Setting up a Google Business Profile for an Atlanta service business

What the profile is for

A Google Business Profile lets a business manage how it appears on Google Search and Maps. When someone in Alpharetta searches for a house cleaner or an electrician, the businesses shown on the map come from these profiles.

There is no trick to it. Google's SEO Starter Guide says there are no secrets that automatically rank a site first. What you can control is whether your profile is complete, accurate and consistent with your website.

Start by claiming or finding your profile

Before creating a new profile, search for your business name on Google Maps. Older businesses often already have a listing that a customer or a directory created. Claim that one instead of making a second; duplicates confuse customers.

Use the Google account you plan to keep for the business, not a personal one that an employee or a past web person controls.

Pick categories that match your real work

Your primary category should be the main thing you do, in the plainest terms Google offers: plumber, HVAC contractor, tree service, house cleaning service. Add a few secondary categories only for work you really do.

Do not add categories to catch more searches. A pressure-washing business listed as a roofer will get calls it cannot take, and customers notice.

Set service areas, and hide your address if you work from home

A service-area business can hide its address and list the areas it serves instead. That is the right setup for most Atlanta trades and cleaners who work from home or a yard that customers never come to.

List the towns and counties you really cover, the same ones you name on your website. If your website says Gwinnett and north DeKalb, your profile should say the same. Covering the whole metro on paper and then turning down calls from half of it wastes your time and the customer's.

Hours, phone and name: keep them identical everywhere

Use your real business name, the way it appears on your truck, invoices and website. Do not add keywords or town names to it.

Use one main phone number across your profile, your website and any directories. Set the hours you actually answer the phone, and update them for holidays. If storm season or a summer heat wave changes your hours, change them on the profile too.

Photos of real work

Add photos of your team, your vehicles and finished jobs. A tree crew can show a cleared yard after a storm, a cleaner can show a finished kitchen, an HVAC tech can show a tidy new install. Ask customers before posting anything that shows their home clearly, and leave out house numbers.

Add new photos every so often. A profile with recent pictures tells a customer the business is still active.

Reviews: ask real customers, every time

Reviews come from asking. After a job goes well, send the customer the review link from your profile with a short thank-you. Ask every customer, not only the ones you expect to be happy.

Never buy reviews, write them yourself or have friends post them, and do not offer discounts in exchange. Do not screen customers first and only send the link to the happy ones. Fake or filtered reviews mislead people, and when customers notice, the damage lasts longer than a bad review would.

Reply to reviews, including the critical ones, briefly and politely. A calm, specific reply to a complaint often tells a future customer more than the complaint does.

Connect the profile and the website

Put your website address on your profile, and make sure the website shows the same name, phone number, hours and service areas. When the two agree, customers trust what they see, and Google has a consistent picture of your business.

Check both every few months. It only takes a few minutes and catches old hours, a changed phone number or a service you stopped offering.