Short answer: Fill in every field Google offers: your real business name, the most precise categories, service area, hours, phone, website, every individual service, a description, attributes, and plenty of real photos. Complete profiles are easier for Google to trust and easier for customers to choose.
A Google Business Profile is a form, and most contractors fill in the first few boxes and stop. Every empty field is a missed chance to show up for a search or to convince the person looking.
Business name
Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your truck, invoices, and signage. Do not add keywords or towns, like “Smith Roofing Best Roofer Worcester.” It breaks Google’s guidelines and can get your profile suspended.
Categories
Your primary category matters a lot. Choose the most specific one that matches your main work, such as “Roofing contractor” instead of “Contractor.” Then add secondary categories for other real services, like “Gutter cleaning service.”
Service area, address, and hours
- If customers do not visit your location, hide your address and set a service area instead.
- List the towns or areas you genuinely serve, not every town in the state.
- Set accurate hours, including special hours for holidays. If you take emergency calls, say so.
Phone and website
Use a local phone number that you or your team actually answer. Link to your website, ideally the homepage or a page for your main service, and make sure the name, address, and phone match what is on your site.
Services
List every service individually, with a short description for each. “Roof repair,” “Roof replacement,” “Ice dam removal,” and “Gutter installation” give Google far more to match than a single “Roofing” entry.
Business description
You get 750 characters. Use them to say what you do, where, and what makes you different, in plain language. Mention your main services and towns naturally, without stuffing keywords or adding links.
Attributes, photos, and more
- Attributes such as “veteran-owned,” “women-owned,” or “online estimates” where they apply.
- Your logo, a cover photo, and real photos of your team, trucks, and finished jobs.
- Your opening date, which shows how long you have been in business.
- A booking or quote link if you use one.
The details contractors most often get wrong
- A primary category that is too broad, like “Contractor” when you are really a roofer or an electrician.
- A service area covering the whole state instead of the towns you actually work in.
- Hours that say “open 24 hours” when nobody answers the phone at night.
- A website link pointing to an old site, or a page that no longer exists.
- Business details that do not match your website and other listings, which confuses both Google and customers.
- Only two or three photos, all of them from years ago.
Fixing these takes less than an hour, and it is one of the highest-value hours you can spend on getting found locally.
Keep it accurate over time
Check your profile every month. Anyone can suggest edits to a listing, and Google sometimes changes details automatically. Wrong hours or an old phone number quietly cost you calls.
Related reading
- How to Optimize Your Google Business Profile for More Calls
- Why Isn’t My Contracting Business Showing Up in Google Search?
- How Often Should I Post on My Google Business Profile?
Want us to check your profile? Get a free snapshot. We will show you which fields are missing or wrong and what to fix first.
Written by
Mardochee Carries
Managing Director | Brandcastl
Mardochee leads Brandcastl, a Worcester, MA marketing agency that helps local businesses get found on Google and turn searches into booked jobs.
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