Google Business Profile for tradespeople

Updated 23 October 2026. Based on Google's own Business Profile help pages and UK consumer law.

The short version

Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your van and invoices. No added keywords.
If customers don't come to you, hide your address and list the areas you cover instead.
Pick the most specific main category, such as "Plumber" or "Roofing contractor".
Expect a video verification. Plan it before you start.
Ask every customer for a review, not only the happy ones, and never pay or reward people for one.

Why it matters more than most trades think

When someone types "plumber near me" or "roof leak repair Leeds", Google usually shows a map with three businesses under it before any normal results. Those three come from Business Profiles. The profile is free, and for most local trades it brings in more calls than the website itself.

Google says it ranks these listings on three things: relevance (does your profile match what was searched), distance (how far you are from the searcher or the place they named) and prominence (how well known you are, which includes your reviews and how much the rest of the web mentions you). You can't change distance. Everything in this guide works on the other two.

Before you start: three decisions

1. Your business name

Enter the name you actually trade under: the one on your van, your invoices and your sign. "Smith Plumbing" is right. "Smith Plumbing Emergency Plumber Leeds 24/7" breaks Google's rules, and profiles with stuffed names get suspended, often after a competitor reports them. If you are a limited company that trades under a different name, use the trading name customers know.

2. Do customers come to you?

Most plumbers, electricians and roofers go to the customer. Google calls that a service-area business. You still enter an address, because Google needs it for verification, but you then remove it from the public profile so your home address is never shown. In its place you list the towns, districts or postcodes you cover.

Google allows up to 20 service areas and says the whole area should be no more than about two hours' drive from where you are based. List the places you really want work from. A smaller honest area does better than a huge one you would never drive to.

3. Which Google account owns it

Create the profile from a Google account that belongs to the business owner and that you will keep for years. Not an employee's, and not a web designer's. If someone else sets it up for you, ask them to add you as the Primary owner. Getting a profile back from a former employee or an old agency can take weeks.

Setting it up, step by step

Go to google.com/business and sign in with the owner account.
Type your business name. If Google suggests an existing listing for your business, claim it instead of making a second one. Duplicate profiles split your reviews and can get both removed.
Choose your main category. It matters more than any other field. Pick the most specific one that fits most of your work: Plumber, Heating contractor, Electrician, Roofing contractor, Gas engineer. You can add up to 9 more later for other work you do, such as Boiler supplier or Gutter cleaning service.
When asked whether customers visit you, answer honestly. For most trades: no. Then add your service areas.
Add your phone number and website. Use a number you or your office will answer. Every missed call from the profile is a job that goes to the next firm on the map.
Choose how to verify (see below).

Verification: plan the video before you start

Google decides how you verify. Postcards are rare now. Most new trade profiles are asked for a video, recorded and uploaded from your phone through the profile itself. Google's rules for it:

One continuous recording, with no cuts or editing, of at least 30 seconds.
Recorded live in the app. A video you filmed earlier is not accepted.

For a service-area business, Google asks to see three things:

Where you are: a street sign or landmark near the address you entered. Not an empty road with nothing to identify it.
That the business is real: your tools, your equipment, your van, ideally with the business name on it.
That you run it: unlocking your van, opening your toolbox, or business paperwork with the name on it, such as an invoice or a certificate.

Walk through it once before you press record. Start outside at the street sign, walk to the van, open it, show the tools and the business name, then show a document. One to two minutes is plenty. If Google rejects it, the profile shows "Review issues" with what to fix, and you can try again.

After verification: fill in everything

A verified profile with half the fields empty loses to a complete one. Work through these once:

Services. Add each kind of job you do, in the words customers use: "Boiler repair", "Consumer unit replacement", "Flat roof repair". This is how Google learns what you are relevant for.
Description. Up to 750 characters. Say what you do, where, and what makes you different, in plain sentences. No list of towns, no prices that change, no web addresses.
Hours. Real hours. If you take emergency call-outs, say so in the description, but don't set "Open 24 hours" unless someone really answers the phone at 3am.
Photos. Your own jobs, your van, your team at work. Before and after shots do well. Customers can spot stock pictures, and real ones show them the standard of your work.
Website link. Link to your own site, not a directory page. Google uses the site to check what the profile claims, so the business name, areas and services should match on both.

Reviews: how to get them, and what is now illegal

Reviews are the biggest part of "prominence" you can influence. The way to get them is dull and works: ask every customer, at the end of every job, with a direct link.

In your profile, choose Ask for reviews to get a short link. Send it by text the same day, while the job is fresh.
Reply to every review, good or bad, briefly and politely. Future customers read the replies.
A fair reply to a bad review often does more for you than another five stars.

What you must not do. Google's rules forbid asking only happy customers (sometimes called review gating) and offering anything in return for a review. Since 6 April 2025, UK law goes further: under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, writing or commissioning fake reviews, hiding that a review was incentivised, and suppressing negative reviews are banned outright. The Competition and Markets Authority can fine businesses up to 10% of their global turnover. Buying reviews, swapping reviews with another firm, or asking family to post as customers all fall under it.

Keep your details identical everywhere

Google checks your profile against what the rest of the web says about you: your website, Bing, Apple Maps, Yell, Checkatrade, Facebook. If one says "Smith Plumbing Ltd" with an old number and another says "Smith Plumbing & Heating" with a new one, Google is less sure they are the same business. Pick one version of your name, phone number and website, and use it letter for letter on every listing.

Common mistakes that get profiles suspended

Keywords or town names added to the business name.
A virtual office or PO box as the address. Use the real address you work from and hide it.
Two profiles for one business, for example one per town.
A service area much bigger than you really cover.
Changing the name, category and address all at once after verification. Change one thing at a time.

How your website fits in

The profile gets you the call. The website is where people check you before they make it: your photos, the areas you cover, your registrations, your prices if you show them. Google also reads the website to confirm what the profile says. A profile that links to a clear site, with the same name, areas and services, is a stronger signal than either one alone.

If you don't have a site yet, we make free homepage drafts for trades firms, so you can see what yours would look like before you decide anything.

Google Business Profile for tradespeople: set it up properly