How To Create A Google Business Profile For Your Local Service Business: The Complete Guide

Establishing a robust online presence is crucial for local service businesses to attract and acquire new customers. One key element that plays a vital role in building this presence is having a Google Business Profile (GBP).

With growing reliance on reviews and ratings, it is now standard practice for a customer to research businesses before making a purchasing decision. This applies not only to physical products but also to local service industries such as foundation repair, plumbing, HVAC, med spa's, landscaping, turf installation, and other service-based businesses.

A fully filled out GBP with ample reviews will rank high in search results, meaning potential customers will see your businesses when searching for your services. Beyond that, they'll be able to see the social proof of your company's great service delivery from all of the five star reviews on your profile. These reviews are a crucial part of ranking high and generating leads, as we'll explain later in the blog.

What is a Google Business Profile?

A Google Business Profile is a listing that appears in Google search results and Google Maps when someone searches for your business, or businesses like yours. From this profile you can manage information about your business that is seen by the public, interact with customers, and generate new customers. 

Having a fully optimized Google Business profile with a substantial number of 5-star reviews is a game-changer when it comes to ranking higher in search results and driving more leads for your local service business.

Google values its user's experience and strives to deliver the most relevant and reputable results to its users. By optimizing your profile with accurate and up-to-date information, including business description, contact details, hours of operation, and relevant keywords, you signal to Google that you're a trustworthy and legitimate business. This means they'll show your profile to more people!

Why is a Google Business Profile Important?  

You Can Reach More Customers With No Ad Spend

A Google Business Profile is an amazing advertising channel that requires no ad spend and can generate leads organically. As you perform services, be adamant about asking your customers to leave reviews on your profile.

To put it simply, more reviews = your profile ranks higher in search results = more people seeing your listing on Google = more people clicking the 'call' button = more leads = more deals closed.

This is, of course, considering that the rest of your GBP is filled out as well.

Here's the caveat: it takes time gather reviews and make your listing rank higher. Not just days, but months depending on the volume of services you're providing. This is not an overnight process.

However, if you can consistently gather reviews and keep your GBP up to date, it can become a powerful organic lead generation channel without the need for ad spend. Once your profile is ranking high and has a lot of reviews, it is relatively easy to maintain it.

Now, if you do want results more quickly you can run paid advertising campaigns on Google or social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. These channels can bring ROI quicker, but you do need to invest money into them. We recommend (if you have the budget) to invest in both organic lead generation (building the Google Business Profile) and paid lead generation (Google, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok ads).

Paid advertising is the quickest way to build a consistent lead generation machine (which is our specialty!). That's outside the scope of this blog, so if you're interested in paid advertising and want to learn more, shoot us an email.

Now let's keep going!

Your Business Can Rank Higher In Search Results

More activity on your Google Business Profile = Google will rank it higher.

It is essential for you to fill out all available information about your business. Fill in as many possible sections on your Google Business Profile as you can. Not only does it answer potential questions customers may have, but it also ranks you higher in searches compared to similar businesses that have less information. 

Google uses keywords to rank things in its search results. Keywords are the words your customers are typing into Google.

So if you're a foundation repair company, you'd want to include a question in your profile like 'Do you offer foundation repair services in Orange County?'.

Then you'd write an answer to your own question that says 'Yes, we provide slab repair, water proofing, and other foundation repair services in Orange County'.

Notice how both the question and answer say 'foundation repair services in Orange County'?

When someone goes onto Google and types in 'foundation repair services Orange County', your profile has a chance of ranking higher than the profile that doesn't mention those keywords.

Reviews Help You Reach More Customers and Close More Deals  

Organic reviews and genuine communication with customers add a lot of value to your business. According to Qualtrics, 93% of consumers use online reviews to help them make a purchasing decision, with the majority of studies indicating that over 90% of people behave in this way.

Additionally, according to the same survey, 81% of consumers use Google reviews to influence their purchases. 

Have we made it clear how important reviews are yet?

Having a Google Business Profile gives you control over how your business appears and the information that appears when users search for your services. This allows you to maintain a long list of accurate information about your services (which makes you the authority that customers can trust).

In addition to the plethora of information you provide, you can also interact with customers through the Q&A section and reviews section. Overall, this is extremely advantageous for your business as it allows you to reach customers directly.

This adds to the legitimacy of your business by allowing people to directly contact you, as well as allowing other people to see the face of the business and interact directly with people. 

Hopefully you're now as excited as we are to create your Google Business Profile! Let's do it.

How To Create Your Google Business Profile

1. Sign in to your Google Account. If you don't have a Google account, you'll need to create one. This is not your personal account, sign up with your business email domain.

   • Create a new Google Account for your business here, and select ‘To manage a business’.

2. Once your business account is created, make a Google Business Profile here and click the ‘Get started’ button.

3. Enter your business name and choose a primary business category.

4. Click Next.

5. Choose whether you have a location customers can visit.

   

   For businesses with a storefront staffed during business hours: Click Yes.

   You may be asked to enter your business address or position a marker on a map for the location of your businesses.

   When finished, click Next.

   For businesses that don't have a storefront staffed during business hours: Click No.

6. Input your businesses address

7. Enter the service area of your business.

   

You can set your service area based on the cities, postal codes, or other areas that you serve. You can add up to 20 service areas. 

Pro Tip: When choosing your service area be realistic. Is someone really going to drive 2 hours to go to your business? Why would they if there is another business with the same service offering 5 minutes down the road? Nail down realistic service areas that you want to rank for.

8. Enter a phone number and website URL.

9. Click Next.

10. Select a verification option.

Tip: Review your information before you request verification.

To verify now: At the top, find the red banner and click Verify now.

To verify later: Click Verify Later.

Complete your Google Business Profile

It is crucial to complete as much information as available. Profiles with more information receive more visibility and higher levels of customer engagement (remember what we mentioned about keywords earlier in the blog?).

1. Add your services.

2. Add business hours.

3. Allow accepting messages. Remember to respond to messages that come in!

4. Add a business description.

Pro Tip: Think like your customer would. If they're typing in 'Best foundation repair services in Orange County', your description could say ' At Company XYZ we provide the best foundation repair services in Orange County. Call us today!'.

5. Add photos that highlight your business.

From there, click save and your profile will be complete!

Additional Advice

Manage your features

This includes….

• Using the Q&A Feature

This is crucial for ranking higher in Google search results. Businesses should manually enter common questions that a customer could be typing in online. 

For example: A foundation repair company’s frequently asked questions may be

“How so i know if the foundation on my home is damaged and needs repair?”

A simple answer could be:

“To see if your foundation needs to be repaired, hire a professional and schedule a foundation inspection appointment.”

Also....

• Add products and services 

• Create Business Profile posts 

• Save your Business URL for easy reference

• Share your reviews link with customers to generate more reviews

In Conclusion

A Google Business Profile is a powerful tool for local service businesses that helps you reach more customers and grow your online presence.

If you'd like to go beyond a Google Business Profile and get more customers with a lead generation machine, reach out to us at ClientKeeper.