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Google Business Profile for trade firms: how to get into the map

The map at the top of Google is where local jobs are won. Set your profile up properly, keep it busy, and you have done most of what it takes to be there.

Updated MOJO.ME

In short

  • Google ranks the map on relevance, distance and prominence. Nobody can pay for a better spot.
  • If customers do not come to you, hide the address and list up to 20 service areas.
  • Use your real trading name. Adding services or towns to it can get the profile suspended.

Set it up right

  • A service area, not a shopfront. Remove the address and add towns or postcodes. There is no radius option.
  • Your real trading name, exactly as it is on the van and the invoices.
  • The most specific primary category, then up to nine more where they are true.
  • Every service listed in the words customers use: boiler installation, EICR, consumer unit replacement.

Keep it busy

  • Photos of your own work every week. Never stock.
  • A short post for each finished job. Posts older than six months are archived.
  • A reply to every review, good or bad.
  • Video verification where Google offers it: one live take of at least 30 seconds showing your branded van, your tools and where you work.

What gets a profile suspended or ignored

  • Keywords, towns or phone numbers added to the business name.
  • A virtual office or PO box given as the address.
  • A profile for every town. Google allows one per business.
  • A service area stretching beyond about two hours’ drive.

You run the jobs. We run this.

  • Your profile set up and verified properly, first time
  • Photos and a post from your real jobs every week
  • Every review answered, in your words
  • A plain report each month: where you rank, what moved and what came in
Get your free Mojo AuditBe found

Written for electricians, heating engineers, plumbing firms, air conditioning firms, M&E contractors, construction companies and landscaping firms.

Sources
  1. Google, How to improve your local ranking on Google
  2. Google, Guidelines for representing your business on Google
  3. Google, Manage your service area for service-area businesses
  4. Google, About posts for your Business Profile
  5. Google, Verify your business with a video recording

Questions owners ask.

Should my home address show on my Google profile?

No. If customers do not come to you, Google’s guidelines say remove the address and set service areas instead. You still show in the map for the areas you cover.

Can I put the town or the service in my business name?

No. Google forbids it and warns it can lead to suspension. Your categories and your list of services do that job.

Can I pay Google to rank higher in the map?

No. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. Ads are a separate product, and they stop the day you stop paying.

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