Google Business Profile for tradies: setup, reviews and better enquiries

A tradie's Google Business Profile should show your trade, where you work and how customers can reach you. Use a service area profile when customers don't visit your base. Be clear about when someone can respond. Then show real work, invite honest reviews and check which enquiries become booked jobs.

Set up an eligible profile and keep control

Google Business Profile (GBP) is the free listing that shows your business in Google Search and Maps. Fix what's on it before you post more often.

Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence means how well known and well regarded a business is. No upload routine controls your Maps visibility. Our Google Business Profile guide covers setup and verification step by step.

A service area business goes to its customers and doesn't receive them at its base. Google's guidelines say it should hide its address. A hybrid serves customers at a genuine eligible location and also travels to them. It can show the storefront and set a service area.

Eligibility still depends on the details, as these two examples show:

• A mobile electrician runs the business from a home office. Customers never visit. The address stays hidden.

• A plumbing business has a staffed public workshop with permanent signage. It also sends vans out, so it may be hybrid.

Don't show a home address to chase visibility. A mailbox, a borrowed office or a virtual office address doesn't make a business eligible.

Choose categories that describe the business

Your primary category is your core business. Secondary categories must reflect genuine services you're capable of delivering. Treat these as example labels to check in the current selector, not exact names:

Arranging a subcontractor doesn't turn a builder into every trade it hires. A common mistake is adding a category for work you only arrange.

One business offering plumbing, drainage and hot water shouldn't create a profile for each service. It shouldn't create one per suburb either. Each location needs separate service areas and separate staff to have its own profile. Genuine separate businesses need a case by case check.

Keep ownership with the business

Use roles, not shared passwords, and keep this record:

• a business controlled primary owner

• named managers, removed when they leave

• secure recovery access for each account

• proof of the real operation and the ownership record

Only the primary owner can transfer primary ownership. New owners and managers wait 7 days before they can manage every feature. Remove former agencies and staff promptly.

If the profile disappears or gets suspended, read the notice and the policy issue. Preserve your evidence and sign in to Google's support route. Don't create a duplicate profile as a workaround.

Choose realistic service areas

Service areas describe where you actually work. Google allows up to 20, using recognised places such as suburbs or postcodes. You can't set a radius. Your overall area generally shouldn't extend beyond about 2 hours of driving from your base.

Google's guidelines add that larger areas may suit some businesses. Neither number is a target or a ranking promise.

Pick coverage using what you can actually deliver:

• travel time and job value

• technician capacity

• emergency commitments

You might take a planned specialist job further away than you'd go for an urgent callout. Say so clearly on your website.

In this example, an electrician based in Brunswick lists suburbs the team works in every week:

• Brunswick and Coburg

• Fitzroy and Carlton

• Northcote and Thornbury

A regional team might work differently. A plumber in a large country town could list the outlying towns it visits on set days. Not every trade fits a city travel pattern.

A service area entry describes coverage. It doesn't create an office or remove distance from local ranking. Our guide to Google Maps ranking factors explains why. Our local SEO for small business guide covers the wider picture.

Suburb pages on your website need genuine service information. They mustn't imply premises that don't exist.

Make contact details and claims reliable

Your profile is a promise about who answers and what you'll do. Google's guidelines want your real world business name, with no service or location padding. Don't add keywords, licence numbers or hours to the name.

Set your ordinary hours and add special hours for holidays. Receiving a message isn't the same as delivering an emergency service.

Say an electrician takes bookings from 7 am to 5 pm, with voicemail overnight. The profile and website should describe exactly that.

An independently staffed emergency roster is different. Explain its hours and areas accurately. State its limits and fees too. Don't promise an arrival time your dispatch can't support.

The REC row applies to Victorian electrical contracting only. Energy Safe Victoria requires the REC registration number on promotional material, including advertisements, notices and statements. That number belongs to the contracting business. It isn't an individual electrician's licence number.

For plumbing, building and other trades, find the relevant regulator before applying any display rule. Don't assume Google supplies a licence field or checks the claim. One description entry won't satisfy every advertising rule.

Phone numbers and call tracking

The number must be under the business's direct control and connect to your business. A dedicated tracking number can help identify GBP calls if you control it. Keep your stable business number as an additional number where supported, and document both.

Some websites swap in a tracking number. Test it if you use one, and keep your business identity consistent. Plan how you'd keep the number if you change supplier. A tracked call still needs qualifying and deduplicating. Our call tracking guide covers numbers, routing and measurement, including for Google Ads.

Test every way customers reach you

Run the contact test on a real phone:

• tap the call button

• call outside standard hours and check where voicemail lands

• let one call go unanswered and see who calls back, and when

• send a real form enquiry

Record the date and the result, and note who owns any fix. Leave test calls out of your lead reports.

Name who covers each channel when technicians are on site, driving or off duty. Here's an example cover plan:

A voicemail inbox isn't a staffed emergency service.

Google's chat and call history notice says both old features ended on 31 July 2024. Eligible accounts can now offer text or WhatsApp contact. Chat options are only available in select regions. Check your editor and test where messages land. Name who monitors them.

Show real work with permission

Real job photos help customers judge your work. Use four kinds of subject:

• business identity, such as your team, vehicles and signage

• work in progress

• completed work

• site care, such as protected floors and a clean finish

Don't use staged unsafe work or AI generated installations as evidence. A photo isn't an inspection certificate. It shouldn't imply a result it can't show.

Before and after photos work well for painting, landscaping, roofing and renovations. For a fair comparison:

• shoot from the same spot and angle

• match the lighting where you can

• caption what was done, and any limits

Never make the before image look worse than it was.

Get permission from the right person before taking or publishing identifiable images. Staff and subcontractors need asking too. Permission to do the work isn't permission to market with its photos. Remove house numbers and faces you don't need. Keep documents and security details out of shot.

Keep a simple permission record for each job:

• job reference and image file names

• intended channels

• anything identifiable in the images

• who approved it, and when

• who to contact for removal

Leave the customer's address out of public captions. A caption like "Switchboard upgrade, inner west" says enough. If a customer withdraws permission, take the image down. A common mistake is treating a quick verbal yes as permission for everything.

A workable routine might be three approved photos a week, mostly completed jobs plus occasional team shots. Over 26 weeks, that's 3 × 26 = 78 planned photos. Quality, permission and relevance decide whether each one gets used. It's a workflow, not a ranking minimum.

Google's photo guidance asks for JPG or PNG files between 10 KB and 5 MB. It recommends 720 by 720 pixels and sets 250 by 250 as the minimum. Images should be in focus and represent reality. Check the live result, because your chosen cover photo isn't guaranteed to appear first.

Publish useful posts through the year

A useful post covers a customer issue and the actual service. Add truthful evidence, your coverage and a clear next step. Fill it from a real, approved job.

Here's an example for a plumber. A blocked stormwater drain was flooding a backyard after heavy rain. The team cleared and camera inspected the line in an inner northern suburb. The post links to the drainage service page.

For example, a cooling business might post pre summer servicing. A roofer might cover autumn gutters. A heating installer might cover winter checks. Completed jobs suit any month.

That's a southern temperate example. Northern wet and dry seasons and local storm patterns need a different calendar. Only post about work you're qualified to do. Skip DIY safety instructions. More posts don't mean higher rankings.

Google's post options are updates, offers and events. Posts older than six months are archived unless a date range is set. Google may reject a post with a phone number it can't link to your business. Use the action button and a working page instead.

Give every offer, closure and seasonal service a review or expiry date. Do the same for emergency availability and licence claims. If you schedule or repeat posts, check an expired price won't come back. An old post dropping out of view doesn't fix an inaccurate claim.

Ask for and respond to honest reviews

Ask every eligible customer at the same point, such as job completion or handover. Don't wait for a satisfaction score, then send the link only to happy customers. People should be free to decline or comment later. A QR card works, as long as nobody hovers while the customer writes.

Email works too, with a subject such as "Thanks for choosing us". Ask for an honest account and link straight to the review form. Offer everyone a separate way to contact you about outstanding work. Don't use it to divert unhappy customers away from reviewing.

Google's review policy rules out the following:

• gifts, discounts or payment for a review, a revision or a removal

• dictated keywords, suburbs, staff names or star ratings

• pressure, including on site

• staff review quotas

• reviews from employees or other conflicted people

• making work or a complaint outcome depend on a changed review

Google's ban on incentives applies even to a reward for any rating. A customer can choose to revise their own review. Never make anything depend on it.

The ACCC's Online reviews for product and services guidance makes two points. It's against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews. A business may also mislead consumers if it suppresses or edits negative reviews, or removes genuine ones. The ACCC's discussion of disclosed incentives doesn't override Google's stricter rule.

Before sending automated requests, check whether the message counts as commercial. The ACMA's spam rules cover consent, sender identification and unsubscribing. Having a customer's number isn't blanket marketing consent. A branded sender ID usually can't receive STOP replies, so offer another way out. Our guide to getting Google reviews legally covers the full Australian rules.

Don't confirm the customer's address, invoice or dispute details in public.

For a positive review, a short thanks is enough. Something like "Thanks, Sam. Glad the new hot water system is sorted."

If you can't match a review to a job, stay calm. Try "Thanks for the feedback. We can't find a job under this name and we'd like to understand what happened. Please call our main number." Don't accuse the author of lying.

You can report a review that breaks policy. Disagreeing with it isn't a reason to report. Keep your evidence private, respond calmly and track the report. Nobody can guarantee a deletion.

Connect the profile to a useful website

Link a single location profile to your main business page. An eligible branch should link to a substantial branch page. Check that services and coverage match the real operation. Licence details and contact options should match too. Explain callout conditions on your website.

Test the phone links and the form, including its error messages. Then confirm the enquiry reaches the right inbox. Our guide to web design for tradies covers page content. Our mobile SEO guide covers mobile pages. Keep your details consistent everywhere, as our guide to consistent business details explains.

Measure enquiries that become suitable jobs

Count the jobs, not the taps. Google's Calls metric counts call button clicks, not answered calls. Direction requests aren't jobs either, and rarely matter for a business with a hidden address.

GBP reports and call providers use different definitions, dates and filters. They won't match one for one. A common mistake is reporting call button clicks as answered calls.

Write down what qualified means for you. For example:

• a service you genuinely provide

• an area you can reach

• workable timing and a suitable scope

Merge repeat calls about the same enquiry. Count repeat customers separately if you're tracking new customers. A missed call you later recover is one enquiry, not two.

The 60 call button clicks stay outside the funnel. They aren't a verified set containing those 40 people. These are teaching inputs, not Elev8d results. Revenue and profit need job system records with a consistent cost basis. Use the SEO ROI Calculator only once you have those.

Add UTM tags to your website link. They're short labels that show your reports where a visit came from. A simple convention:

• utm_source=google

• utm_medium=organic

• utm_campaign=gbp

Add a branch label if you need one. Check the tags survive when the page loads. Keep customer data out of URLs.

Tagged traffic shows observed visits, not proof the profile caused every booking. Compare like periods, noting any changes, seasonal swings and staffing gaps.

Your 30 day action plan

Start with what's broken, then build routines you can keep up.

That's a plan, not a promise. It doesn't promise rankings, reviews or jobs by day 30.

After the first month, keep a simple cycle going. Check for unexpected public edits and availability changes as they happen. Do a deeper review each month. Keep up the day to day replies and holiday hours alongside it. Name one owner for the cycle.

Finish the month with a short check:

• an eligible profile with recoverable ownership

• truthful claims and working contacts

• approved evidence and neutral review requests

• a written definition for enquiry reporting

The Local SEO Readiness Checker can prompt what to look at next. A high score can't override a broken phone line or an ineligible profile.

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Written by Ajay K.Co-founder, Elev8d

Ajay is the co-founder of Elev8d and writes most of what you will read here. Psychology grad turned marketer, which is a fancy way of saying he cares about why people click, not just where things rank. Every guide is written in plain English for Australian businesses, tested on real campaigns before it earns a spot on this site.