The Google Business Profile checklist most service businesses fail

Google decides whether you show up in the map results largely from profile fields most owners set once and never touch: your primary category, secondary categories, the services list, service area, hours, photo recency, posts, and Q&A. Fourteen fields in all — and most service business profiles get fewer than half of them right.

The misses are quiet but expensive. The wrong primary category caps your ranking and you'll never see an error message about it. An empty services list means you don't surface for searches like "water heater replacement near me" even when that's half your revenue. Photos from three years ago signal a business that might not answer the phone.

None of this is one-and-done — Google visibly rewards profiles that are worked every month. The free assessment includes a field-by-field read of your profile against the top three businesses in your market, so you can see exactly which of the fourteen you're missing.