Google Business Profile for Tradespeople

Google Business Profile for Tradespeople: The Free Lead Engine

A Google Business Profile is the single best free lead source for most UK trades — it’s what puts you in the map results when someone nearby searches “electrician near me”. It costs nothing, it takes an evening to set up, and a well-run profile can bring in enquiries every week without a penny of ad spend. Yet plenty of good trades either don’t have one or set it up years ago and never touched it again. This is how to fix that.

What a Google Business Profile is

A Google Business Profile (the tool used to be called Google My Business) is your free listing on Google Search and Google Maps. When someone searches for a trade in your area, Google shows a small map with a handful of local businesses pinned on it — the “map pack”. Those three businesses get the lion’s share of the clicks and calls. Your profile is what gets you into that pack.

It’s also where your reviews live, your phone number, your opening hours, your photos and a link to your website if you have one. For a lot of homeowners, your Google profile is your shopfront — they’ll judge you on it before they ever ring.

Setting it up from scratch

Head to google.com/business and follow the steps. The essentials:

1. Business name. Use your real trading name exactly as customers know it. Don’t stuff it with keywords like “Dave’s Cheap Fast Emergency Plumber Reading” — Google can suspend profiles for that, and it looks like spam.
2. Category. Pick the most accurate primary category (Electrician, Plumber, Roofer, and so on). You can add secondary categories for the other work you do.
3. Service area. Most trades don’t want customers turning up at their home, so set your profile as a service-area business. You list the towns or postcodes you cover instead of showing a street address.
4. Phone and website. Add a number you actually answer and, if you have one, your website. No website yet? A profile still works on its own.
5. Verification. Google needs to confirm you’re real, usually by post, phone or video. This can take a few days, so start it early.

Optimising the profile so it actually ranks

Setting it up is the easy part. Getting into the map pack takes a bit more.

Fill in everything

A complete profile beats a half-finished one. Add your services as individual line items, write a clear description of what you do and where, set accurate opening hours (including whether you take emergency calls), and list the areas you cover. Google rewards profiles that answer a searcher’s questions without them having to click through.

Choose categories carefully

Your primary category does the heavy lifting for ranking. If you’re a heating engineer who mostly fits boilers, “Heating contractor” or a boiler-specific category will usually serve you better than a vague “Contractor”. Add the extra trades you do as secondary categories so you show up for those searches too.

Photos matter more than trades expect

Profiles with real photos get far more clicks than profiles without. Upload clear before-and-after shots of finished work, a photo of your van, and a picture of you or your team. It builds trust and it signals to Google that the profile is active. Add fresh photos regularly rather than dumping a batch once and forgetting.

Reviews: the part that wins the job

Reviews are the biggest thing separating the trade who gets the call from the one who doesn’t. Two roofers can be equally good, but the one with thirty recent five-star reviews wins on sight.

• Ask every happy customer. The best moment is right after you’ve finished and they’re pleased. A simple “if you were happy with the work, a quick Google review really helps me out” works. Most people say yes but never get round to it, so make it easy — send them the direct link by text.

• Reply to every review, good or bad. A short, professional reply to a good review shows you’re on the ball. A calm, non-defensive reply to a bad one shows future customers how you handle problems. Never argue in public.

• Keep them coming. A steady trickle of recent reviews beats a big burst two years ago. Google and customers both favour recency.

Don’t be tempted to buy fake reviews or write your own. Google is good at spotting it, the penalty can be a suspended profile, and one obviously fake review can make a homeowner distrust all the real ones.

Use Google Posts and the Q&A

Two features most trades ignore:

Posts let you add short updates to your profile — a recent job, a seasonal reminder (gutter clearing before autumn, boiler services before winter), or your current availability. They keep the profile looking active, which helps.

Questions & Answers appears publicly on your profile. Anyone can ask, and anyone can answer, so it’s worth adding the common questions yourself with good answers — do you give free quotes, which areas you cover, whether you’re Gas Safe registered or NICEIC approved. Left unattended, someone else might answer wrongly.

Keep it alive

A profile you set up and abandon slowly slides down the rankings. The upkeep is light: reply to reviews as they come in, add a photo or a post every couple of weeks, and update your hours around holidays. Fifteen minutes a week is enough to keep it working.

FAQ

Is Google Business Profile really free? Yes. Setting up and running the profile costs nothing. Google makes its money from ads elsewhere, but your organic listing and map presence are free.

Do I need a website to have a profile? No. Plenty of trades run entirely off their Google profile and a phone. A website helps you rank and gives customers more to look at, but it isn’t required to get started.

How long before I show up in the map results? After verification, a new profile can start appearing within days, but climbing into the top three for competitive searches takes weeks or months of reviews, photos and activity. Consistency is what moves the needle.

Can I list my home address if I work from home? You don’t have to. Set yourself up as a service-area business and you can hide your address while still covering the towns you work in — better for privacy and fine with Google.

How many reviews do I need to compete? There’s no magic number, but you generally want to be in the same league as the other trades ranking near you. Steady, recent reviews matter more than a big total, so keep asking after every job.

Turn local search into booked work

A strong Google profile brings enquiries in, but the ones that come through Trade Pilot are already qualified local jobs from homeowners ready to book — and you only pay when a real lead reaches you, never a monthly fee. Each lead is sold to no more than three trades in your area, so you’re not fighting the whole town for it. Run your Google profile and Trade Pilot together and you’ve got two free-to-start lead sources feeding the same diary.

Related reading: how to get reviews · how to get more work in 2026 · how to get local customers · best apps to run your business from the van