Local SEO
Your Google Business Profile Is Doing Half Your Marketing
By the LA Web Design team7 min read
When someone searches for a business like yours nearby, the first thing they see usually isn't a website. It's the map block with three businesses in it. That block is built almost entirely from Google Business Profiles. Yours is free, takes an afternoon to fill in properly, and most businesses stop after the phone number.
Categories are the single biggest lever
Your primary category decides which searches you're eligible for at all. Pick the most specific one that matches what you actually do, not the broadest. A business listed as “Contractor” competes with everyone; one listed as “Bathroom remodeler” shows up when someone searches for exactly that. Add secondary categories for the rest of your services, but keep the primary honest — it carries the most weight.
Fill in every field, including the ones that feel pointless
Services with descriptions. Products. Hours, including holiday hours. Attributes like wheelchair access or free estimates. Opening date. Service areas if you travel to customers. Every completed field gives Google another way to match you to a search, and fully filled profiles tend to outrank half-finished competitors with similar reviews.
Photos do more than decorate
Profiles with real photos get noticeably more clicks and direction requests than ones with a logo and nothing else. Post the actual work, the team, the storefront, the truck. Replace them every few months. Google reads recency here, and customers spot a stock photo instantly.
Google Posts are free space almost nobody uses
You can publish short updates — an offer, a finished project, a seasonal note — straight to your profile. They appear in your listing and they signal that the profile is active. Once every week or two is plenty. Most competitors post never.
The questions section is yours to seed
Anyone can ask a question on your profile, and anyone can answer — including people who don't work for you. Get ahead of it. Post the questions customers actually ask and answer them yourself. Do you offer free estimates? Do you work weekends? Which areas do you cover? It's the one place where you get to write both sides.
Consistency with your website matters
The name, address, and phone number on your profile should match your website and every directory listing exactly — same suite number, same abbreviations, same phone format. Google cross-references all of it. Mismatches are one of the quietest reasons a business underperforms in local results.
Ten minutes a month
Check the insights: which searches brought people in, how many called, how many asked for directions. Reply to new reviews. Confirm that Google hasn't auto-changed your hours or accepted someone's suggested edit to your address — it happens more than you'd expect. That's enough to keep the most valuable free listing you own working.