Ember & Echo Multimedia
Published 2026-09-08 by Ember & Echo Multimedia
Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a potential customer sees, before they ever land on your website. For trades companies, an incomplete or outdated profile is one of the fastest ways to lose a job to the competitor who filled theirs out correctly. Run through this checklist today.
If you haven't verified ownership of your profile, you can't control what shows up, including outdated hours or an old phone number. Verification is usually done by postcard, phone, or email, so start the process now if you haven't already.
"Plumber" beats "Contractor," and "HVAC Contractor" beats "General Contractor." Google leans heavily on your primary category when deciding which searches to show you for, so specificity matters more than most owners realize.
Your business name, address, and phone number on Google must be identical, down to the punctuation, to what's on your website and every directory listing. Small mismatches, like "Street" versus "St.", can quietly hurt your local rankings.
Profiles with fresh photos get noticeably more clicks and calls than ones that haven't been touched since setup. Job site shots, before-and-afters, and crew photos all count toward this.
Response time is now a visible metric on your profile. Businesses that reply within an hour convert a meaningfully higher share of messages into booked jobs.
The best time to ask is the moment a customer says thank you in person, not in a follow-up email three weeks later when the job has left their mind.