How to Get More Work From Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is the single most powerful free marketing tool available to a UK tradesperson – and most tradespeople are using it at about 20% of its potential. A basic claimed profile with a phone number and a handful of reviews is a start. But there’s a significant gap between a profile that exists and a profile that actively wins you work.
Why Google Business Profile Matters More Than Ever
When a homeowner searches “electrician near me” or “plumber [town name]”, the first thing they see – above organic website results and often above paid ads – is the local map pack. Three Google Business Profile listings showing a map, star rating, phone number, and description. Those three spots get the vast majority of clicks for local trade searches.
Google determines which profiles appear based on proximity to the searcher, relevance to the search term, and prominence signals including review count, review quality, how complete the profile is, and how active it is. All of these are things you can directly influence. The tradespeople who appear consistently in the map pack are not necessarily the best in their area – they’re the ones who’ve put the work into their profile.
Step 1: Claim and Verify Your Profile
A significant number of UK tradespeople are still operating on an unclaimed profile – Google created one for them based on online mentions, but they’ve never taken ownership of it. An unclaimed profile can’t be fully optimised and doesn’t signal activity to Google.
Go to business.google.com, search for your business name, and claim it if it exists. If it doesn’t, create one from scratch. Verification is typically done by postcard to your business address. Once verified, you have full control over what Google displays.
Step 2: Complete Every Section Fully
Google explicitly rewards complete profiles with better visibility. Most tradespeople fill in the basics – business name, phone number, address – and stop there. Make sure these sections are fully completed:
- Business category – choose the most specific primary category for your main trade, then add secondary categories for other services
- Service area – list every town and postcode area you serve; this determines where your profile appears in map pack results
- Services – not just “plumbing” but “boiler installation”, “bathroom fitting”, “leak detection” – Google uses these to match your profile to specific searches
- Business description – 750 characters to describe what you do and where; include your main trade keywords and location naturally
- Opening hours – including whether you offer emergency callouts outside standard hours
- Website link – if you have one, link it; if you don’t, this is a reason to get one
Step 3: Build Your Review Count Systematically
Reviews are the single biggest factor in both how prominently your profile appears and how often customers actually call you. A tradesperson with 50 four and five star reviews will appear above a competitor with 5 reviews in almost every case.
The practical process:
- After every completed job, send a follow-up message – text or WhatsApp works better than email – thanking them and including a direct link to your Google review page
- If a customer compliments your work in person or by message, ask directly: “It would really help me if you could leave that as a Google review – I’ll send you the link now”
- Don’t ask for reviews in bulk at the end of the year – Google’s algorithm can flag this as suspicious. Ask after each job as a consistent habit
Target 20 reviews as your first milestone. At 50+ you’ll be competing for the top map pack spot in most areas.
Step 4: Respond to Every Review
Most tradespeople don’t respond to their Google reviews at all. Google considers owner responses as an activity signal – a profile with regular responses looks more engaged than one that ignores feedback. For positive reviews: thank by name, mention the specific job, reinforce your service area. For negative reviews: respond calmly, acknowledge the concern, and offer to resolve it offline. A professional response to a negative review often converts undecided customers more than ten positive ones.
Step 5: Add Photos Regularly
Profiles with photos receive significantly more clicks than those without. For a tradesperson, before and after photos of completed work are your most powerful conversion tool – they show exactly what quality of work to expect. Add at least a couple of new photos per month – recent activity signals to Google that your business is active.
Step 6: Use Google Posts
Most tradespeople have never used Google Posts – the update feature within the Business Profile dashboard. This is a competitive advantage because so few competitors use it. Posts appear directly on your Business Profile in search results and can announce availability, promote seasonal offers, or share completed job highlights. Posts expire after seven days so aim to add one per week – it takes five minutes and signals active business activity to Google.
Step 7: Answer Questions in the Q&A Section
The Questions and Answers section is often ignored entirely. Customers can ask questions publicly – and if you don’t answer, anyone can, including competitors. You can also seed your own questions and answers by asking and answering the questions customers most commonly ask you by phone. These answers appear prominently on your profile and reduce the friction between a customer finding you and calling you.
Keeping Jobs Organised Once the Enquiries Come In
A well-optimised Google Business Profile generates more enquiries – but enquiries only convert to revenue if you follow up quickly. A customer who called at 9am and didn’t hear back by 10am has already called someone else. Tradify lets you log every new enquiry, convert it to a quote, and follow up automatically if the quote hasn’t been accepted.
Try Tradify Free for 14 DaysThe Bottom Line
Most tradespeople are leaving significant work on the table by not fully optimising their Google Business Profile. Complete every section, build reviews consistently, respond to all feedback, add photos regularly, and use Google Posts weekly. This is the highest-return marketing activity available to a UK tradesperson – and it costs nothing beyond your time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Complete every section of your profile fully including all services, service area towns, and your business description. Build reviews consistently by asking every satisfied customer. Respond to every review. Add new photos at least twice a month. Use Google Posts weekly to signal that your business is active. The profiles that appear in the top map pack for local trade searches are almost always the ones that have done all of these things, not just some of them.
Target 20 reviews as your first milestone – at that point your profile starts to rank meaningfully for local searches. At 50+ reviews you will be competing for the top map pack spot in most areas. The quality of reviews matters too – reviews that mention specific services (“great job installing our boiler”) add keyword relevance as well as credibility. Ask every satisfied customer to leave a review and make it easy by sending a direct link.
Yes – always. A negative review with no response looks significantly worse than one with a calm, professional reply. Potential customers who read the review will also read your response and are assessing how you handle problems. Acknowledge the concern, offer to resolve it offline, and never argue publicly. A measured response to a negative review often does more to protect your reputation than the review does to damage it.
In 750 characters: clearly state what you do and where (e.g. “Gas Safe registered plumber serving Glasgow and the surrounding area”), list your main services, mention any key accreditations (Gas Safe, NICEIC, MCS), and include a reason to call you (years of experience, emergency availability, free quotes). Include your main trade keyword and location naturally – but write for customers first, not for search engines. Avoid keyword stuffing.
Aim for at least one Google Post per week. Posts expire after seven days and each new post signals active business activity to Google’s ranking algorithm. Good post topics include: availability announcements for your area, seasonal offers, recently completed job highlights, and information about grants or schemes relevant to your trade. Each post takes five minutes to write and publish from within your Google Business Profile dashboard.
Yes, completely free. There is no cost to claim, set up, or maintain a Google Business Profile. You can also run Google Local Services Ads (a paid option) that appear above the map pack with a “Google Guaranteed” badge – but the standard Business Profile is entirely free. The investment required is time: completing the profile fully, asking for reviews consistently, and keeping the profile active with regular posts and photos.
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