Google Business Profile is often the first thing a potential customer sees — before your website, sometimes before they even know your name. Run through this checklist to see how much of it is actually working for you.
- Primary category correct. The wrong or overly broad category is one of the most common, and most damaging, profile mistakes — it affects which searches you show up for at all.
- Service area set accurately. Make sure the towns and areas you actually cover are reflected, not just your registered address.
- Opening hours kept current, including holiday hours. Incorrect hours are a fast way to lose trust with someone who turns up or calls outside them.
- Real photos, regularly added. Recent job photos outperform stock images and outdated shots — and a profile with no new photos in months looks neglected.
- Q&A section seeded. Most business owners leave this empty, which means anyone can post a question and anyone can answer it — including competitors. Add your own common questions and answers before someone else does.
- Weekly Google Posts. Short, simple updates — a recent job, an offer, a reminder of what you do — keep the profile active and give Google fresh signals that the business is genuinely operating.
- Review response habit. Responding to reviews, good and bad, shows an active, engaged business — and a thoughtful reply to a negative review often does more for trust than the review itself does damage.
- Booking link or phone number correct and working. Worth testing this yourself occasionally rather than assuming it still works.
None of this requires paid tools or ad spend — it’s maintenance, not investment. But it’s the maintenance most small businesses let slip once the profile is initially set up, which is exactly when a competitor with a more active profile starts pulling ahead in the same searches.
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