A Google Business Profile checklist from Google's own rules

Your Google Business Profile is the box that shows up on Maps and in local search when someone types "plumber near me." For most service businesses it brings in more calls than the website does. It is also free, and most of what matters is written down in Google's own help pages.

I went through those pages and turned them into a checklist. Everything below is either Google's stated rule or clearly marked as my own recommendation.

How Google decides who shows up

Google says local results are based mainly on three things:

Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person searched for.
Distance: how far your business is from the person searching.
Prominence: how well known your business is. Google says this includes how many sites link to you and how many reviews and positive ratings you have.

Google also says, in so many words, that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.

You cannot change distance. You can work on relevance by filling out the profile completely and accurately, and on prominence over time with reviews and mentions.

Setup checklist

Verification

Verify the profile. Google says verified businesses are more likely to show up in results, and you cannot reply to reviews until you verify.

Business name

Use your real-world business name, exactly as it appears on your truck, sign or invoices.
Do not add service words, towns, taglines or phone numbers to the name. Google's guidelines prohibit it and it can get the profile suspended.

Address and service area

If customers come to your location, list the real street address. No P.O. boxes.
If you go to customers and do not serve them at your address, Google says to remove the address from the profile and set a service area instead.
You can list up to 20 service areas, by city, ZIP code or similar. Google's guideline is that the whole area should not extend much past about 2 hours of driving from your base.

Phone and website

Use a local number you control directly. Google prefers it over a central call center number.
Link to a website page that represents your business. Do not use links that redirect people somewhere else.
No links in the business description.

Hours

Set your regular hours.
Add special hours for holidays and closures before they happen.
If you offer emergency service, make sure your stated hours match what actually happens when someone calls at 9 p.m.

Photos

Upload a logo and a cover photo.
Add real job photos: crews, trucks, before and after.
Google's specs: JPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, recommended 720 by 720 pixels, minimum 250 by 250. Photos should be in focus, well lit, and not heavily filtered.

Upkeep checklist

Reviews: ask and reply

Google suggests sending customers a review link or QR code. Get yours from the profile dashboard and keep it on your phone.
Never offer anything in exchange for a review. Google calls this "strictly prohibited." Its content policy also bars asking only happy customers.
Reply to reviews, positive and negative. Google's own tips: keep it short and polite, avoid copy-paste replies, do not promote deals in replies, and never share a customer's private details.

Posts

Google offers three post types: updates, offers and events.
Posts older than 6 months are archived unless you set a date range. Google does not say posts affect ranking. I use them because they show a searcher the business is active.

Q&A is gone

If an older guide tells you to seed your Questions and Answers section, skip it. Google shut down the Q&A API on November 3, 2025, and in December 2025 said Q&A on Maps was being replaced by an AI "Ask" feature that builds answers from business information and reviews. BrightLocal now describes Q&A as discontinued. What this means in practice: your description, services, hours and reviews are what feed those answers, so keep them accurate.

A simple upkeep schedule

This is my recommendation, not Google's.

How often	Task
After every job	Send the review link
Weekly	Reply to new reviews. Add a few job photos.
Monthly	Publish one update post. Check that hours, phone and website still work.
Before each holiday	Set special hours
Quarterly	Review categories and service areas. Check that nobody suggested an edit to your profile that you missed.

Common mistakes I see

Keywords stuffed into the business name. It may work for a while, and it puts the whole profile at risk.
A street address shown for a home-based business that never sees customers there.
Hours that say open when nobody answers the phone.
Dozens of reviews from three years ago and nothing since.
Bad reviews left unanswered.

None of this is hard. It just has to actually get done, every week, by someone. If you would rather hand it off, PM Solutions Hub sets up and maintains profiles for local service businesses.