Local SEO for contractors: a Google Business Profile guide

The short answer

For contractors, local SEO mostly means a Google Business Profile set up as a service-area business, with the category for your trade and a review after every finished job. Five habits:

1. Keep one profile for the business. Not one per city or per trade.
2. Hide your address if customers don't visit. Then list up to 20 cities or postal codes you work in.
3. Pick the category for your trade. "Roofing contractor", not just "Contractor".
4. Ask for a review at every final walkthrough. Send the link the same day.
5. Add project photos as you go. Real work, with the homeowner's permission.

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and popularity, and that "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google" (from its tips to improve your local ranking).

How should a contractor set up a service-area profile?

Most contractors work at the customer's property, so Google treats them as a service-area business. In its guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google says a service-area business "should hide your business address from customers", and uses a plumber as its example. It also says: "There should only be one profile per business."

One profile, not one per city

One shortcut you may be offered is a profile in every town, each with a virtual office or a friend's address. Google's rules close each part of that: a business without a storefront is "allowed one service-area Business Profile", a virtual office isn't eligible, and you shouldn't create more than one profile for each location. The towns go in your service area instead.

Setting the service area

Google's help page on service areas gives the path: on your Business Profile, Edit profile, then Location, then Edit next to Service area. You can add up to 20 cities, postal codes or other areas, but not a radius, and the whole area should stay within about 2 hours of driving from your base.

Showroom or yard customers visit?

Then you're what Google calls a hybrid business: you can show that address and also list service areas. Google says a place without permanent on-site signage isn't eligible as a storefront, so a storage yard nobody visits stays hidden.

Which categories fit your trade?

Your primary category tells Google what you are. Google's rules: use as few categories as possible, as specific as possible, and only ones that complete the sentence "this business IS a". You can add up to 9 more after the primary one (from Edit your Business Profile). "Contractor" on its own is rarely the best primary category when a trade category fits.

Category names contractors use on Google, by trade:

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

We checked these names against the categories businesses use on Google in October 2026. The pairings are our suggestions, not Google's, and the list differs by country, so type the start of the name in the category box and pick from Google's suggestions. Our guide to Google Business Profile categories goes deeper.

Setup checklist for a contractor profile

1. Use the name on your truck and invoices. Google doesn't allow service or location details in the name that aren't part of your real-world name.
2. Hide your address and set service areas. As above, unless customers visit a signed showroom.
3. Choose your trade's category. One primary, a few additional, all true.
4. Use a phone you answer. Google asks for a number under the business's direct control, and no numbers that redirect callers elsewhere.
5. List hours when you take calls. Google asks for regular customer-facing hours.
6. Set the attributes you're offered. Google gives the path in Manage your business attributes: Edit profile, then More. Identity attributes such as veteran-owned or women-owned are among them where they apply.
7. Verify with your equipment ready. Google picks the verification methods and may ask for more than one. On a live video call, Google asks you to show your location, branded equipment or tools you use with customers, and proof you manage the business (from Verify your business on Google). A lettered truck and your tools do that job. See our verification guide.
8. Show your license number on your website. Licensing rules vary by state and trade, and Google's Business Profile guidelines don't cover them; customers who check will look for it there. This is our advice.

How do you get a review after every job?

Google says "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." Contractors have a natural moment for it that most businesses don't: the final walkthrough, when the customer is looking at the finished work. Make the request part of closing the job:

1. Ask in person at the walkthrough. One sentence: most of your new customers find you on Google, and a review helps.
2. Text the link the same day. Our free review link generator makes the link and a QR code for your invoice.
3. Send one reminder, then stop. A few days later is fine; more starts to feel like pressure.
4. Ask every customer. Including the job that had problems.

Two rules from Google's prohibited and restricted content policy matter here: no incentives of any kind, so no discount on the next job for a review, and no asking only the customers you expect to be happy. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews has text and email templates.

Replying when the job ran late

Plenty of contractor reviews praise the work and complain about the schedule. A reply that thanks them for the praise, owns the delay and says what has changed shows the next customer what to expect:

More on tone and every star rating in how to respond to Google reviews. To skip writing each one, Mekomi's AI review replies draft a reply to every review. Once you switch auto-reply on, 4 and 5 star reviews can be answered during your opening hours, up to a daily cap, and 1 to 3 star reviews and complaints always wait for your approval.

Which project photos should contractors add?

Customers hiring a contractor want to see the work. Photos from real jobs do that better than any description:

• Finished work, in good light. The new roof from the street, the kitchen from the doorway.
• Work in progress. Framing, prep, the crew on site. It shows how you work, not just the result.
• Your truck and team. Customers like to know who will turn up.

Ask the homeowner before you post, and keep house numbers, street signs, faces and personal belongings out of the frame. Our guide to Business Profile photos covers sizes and what Google removes.

What gets contractor profiles suspended?

Google says it may suspend or disable profiles that don't follow its guidelines. For contractors, these are the usual causes:

• Extra profiles for each city. Google allows one service-area profile without a storefront.
• Fake or virtual addresses. Virtual offices, P.O. boxes and co-working desks without signage aren't accepted.
• Keywords in the name. The trade and city added to a name that doesn't include them.
• A showing address with no customer visits. Google says to remove it if you don't serve customers there.
• Review incentives. A discount for a review is fake engagement under Google's policy.

If it happens, Google's Fix suspended or disabled profiles page says to fix the issue, then appeal once with evidence such as a business license or registration whose name and address match the profile, and not to create a new profile for the same business. Our suspended profile guide covers the appeal.

What about Google Local Services Ads?

Local Services Ads are Google's paid option for many trades, separate from your free profile. Google says you pay per lead, only when a customer gets in touch from your ad, and that providers who pass its screening show a Google Verified badge (from Getting started with Local Services Ads). Google is moving them into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, starting with select US home and storefront service advertisers in August 2026 (from Local Services Ads transition to Performance Max). Whether you run them or not, the profile work on this page still applies.

A weekly routine for contractors

1. Reply to every new review. Low ratings first.
2. Check that every finished job got a review request. Match the week's completed jobs against the links you sent.
3. Add two or three project photos. From this week's jobs, with permission.
4. Post when there's something to say. A finished project, a seasonal service, a booking window. Our guide to what to post on Google Business Profile has ideas.
5. Once a month, search like a customer. Your trade plus "near me" from a few of your service areas, noting who shows above you.

For what moves you up the map after the basics, read how to rank higher on Google Maps. The same service-area rules apply to moving companies, and we have a separate guide for dentists, where the rules are about practitioners.