The Google Business Profile checklist.

Before you start

• One profile per real business. Google's guidelines allow one profile per business. Don't make extra profiles for each town you serve. Duplicates are a common cause of suspensions.
• Find out if you already have one. Search your business name and phone number in Google Maps. Profiles get created by customers, old employees, or data providers. Claim an existing one rather than starting a duplicate.
• Use an email you'll keep. Make the owner account a business email you control, then add helpers as managers. Don't let a vendor be the only owner.
• Expect verification. Google picks the method. Options can include a video recording, a live video call, phone or text, email, or a postcard. Video is common now: you'll typically show your location, your business equipment or vehicle, and proof you manage the business. Have your tools and branded vehicle handy.

Name, category, and service area

Business name

Use your real-world business name exactly as it appears on your sign, truck, and paperwork. "Example Plumbing" is fine. "Example Plumbing | Best Plumber Salt Lake City 24/7" violates Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended.

Primary category

This is the single biggest choice on your profile. It tells Google what you are. Pick the most specific category that describes your core business: "HVAC contractor" or "Air conditioning contractor," not "Contractor." Look at which primary category the businesses ranking above you use, then pick the one that matches the work you most want.

Additional categories

Add categories for other real services you offer, like "Water heater installation service" for a plumber. Only add ones that are true. Piling on loosely related categories doesn't help and makes the profile less clear.

Address and service areas

• Hide your address if customers don't come to you. Google's guidelines say service-area businesses that don't serve customers at their address should not show it.
• List the towns or counties you actually serve. Salt Lake County, Sandy, Draper, Lehi. Google advises keeping the area to a reasonable distance from where you're based.
• Keep the address you entered real. It's still used for verification and, quietly, for distance. It must be a place you actually operate from.

Contact and booking

• Phone. A local number that rings someone, or something that answers. If you use a call-tracking number, Google's guidance is to make it the primary number and list your main business number as an additional one, so your listings still match.
• Website. Link to your home page, or to a page for the town or service if that's more useful. Make sure the page loads fast on a phone.
• Booking or quote link. If you take online bookings through Jobber, Housecall Pro, or similar, add the link where the profile allows it. Fewer taps means more jobs.

Services, hours, and description

Services

List every service you want to be found for, each with a short plain description: what's included, who it's for, and a price range if you can give one. "Sprinkler blowout. Compressed-air winterization for residential systems, typically done in October and November." That's the kind of detail customers read.

Hours and special hours

Set your real hours. If you answer emergency calls around the clock, say so only if it's true. Add special hours for holidays so customers don't call a closed business on Pioneer Day or Thanksgiving.

Description

You get up to 750 characters. Say what you do, where, and what makes you the safe choice: licensed through DOPL, years in business, guarantees, financing. Write it for a customer. Don't include URLs, and don't stuff it with town names.

Attributes

Fill in whatever attributes Google offers your category, like online estimates or ownership details. They're quick and they show up to searchers.

Photos

Real photos beat stock photos every time. Customers can tell, and stock images do nothing to show your work.

• Your logo and a cover photo. The cover should be your crew, your truck, or a finished job.
• Work in progress and finished jobs. A new roof, a clean condenser, a trimmed hedge. Get the customer's permission before showing their home.
• Your team. People like to see who's coming to their house.
• New photos regularly. A few a month from real jobs keeps the profile looking alive.

Reviews and replies

Reviews are one of the few things Google names directly as a local ranking factor, and they're what customers read before they call. Ask every customer, use your direct review link, and reply to every review, good or bad, within a day or two. Never offer anything in exchange for a review, and never ask only the happy customers. Google prohibits both. The full playbook, with scripts, is in how to get more Google reviews.

Keeping it active

• Posts. Share updates, offers, and seasonal reminders: furnace tune-ups in fall, AC checks before the first heat wave, hail-damage inspections after a storm. A post a week is a sustainable pace.
• Questions and answers. Google has changed this feature over time. If Q&A is available on your profile, answer the questions people ask, and keep the answers short and accurate.
• Messages. Only turn on chat if someone will answer it quickly. An unanswered message is worse than none.
• Suggested edits. Anyone can suggest changes to your profile, and Google sometimes applies them. Log in regularly and check that your hours, category, and phone haven't been changed.

How to avoid a suspension

Suspensions are painful because reinstatement can take weeks. Most come from a short list of avoidable problems:

• Keyword stuffing the name. Against Google's guidelines. Use your real name.
• Fake, virtual, or borrowed addresses. PO boxes and mailboxes aren't allowed, and virtual offices generally aren't eligible. If you work from home, hide your home address.
• Duplicate or extra profiles. One business, one profile. Separate profiles for each town are not allowed.
• Showing an address you don't serve customers from. Service-area businesses should hide it.
• Review schemes. Incentives, gating, or reviews written by staff and family can get reviews removed and the profile restricted.
• Big edits all at once. Changing the name, category, and address in one sitting can trigger re-verification. Make major changes one at a time, and only when they're true.

Rules change. Google updates its Business Profile guidelines and features regularly. When in doubt, read the current guidelines in Google's Business Profile help center before making a big change.

Getting help

If you'd rather not keep up with it, Almanac Office's Google Business Profile service sets the profile up right and manages it every week: posts, photos, service updates, and a reply to every review. It's part of the Found plan. Or start with a free audit and we'll tell you what's missing from your profile today.