How to set up your Google Business Profile (the right way, in 30 minutes)

Google Business Profile (GBP) is free. It takes 30 minutes to set up properly. Most trades businesses either skip it entirely or fill out half of it badly. Either way, they leave money on the table.

Here's the complete walkthrough. Do this on a laptop, not a phone, the first time. Have a few job photos handy before you start.

Step 1: Register at business.google.com

Sign in with a Google account you'll keep long-term. If you're between personal Gmail and a workspace email, use the workspace one (for example, your @yourbusiness.ca email if you have one set up).

Click "Manage now" and enter your business name. Spell it exactly as you want it to appear, with proper capitalization. If your registered name is "Smith Plumbing & Heating Ltd.", enter that. Don't add "Edmonton" or "Plumber" to the name. Google penalizes keyword-stuffed names.

Step 2: Pick your primary category carefully

This is the single most important decision in the whole setup. Your primary category determines what searches you show up for.

Don't pick "Contractor" if you're specifically a plumber. Pick "Plumber." The more specific the category, the better the relevance match.

Common trade categories:

• Plumber, Emergency Plumber, Drain Cleaning Service
• HVAC Contractor, Heating Contractor, Air Conditioning Contractor
• Electrician, Electrical Installation Service
• Roofing Contractor, Roof Inspector
• Painter, House Painter, Commercial Painting
• Masonry Contractor, Bricklayer
• Welder, Welding Service
• Handyman, Handyman Service
• Concrete Contractor
• Landscape Designer, Landscape Contractor

You can add up to 10 secondary categories later. The primary is the one that defines your default search relevance.

Step 3: Service area vs storefront

If customers come to you (you have a showroom or shop they walk into), you're a storefront. Enter your address.

If you go to customers (which is most trades), you're a service-area business. This is the right pick. Enter your address during signup for verification purposes, then hide it from the public listing by setting "I deliver goods and services to my customers" and unchecking "I also serve customers at my business address."

Service areas: enter every city, town, and neighbourhood you'll drive to. For an Edmonton-based business, that probably looks like: Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Stony Plain, Beaumont, Fort Saskatchewan, Devon, etc. You can enter up to 20 service areas. Use all of them.

Step 4: Verification (the slow part)

Google needs to confirm you're a real business. The most common method is a postcard mailed to the address you provided during signup. It takes 5 to 14 business days to arrive.

The postcard contains a 5-digit code. Enter it in your GBP dashboard and the listing goes live publicly.

Two notes:

• The code expires in 30 days. Verify the moment it arrives.
• Some businesses get phone or email verification options. Take them if offered, they're faster.

Step 5: Hours

Enter the real hours you answer the phone. If you don't take calls on weekends, don't list weekend hours. If you do 24/7 emergency, list 24/7.

Special hours: set holiday hours in advance. Customers who call on Christmas Day and find you "open" when you're not get frustrated and never call again. Closed-on-holiday is a known status; just-doesn't-answer is a one-star review waiting to happen.

Step 6: Description

750 characters max. Write it like a person, not like an SEO spammer. Include:

• What you do (one or two sentences)
• Where you serve (named cities)
• What makes you different (briefly)
• Years in business or experience signals

Example for a hypothetical Edmonton plumber:

"Smith Plumbing is a family-owned plumbing business serving Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and St. Albert. We handle emergency repairs, drain cleaning, water heaters, and full bathroom renovations. Twenty years in the trade, fully licensed, and we answer the phone seven days a week. Flat-rate pricing, written quotes before any work starts."

No links, no phone numbers (Google strips them). No "best in town" or "top-rated" (auto-flagged as promotional).

Step 7: Photos

This is the part most trades businesses skip and shouldn't. Listings with at least 10 photos get 35% more clicks. Listings with 100+ photos rank measurably higher.

Required photos:

• Logo (square, 720x720 minimum). If you don't have one, take a clean photo of your business name on your truck door.
• Cover photo (wide, 1080x608). A photo of you on a job site, or your truck, or your team. Authentic beats stock.
• 5+ photos of completed work ("after" shots).
• 2+ photos of you and your team. Customers want to see a face.
• 1+ photo of your work vehicle with your branding visible.

Add new photos every week or two ongoing. Google rewards recent activity. A profile that hasn't been touched in 6 months ranks lower than one that gets a new job photo every Friday.

Step 8: Services list

Add every specific service you offer with its own entry. Don't lump them. For a plumber: "Emergency repairs," "Drain cleaning," "Water heater installation," "Bathroom renovation," "Hydronic heating," "Backflow prevention," etc.

Each service can have a brief description (250 characters) and a price if you want to publish it. Posting prices isn't required but it helps qualify leads. If your minimum trip charge is $120, posting it filters out the people who were calling around hoping for $50.

Step 9: Q&A and posts (ongoing)

GBP has two often-overlooked features:

• Q&A: potential customers can post questions on your profile. Answer them quickly (within 24 hours). Better: pre-empt them. Post your own common questions ("Do you do emergency service after hours?", "Do you provide free quotes?") and answer them. The answers show up to everyone searching.
• Google Posts: mini-updates that appear directly on your profile, like a built-in social feed. Use them for promotions, photos of recent jobs, or company news. Posts older than a week get downweighted, so posting weekly keeps the profile active.

Common mistakes

• Stuffing the business name with keywords. "Smith Plumbing - Best Plumber Edmonton" gets penalized. Use your real business name only.
• Listing a fake address. Google verifies. A virtual mailbox address might survive briefly, then the listing gets suspended.
• Inconsistent name/address/phone across the web. The exact same business name, address format, and phone number need to appear identically on your website, your GBP, and any directory listings (Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc.). Inconsistencies are interpreted as separate businesses and hurt rankings.
• Ignoring it after setup. A GBP that hasn't been touched in 90 days ranks lower than an active one. Add a photo. Answer a question. Post an update. Pick a day each week (Friday before you head home is good) and touch the profile.

After you've finished setup

The single highest-leverage thing you can do is start collecting reviews. We wrote a separate post on the exact playbook: How to actually get more Google reviews for your trades business.

When we build websites for trades businesses at TOUGH Web Co., GBP setup is included with every Standard build. We do this part for you, claim and verify the profile, hook it to your domain, and hand it over fully ready. If you'd rather not figure it out yourself, drop us a line.

If you're going to DIY: do it this week. Every week it sits unclaimed is a week your competitors are climbing the local results without competition.