Open your Google Business Profile and look at the services section. If it is empty, or it has three generic entries in it, you have found the easiest unclaimed win in your account.
Services tell Google the specific jobs you do, in the words customers use. Categories say what kind of business you are. Services say what you actually sell.
One entry per job, not one entry per trade
The mistake is listing “plumbing” and stopping. Nobody searches plumbing. They search blocked drain, burst pipe, hot water not working, leaking tap.
Every one of those should be its own service entry. A plumber should have fifteen to twenty entries in there, not three.
The descriptions
Each service takes a description of up to 300 characters. Most people leave them blank. Fill them in.
- Say what the job involves, in a sentence.
- Name the thing people worry about. Price, mess, how long it takes, whether you turn up.
- Mention your area naturally if it fits, but do not stuff it.
- Write it like you are answering someone on the phone, because that is effectively what it is.
What to include
Work through this and you will find more than you expect:
- Every job type you would take tomorrow.
- Emergency and after-hours versions of those jobs, as their own entries.
- The small jobs you think are not worth listing. They are often the first call someone makes before a bigger one.
- Maintenance and servicing work, which people search separately to repairs.
- Anything seasonal you want to be found for before the season starts.
What not to do
- Do not list services you would not actually do. Google cross-checks against your website and a mismatch is a suspension risk.
- Do not repeat the same service with the suburb name tacked on fifteen times. That is keyword stuffing and it does not work.
- Do not leave the old list sitting there after you stop offering something.
How long it takes to show
Services feed what Google thinks you are relevant for, so changes take a couple of weeks to settle rather than appearing overnight. Do it once, properly, then leave it alone.
If you do nothing else to your profile this month, do this. It is free, it takes an afternoon, and most of your competitors have not bothered.
Rather not do this yourself? Our Google Business Profile management handles the profile, the posts and the reviews every week, for one monthly fee.