How to Optimise Your Google Business Profile (Tradie Guide)

There's something sitting in your Google Business account right now that you probably haven't touched in months. Maybe years. And yet, it's doing more work for you than your entire website.

Your Google Business Profile is the thing that shows up when someone searches 'plumber in Sydney' or 'roofer near Canberra.' It's the card with your business name, photo, phone number, address, opening hours, and customer reviews. Half the time, people never even click through to your website. They just look at your profile, read your reviews, and call you straight from Google.

So it makes sense to make it as good as possible, right? Yet most tradies just set it up once and forget about it.

Here's how to fix that:

Complete Your Information

Make sure your information is complete. And I mean complete. Your name, phone, address, website, hours of operation, all of it. Don't abbreviate anything. Use your actual full business name. If your hours change seasonally, say so. If you close for lunch, put in the exact times. Google rewards complete profiles with better rankings, and people trust a business that's given them full information.

Add Quality Photos

Add quality photos. Not just the front of your shop (though that's good). Show your work. Before-and-after shots of jobs you've done. Team photos. The workshop. When someone's deciding whether to call you, seeing actual examples of what you do builds trust instantly. And Google ranks profiles with more photos higher in search results.

Get Reviews

Get reviews. Proper reviews. Not fake ones—just make it genuinely easy for your actual customers to leave you feedback. Send a text after you finish a job. Include a review link in your invoice. Ask on the phone. The more recent, genuine reviews you have, the higher you rank. Full stop. This is the single biggest lever you have in Google Maps.

Respond to Every Review

Respond to reviews. Every single one. If someone leaves you a bad review, respond professionally and try to fix it. If someone leaves you a good review, thank them. Google watches how engaged you are with your profile and rewards businesses that actually pay attention.

Use Google Posts

Use the Posts feature. Google lets you post updates right on your profile. A new special, a before-and-after job, a safety tip, whatever. These show up in search results and on your profile. People see them and think, 'Oh, these guys are actually active.' It costs you nothing.

Add Service Areas

Add service areas. If you service multiple suburbs or even multiple regions, tell Google. You can add multiple service areas to your profile, which means you'll show up when someone in Wollongong searches for your service, not just your home suburb.

This takes maybe a couple of hours to set up properly. And I'm not exaggerating when I say it's one of the highest-ROI things you can do. A well-optimised Google Business Profile can bring you more jobs than anything else you're doing online.