at $500/mo, and the profile, reviews, and website we build are yours to keep. You own it.