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The 20-Minute Google Business Profile Fix for Tradies

Right now, someone in Reservoir is typing "electrician near me" into their phone. Google's about to show them three names and a map. If yours isn't one of them, chances are your work isn't the problem. Your Google Business Profile is half-finished, or it's still sitting unclaimed with nobody home.

Good news: fixing the main things takes about twenty minutes. You don't need an agency for this part. Grab your phone, a few photos off last week's jobs, and twenty minutes without the tools in your hands.

Why this listing matters more than your website

Your Google Business Profile (still called "Google My Business" by half the tradies in Melbourne, even though Google renamed it back in 2021) is the free listing that decides whether you show up in that three-name map pack when someone searches for a tradie nearby. Category, service area, hours, photos and reviews all feed into it. It's checked and re-checked automatically. Nobody at Google reads it once and forgets about it.

A flashy website doesn't fix a weak profile. Most people never click through to a website at all. They see three names on a map, and they call one.

Before you start: what to have on hand

Two minutes of prep saves you fumbling mid-edit.

• Your exact business name, matching what's on your invoices and your van signage, not a shortened version.
• Your direct mobile number, not a landline nobody answers.
• The suburbs you drive to for jobs, not just where the ute sleeps overnight.
• Five to ten photos already on your phone from real jobs: you on site, finished work, the van. Not stock images.

Got those four things? You're ready.

Step 1: Get the category right (3 minutes)

Search "Google Business Profile" and either claim the listing that already exists for your business, or start a new one if nothing comes up. Then go to the category field.

This is the single biggest lever in the whole profile, more than photos, more than your description. Google uses your primary category to decide which searches you're even eligible to show up for. "Plumber" is fine. "Emergency plumber" or "Gas fitter" is better if that's your main trade. The more specific the category, the more precisely Google can match you to what someone typed.

Don't stop at one. Google gives you a primary category plus room for several secondary ones. An electrician who also does switchboard upgrades and smoke alarm compliance can add those as extra categories, as long as it's work they do. Skip categories that just make you look bigger than you are. It doesn't help, and it can work against you if the mismatch is obvious.

Step 2: Set your service area, not a shopfront address (3 minutes)

Most trades don't have a shop customers walk into. If that's you, don't list your home address as a business address. Google is explicit that service-area businesses like plumbers and electricians should hide the address and set a service area instead.

In the profile editor, go to the location section and switch to service area. You can list up to 20 suburbs, postcodes or nearby towns. List the ones you'll drive to for a job, not every suburb in greater Melbourne. A locksmith who covers Brunswick, Coburg and Preston should list those three, not stretch to Frankston because it sounds like more reach. A wider area doesn't win you more calls. It just makes the match between your profile and a real search less precise.

One thing worth knowing: changes to your service area can take up to 48 hours to show publicly. Don't panic if it doesn't update the second you hit save.

Step 3: Write the services and description in plain language (4 minutes)

There's a services section and a business description field. Both get skipped constantly, and both are free real estate.

For services, list what you do, using words a customer would type, not internal trade terms. "Hot water system replacement" and "Blocked drain clearing" beat a single vague line like "Plumbing services." Add price ranges if you're comfortable, even rough ones. Profiles with detail here tend to look more credible than a bare list.

Be just as specific in the description: "Licensed electrician servicing Preston, Reservoir and Thornbury. Switchboard upgrades, smoke alarm compliance, emergency callouts." That sentence tells both a human and an AI tool exactly what to match you against. "Quality service you can trust" tells them nothing. It's the kind of line every second competitor already has, and it does no work for you at all.

Step 4: Add real photos, not stock (3 minutes)

Ten photos is a reasonable minimum to aim for over time, but for today, add whatever real ones you've got: you on the job, the finished work, your van with signage visible. A single decent photo of yesterday's install beats any stock photo of a generic toolbelt.

Photos do two jobs. They reassure a customer this is a real local operator, not a lead-generation front. They also signal to Google that the profile is active, which matters more than people expect. A profile that hasn't been touched in a month starts to look neglected, and neglected profiles get quietly buried in favour of ones that show recent activity.

Step 5: Lock in hours, phone number and booking links (2 minutes)

Straightforward, but worth doing properly:

• Phone number: the one you'll actually answer, checked twice for typos.
• Hours: including whether you take emergency after-hours calls. If you do, say so. It's a genuine point of difference.
• Website link, if you have one. If you don't yet, that's a separate problem for another day. Don't let it hold up finishing this profile.

Double-check this phone number and business name match exactly across your website, any directories you're listed on, and this profile. Mismatched details across the internet, a slightly different phone number here, a different business name there, are one of the quietest ways tradies lose trust with Google, and almost nobody checks for it.

Step 6: Verify the listing (3 minutes to start, may take longer to clear)

Nothing you've just filled in shows up publicly until Google verifies you're a real, operating business. Google decides which method it offers you: phone, text, email, or a short video where you show your signage, your work area and a live action like turning on a light. Postcard verification, the old default, has largely been phased out in favour of these faster options. You don't get to pick your preferred method. Google offers whatever it decides fits your business type and location, so follow whatever it shows you.

If you're offered a video verification, keep it to one continuous take. Show your van or signage, a work area, and something that proves you're managing the listing live, like opening the Business Profile app on screen. A choppy, edited video is more likely to bounce back for another attempt.

This isn't set-and-forget

The twenty minutes above gets the bones right. What keeps you visible after that is smaller and ongoing: a new photo every few weeks, hours updated around public holidays, and replying to every review, good or ordinary. Profiles that go quiet for a month tend to slide backwards even if nothing was technically wrong with them. Profiles that show a bit of life every week or two tend to hold their spot.

None of this is complicated. It's just easy to let slide when you're ten hours into a job and the last thing on your mind is Google. That's exactly why so many Melbourne tradies' profiles are stuck half-done.

Check where you actually stand

Filling in the profile is one half of it. Knowing whether it's actually working, whether you show up when someone nearby searches, and whether AI tools like ChatGPT would even mention you, is the other half.

Our free AI visibility check runs that test for real: eight quick questions, a clear look at where you sit on Google and with AI assistants, no sales call attached. Run the free check and see exactly where the gaps are.

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