Step 1: Claim and verify your Google Business Profile
Search for your business name on Google Maps. If a listing exists, claim it. If not, create one at business.google.com. Google says creating a Business Profile and listing your business is free. Google then verifies that you run the business, by a method it chooses, which can take days to weeks.
If customers do not come to you, you are a service-area business. Google’s rules say to remove your address from the profile in that case and list the areas you serve instead, up to 20. A plumber in Herndon might list Herndon, Reston, Ashburn, Sterling and the other towns the vans reach.
Step 2: Fill in every field that matters
- The primary category: the closest match to what you do, such as Plumber rather than Contractor
- Your services, each named the way customers search for them
- Hours, including holiday hours, so Google never shows you open when you are closed
- Your phone number and website, the same as on your site
- Photos of real jobs, your team and your vehicles
- A plain description of what you do and where you do it
Step 3: Know how Google decides who shows up
Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence: how well your profile matches the search, how far you are from the searcher, and how well known the business is. Distance is fixed. Relevance comes from a complete profile and a site that names your services and towns. Prominence comes from reviews and from what Google finds about you across the web, including links, articles and directories.
Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Ads are a separate product, and Google labels them as sponsored.
Step 4: Get reviews and answer them
Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Ask every happy customer, right after the job, with your review link. Answer every review, good or bad, in a sentence or two, in your own voice. Never buy reviews or post your own; that breaks Google’s policies.
A text right after the job reaches the customer while the work is fresh. Our automation can send that request for you after each job.
Step 5: Make your website agree with your profile
Your website is where the profile sends people, and part of what Google finds about you. Use the same business name, phone number and hours on both. Give each main service its own page, and write out the towns you serve in plain text. A site that loads fast on a phone, with a call button on every page, turns the search into a call.
Put the same name, phone and service area on the main directories too: Google counts what it finds about you across the web, so make sure it all agrees. If you have no site yet, see what a small business website costs.
Step 6: Keep the profile active
Post an update every week or two: a finished job, a seasonal reminder, an offer. Add new photos as you work. Update your hours before holidays. Check your profile’s performance numbers each month: searches, calls, website clicks and direction requests.
Answer the calls the profile brings in. A listing that sends people to voicemail loses them to the next one on the map; an AI receptionist picks up when you cannot.
If you would rather not do this yourself, Get Found on Google does all of it, from $500 a month, month to month. Nobody can promise a ranking, and we never do; we do the work Google says matters. We are based in Herndon and work across Northern Virginia and DC.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help: how to improve your local ranking; Google Business Profile Help: service-area businesses; Google Business Profile: is it free.