Google Business Profile for Contractors: The Complete Setup and Ranking Checklist

Google says this plainly in its own help pages. Relevance is how well your profile matches what someone searched for. Distance is how far you are from the searcher, or from the location in their search. Prominence is how well known you are, which Google says is influenced by things like links to your website and the number and rating of your reviews.

Google also says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. So if someone calls you promising "guaranteed top 3 on Google Maps," hang up. Everything that actually works is in this guide, and none of it costs anything except your time.

What that means in practice:

• Relevance comes from your category, your services, your description, your photos and the pages your profile links to
• Distance is the reason you'll rank well near your base and weaker 40 minutes away, no matter what you do
• Prominence comes from reviews (how many, how recent, how good), mentions of your business around the web, and links to your site

Search for your business on Google Maps first. There may already be a profile that Google created from public data, or one a former employee set up. Claim that one rather than creating a duplicate, because duplicates split your reviews and confuse Google.

Verification methods change, and Google may ask for a video showing your business, your equipment and proof of management. Have these ready: your business name on something physical (truck lettering, signage or tools), your license if your trade requires one, and access to the business phone and email. Don't try to verify from a location you don't operate from.

Service-area business or storefront?

Most contractors don't serve customers at their own address. If that's you, set the profile up as a service-area business. Google's guidelines say to remove your address and enter only your service areas if customers don't come to you. Showing a home address you don't receive customers at is one of the more common reasons contractor profiles get flagged.

If you do have a showroom or office where customers visit during stated hours, you can show the address and also list service areas.

"Summit Roofing" is fine. "Summit Roofing | Best Roofer Denver | Free Estimates" is not, unless that's genuinely your legal and branded name, which it isn't. Google's guidelines say your name should reflect how your business is consistently represented in the real world.

Competitors do report keyword-stuffed names, and edits can trigger a suspension or a re-verification. Use the name on your signage and paperwork, and keep it identical on your website, invoices and other directories.

Your primary category tells Google what you are. Secondary categories tell it what else you do. A few examples:

Then add secondary categories for the other real parts of your business, like "Gutter cleaning service" for a roofer who does a lot of gutter work. Don't add categories for services you'd turn down. Every extra category makes your profile a little less focused.

If you're unsure, search your main service in your area and look at which categories the top three profiles use. You'll usually see the right answer repeated.

That two-hour guidance comes straight from Google's service-area rules. Listing every town in the state won't make you rank in all of them, because distance still counts. It mostly makes your profile less trustworthy to the people who see it.

A practical approach:

1. 1List the towns and zip codes where you already have the most jobs
2. 2Add the places you want more work from, if you can actually get there
3. 3Drop anywhere you'd hesitate to drive for a small job
4. 4Revisit the list each season as your crews and routes change

Your website then backs this up. A page about "roof replacement in Lakewood" with real Lakewood jobs on it helps Google connect your profile to that town far more than adding Lakewood to a list. Our local SEO guide goes into how to build those pages without creating thin copies.

Go through each field:

• Phone number that a person answers during your stated hours
• Website link that goes to a relevant page, not just your homepage if a service page is better
• Hours, including when you answer the phone even if crews start earlier
• Services listed individually, with a short description for the main ones
• Description of 2 to 4 plain sentences: what you do, where, and what makes you different (skip keyword lists)
• Attributes that apply, like "Online estimates" or "Veteran-owned"
• Booking or quote link if you have a form homeowners can use

Test the phone number and every link on your own phone. You'd be surprised how many profiles send people to a broken page or a number that goes to a full voicemail box.

Google's photo guidelines are simple: JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, at least 250 x 250 pixels, with 720 x 720 recommended. Photos should be in focus, well lit, and without significant alterations or heavy filters. Videos can be up to 30 seconds and 75 MB.

What to upload:

• A clear logo and a cover photo that shows your work or your crew, not a stock image
• Before-and-after pairs from recent jobs, taken from the same angle
• Your crew and trucks (people trust faces and lettered vehicles)
• Close-ups that show quality: clean cut lines, tidy flashing, even mulch edges
• A short walkthrough video of a finished job

A realistic rhythm is a handful of new photos every month, spread out rather than 60 on one day. For how to take photos that actually look good, see our guide to before-and-after photos for contractors.

Business Profile posts let you share updates, offers and events. For contractors, the most useful post is simple: a recent job.

A post that works has four parts:

1. 1A photo of the finished work (the before-and-after pair if you have it)
2. 2One line on the problem: "Algae streaks on a north-facing roof in Littleton"
3. 3One line on what you did: "Soft wash, no pressure on the shingles, gutters flushed"
4. 4A link to the full project page or the matching service page

Aim for one post a week during your busy season. A homeowner who opens your profile and sees last week's job trusts it more than one whose latest post is from last spring, so consistency beats a burst of activity. If your tools can post each finished job to your Google Business Profile automatically, use that, because it's the part most contractors stop doing after three weeks. DonePages does this on Pro when you publish a job; the features page shows how.

BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey found 74% of people pay most attention to reviews from the last three months, and 68% want at least a 4-star rating before they'll use a business. So a steady trickle beats an annual push.

Ask every customer, right after the final walkthrough, with a direct link from your profile. Reply to every review, good or bad, within a day or two. Never offer anything in exchange for a review; Google prohibits incentives, and so does the FTC's 2024 rule on reviews. Our guide on how to ask customers for reviews has word-for-word scripts.

Watch out for these:

If you do get suspended, don't create a new profile. Fix the problem and request reinstatement through Google's official process, with evidence like your license, a utility bill and photos of signed vehicles.

The Performance section of your profile shows how people found you and what they did. The numbers that matter:

• Calls from the profile
• Website clicks, especially to your quote page
• Which search terms led to views (this tells you what Google thinks you're relevant for)
• Messages and booking clicks, if you've enabled them

Add tracking parameters to your website link so your website analytics can separate profile visitors from everyone else. Then once a month, compare profile calls and form submissions against jobs you actually booked. That's the only number that pays the bills.

Once a month:

1. 1Check your hours, phone number and service areas are still right
2. 2Upload five to ten new job photos
3. 3Make sure you've posted at least three finished jobs in the last month
4. 4Reply to any review you haven't answered
5. 5Tap your phone number and website link to make sure they work
6. 6Write down calls and website clicks from the Performance tab

For the bigger picture of getting found across Google and your own website, read the local SEO guide for contractors.