Google Business Profile Checklist for Local Service Businesses (2026)

For a local service business, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website, and sometimes instead of it. It decides whether you show up on Google Maps and in the local results, and what people see when they do: your hours, your reviews, your photos and a button to call.

This checklist covers everything worth setting up, in order, plus the mistakes that most often get profiles suspended.

Before you start: are you eligible?#

Google only allows profiles for businesses that meet customers in person during their stated hours. That can be at your location, at the customer’s location, or both.

• Eligible: businesses with a staffed location customers visit, and service-area businesses that travel to customers (plumbers, cleaners, contractors, mobile services).
• Not eligible: online-only businesses, rental or for-sale properties, and businesses with no in-person contact.
• Addresses: use a real, staffed address. PO boxes and mailboxes are not allowed, and virtual offices are a common reason for suspension.
• Service-area businesses: if customers do not come to your address, hide it and list the areas you serve instead.

1. Name, address and phone#

• Use your real-world business name exactly as it appears on your signage, vehicles and paperwork.
• Do not add keywords or locations to the name (“Smith Plumbing” is right, “Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Dallas” is a violation).
• Use a local phone number that is answered during your hours.
• Keep the name, address and phone identical on your website and in other directories.

2. Categories#

• Pick the most specific primary category that describes your main service. This is the single most important choice on the profile.
• Add secondary categories only for services you actually offer.
• Check what categories competitors who appear above you are using. You can see their primary category on their profile.

3. Service areas#

• List the cities or ZIP codes you really serve, up to 20 areas.
• Google advises keeping the area within about two hours’ drive of where you are based.
• A realistic area works better than an inflated one. Listing places you rarely visit does not make you appear there.

4. Hours#

• Set regular hours accurately, including whether you offer 24-hour service.
• Add special hours for holidays before they arrive, so the profile never says “open” when you are closed.
• Use additional hours where they apply, such as separate hours for phone support or emergency calls.

5. Services#

• Add every service you offer, with a short description for each, written the way customers describe them.
• Add prices only where they are fixed. A wrong price causes more problems than no price.

6. Business description#

• You have 750 characters. Use them to say what you do, who you do it for, where, and what makes you different.
• Write for people, not for keywords.
• No links, promotions or phone numbers in the description.

7. Photos and videos#

• Add your logo and a cover photo.
• Add real photos: your team, your vehicles, your work, your premises if customers visit.
• Add new photos regularly, for example from recent jobs, with the customer’s permission.
• Avoid stock photos. They tell customers nothing and can be removed.
• Short videos of real work are allowed and help people trust what they are seeing.

8. Reviews#

Reviews influence both where you appear and whether people call. Build a steady habit rather than a one-off push.

• Ask every customer, at the moment they are happiest, usually just after the job is finished.
• Send your direct review link by text or email so it takes one tap.
• Reply to every review, good and bad, politely and without sharing private details.
• Never offer discounts, gifts or payment for reviews.
• Never ask only happy customers. Filtering who you ask, known as review gating, is against Google’s rules.
• Never buy reviews, or have staff, friends or family review the business.
• Report reviews that break Google’s policies, such as spam or reviews from people who were never customers.

9. Updates and offers#

• Post updates about recent work, seasonal services, offers and events.
• Use a clear photo and one call to action in each post.
• A post every week or two keeps the profile looking active to the customers who check it.

10. Links and tracking#

• Link to the most relevant page of your website, not always the homepage. A service-area business might link to its main service page.
• Add a booking link if you take online appointments.
• Add UTM tags to your website link so you can see visits from the profile in your analytics.

11. Verification#

• Google decides how you verify. Video verification is now common, so be ready to show your signage, tools, vehicle or premises, and proof that you manage the business.
• Make sure what the video shows matches the profile: the same business name, the same address, the same type of business.

12. Monthly upkeep#

• Check for edits suggested by Google or the public, and correct anything wrong.
• Reply to new reviews.
• Add new photos and an update.
• Review the performance report: calls, direction requests, website clicks and the searches people used to find you.
• Update hours ahead of holidays.

Mistakes that get profiles suspended#

• Keywords or locations stuffed into the business name.
• Using a virtual office, coworking address or mailbox as the business address.
• Creating more than one profile for the same business at the same location.
• Making many major changes at once, such as name, address and category on the same day.
• Fake, incentivized or gated reviews.

If a profile is suspended, fix the cause first, then submit an appeal with evidence such as a business license, utility bill or photos of your signage.

Where we come in#

We help service businesses show up properly on Google and Maps: a profile set up to Google’s rules, a website that backs it up, and a review habit that keeps working after we hand it over. See what that involves on our AI search and SEO page, or start a project.