What does a Google Business Profile need now?

Why the profile beats the website for local work

For a roofer, a dentist or a salon, the Google Business Profile is usually the first thing a nearby customer sees, and often the only thing. Someone searching for an emergency plumber taps the map, scans the three results Google shows, and calls one before your homepage has finished loading. That block of three, the local pack, is where the decision happens.

Google ranks it on three things it has named for years: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well your profile matches what was typed, which you control through categories, services and the details you fill in. Distance is how close you are to the searcher, which you cannot change but can work around. Prominence is how established you look, built from reviews, activity and consistency across the web. Almost everything below is you feeding those three signals better than the business next door.

Get the categories right first

The primary category is the single most important field on the profile, because it tells Google what you fundamentally are. Dentist competes in a different race than Cosmetic dentist or Emergency dental service. Pick the one that matches your core money-making work, not the broadest label you can find.

Secondary categories cover the rest of what you do. An electrician might add Electrical installation service, Solar energy company and Security system installer. Add every category that genuinely applies and none that does not, because a category you cannot back up with real services is the kind of mismatch that gets profiles suspended in the current climate.

Fill in everything Google can read

An empty field is a ranking signal you handed to a competitor. The services list is the clearest example. Add each service as its own entry with a short, plain description, because those entries feed the relevance match and increasingly feed the AI answers Google now writes about local businesses. A profile that lists Boiler repair, Gas safety certificate and Underfloor heating installation can surface for all three. A profile that just says Plumber surfaces for none of them.

Hours matter more than they look. Wrong hours cost you the call and quietly train Google that your data is unreliable. Set your regular hours accurately and, just as important, set holiday hours before every public holiday, because a customer who drives to a closed shop leaves the review that undoes months of work.

Your business name goes in exactly as it appears on the storefront and your paperwork. Not Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber London. Just Smith Plumbing. Stuffing keywords into the name is the fastest route to suspension right now, and Google is enforcing it retroactively, so a name that worked for years can be flagged tomorrow and now often triggers a video verification you will fail if the name on your building does not match.

Reviews, replies and the end of Q&A

Reviews do double duty. They are a prominence signal, and they are the first thing a human reads before choosing between you and the next result. A steady trickle of recent reviews beats a big pile from two years ago, because both Google and the customer read recency as proof you are still active and still good. Ask every satisfied customer, make it a habit at the end of the job, and reply to every review, positive or negative. A calm response to a bad review reassures the people reading it more than the review itself worries them.

One thing has genuinely changed. The old questions and answers section, where anyone could post a question and anyone could answer, has been retired. Google wound the Q&A interface down through late 2025 and replaced it with an AI feature that answers questions by reading your website, your profile details and your reviews. The practical lesson is that seeding your own Q&A no longer earns its keep. The effort moves to the sources that AI now draws from: a clear services list, an accurate profile and a healthy review history.

Messaging is worth turning on only if you will answer it. A reply measured in minutes wins jobs. A message that sits unread for two days does more harm than having messaging switched off, so enable it only when someone is genuinely watching it during working hours.

Real photos, added on a schedule

Photos are not decoration, they are evidence. A profile with real pictures of your van, your team, the finished bathroom and the actual shopfront reads as a real business. Stock images and a lone logo read as a shell. Customers browse photos before they call, and a profile that keeps adding fresh ones signals to Google that the business is alive.

The mechanism to understand is decay. A profile set up once and never touched slides down quietly, because Google favours businesses that show ongoing signs of life, and because a stale profile accumulates wrong hours, unanswered reviews and outdated photos that push customers elsewhere. Adding a handful of genuine photos every few weeks is a small habit that keeps you visibly current.

Keep your name, address and phone identical everywhere

Google cross-checks your profile against the rest of the web to decide whether it trusts you. If your name, address and phone number match perfectly on your website, your directory listings and your social pages, that consistency reinforces prominence. If they conflict, an old address on one directory or a tracking number on another, Google has to guess which is right, and a profile it is unsure about ranks lower and is easier to suspend.

This is unglamorous work with real payoff. Write your name, address and phone in one exact format, then make every listing match it to the letter, including how you abbreviate Street or Suite.

A profile audit you can run this week

Open your profile as a stranger would, on a phone, and work down this list. Most trades and local businesses find three or four quick wins in an hour.

Common questions

Is my Google Business Profile more important than my website?

For local demand, usually yes. A nearby customer searching for your service sees the map and the three profiles in the local pack before they reach anyone's website, and many call straight from there. The website still matters for detail and trust, but the profile is where the first decision is made, so it deserves attention first.

Can I add keywords to my business name to rank higher?

No, and it is one of the riskiest things you can do right now. Your profile name must match your real storefront and paperwork, with no added services or locations. Google is suspending keyword-stuffed names quickly and enforcing it on profiles that got away with it for years, and a mismatch can trigger a video verification you will fail, so the short-term bump is not worth losing the profile.

What happened to the questions and answers section?

Google retired it. The Q&A interface was wound down through late 2025 and replaced by an AI feature that answers questions by reading your website, your profile and your reviews. Seeding your own questions is no longer worthwhile, so put that effort into an accurate services list and a strong review history, which is what the AI now draws on.

How often do I need to add photos?

A few genuine photos every few weeks is plenty for most local businesses. The point is not volume, it is showing ongoing life, since a profile that keeps adding real pictures reads as active to both customers and Google. Real shots of your work, team and premises beat stock images every time.

Which primary category should I choose?

Pick the one that matches your core, highest-value service, not the broadest label available. If you are a cosmetic dentist, Cosmetic dentist is more precise and less crowded than Dentist. Then add secondary categories for everything else you genuinely do, and check what your strongest local competitors use as a sanity check.

Should I turn on messaging?

Only if someone will actually reply, and quickly. Fast replies win jobs, but a message left unread for days frustrates the customer and reflects badly on you. If you can watch it during working hours, turn it on. If you cannot, leave it off and make your phone number easy to find instead.

Why did my profile slowly drop in the rankings?

An abandoned profile decays. Google favours businesses that show current activity, so a profile with no new photos, unanswered reviews and hours nobody has checked in a year gradually slides down while active competitors climb past it. The fix is a light, regular habit: fresh photos, review replies and a quick check that your details are still correct.