Why the profile matters so much for a tradesperson
Your Business Profile appears in Google Search and on Google Maps. It shows your name, phone number, opening hours, photos and your customers’ reviews. For a plumber, an electrician or a landscaper, it is often what triggers the call.
The profile is free. What it asks for is care at the start and a little follow-up afterwards. It works best when it points to a clear website, where customers find the details of your services and a simple way to ask you for a quote.
Creating and verifying your profile
You create the profile from a Google account. Use an account linked to the business that you stay in control of, not a supplier’s personal account. If someone manages the profile for you, add them as a manager rather than handing them ownership.
Verification
Google needs to check that you really run the business. According to its official Help, verification methods are determined automatically by Google and cannot be changed. They may include a code by phone or text message, an email, a live video call or a postcard sent to the business address. Sometimes you need to combine several.
- Postcard: Google says the code usually arrives within 14 days and expires after 30 days.
- While you wait, do not change the name, address or category, and do not request a new code: the old one would stop working.
- The review can take up to five working days, sometimes longer.
- Do not share your code with anyone, not even the person who manages your profile. Google states that it will never ask you for it.
Address or service area: the question that comes up most
Most tradespeople work at their customers’ premises. Google calls this a service-area business: it visits or delivers to customers, without receiving them at its own premises. In that case, Google’s Help asks you to remove the address from the profile and show only the service area. Your home address therefore does not need to appear.
If you have a workshop or showroom where you genuinely receive customers, with permanent signage, you can show the address and a service area.
- One profile for your whole area: not one profile per town.
- Up to 20 areas (towns, postcodes or other geographic areas).
- Google recommends keeping your overall area within two hours’ drive of the business.
- Virtual offices cannot have a profile; a remote PO box is not accepted as an address.
Name, categories, hours, description: the rules to follow
Google’s guidelines come down to one idea: represent the business as it is in the real world, with a single profile per business location.
The name
The name must match the real name of your business, the one on your signage, quotes and invoices. Google forbids adding unnecessary information: slogan, phone number, web address, opening hours or location. Your business name on its own is fine; the same name followed by “cheap emergency repairs” and a town name is not.
Categories
Choose as few categories as possible to describe your main activity. Google states that they must not be used to insert keywords. Your detailed services belong on your website instead.
Hours and description
Show the hours during which you answer customers, and remember exceptional closures. In the description, stick to the facts: what you do, for whom, where. The guidelines exclude links, highlighting prices or promotions, and low-quality content.
Keeping the profile active without losing your evenings
A profile created then forgotten ends up showing wrong hours or photos that are years old. A few regular habits are enough:
- Add photos of your work, taken on site, with your customers’ consent when their home is recognisable.
- Update your hours as soon as they change, holidays included.
- Reply to reviews, positive and negative, calmly and without giving out personal information about the customer.
- Check from time to time that nobody has suggested an incorrect edit to your profile.
- Keep the same name, phone number and area everywhere: profile, website, quotes.
Your profile and your website, together
The profile makes people want to call; the website reassures and explains. We build showcase websites designed for exactly that, from €490 excl. VAT then €15 excl. VAT per month, with hosting, maintenance and small changes included. If you already have a website, our free diagnostic tells you in a few seconds whether it displays well on a phone and whether it is secure.
Sources
Information checked on 4 November 2026 in the official Google Business Profile Help. Google’s rules change: check the current version before any important step. This guide is not legal advice.