Local SEO
When someone searches for a roofer, a remodeler or a concrete contractor near them, Google often shows a map with a few businesses on it before any website. Those are local results, and they come from Google Business Profile. Local SEO for contractors is the work of making your profile, and the website behind it, a strong answer for the searches made in the places you work. Unlike most marketing advice, much of it can be checked against Google’s own help pages, and this page sticks to them.
Marketing For Construction is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work on your profile or site.
Want help with your Google Business Profile and local search? Send the form with your trade and service area.
How Google ranks local results
Google states that local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity. It also says plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Each of the three is worth understanding, because they tell you what you can and cannot change.
| Factor | What Google means | What a contractor can do |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | How well a profile matches what someone is searching for | Complete every field accurately, pick the right category, describe your real services |
| Distance | How far the business is from the searcher | Little: keep your real address and list the areas you serve |
| Popularity | Google’s third factor, in its own word | Earn genuine reviews, keep your website strong, be known locally |
A fair summary of Google’s guidance is worth keeping in mind: what a business can do is keep its profile complete and accurate and earn genuine reviews. Anyone selling a shortcut around those three factors is selling something Google says does not exist.
Setting up a contractor Google Business Profile
Your business name, exactly as it is
Google’s guidelines say your name should reflect your business’s real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery and as known to customers. Extra details such as your service area or category belong in their own fields, not in the name. A profile called ‘Smith Roofing’ is right. ‘Smith Roofing Best Roof Repair Near Me’ is not, and keywords added to a business name or address lines break the guidelines.
Categories: few and specific
Google advises using as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business, choosing the most specific one that fits, and not using categories solely as keywords. A company that mainly does kitchen and bath remodels should choose the category that says that, not a long list of every trade it has ever touched.
One profile per location
Google’s guidelines say not to create more than one page for each location of your business. If you truly run separate locations, each can have its own profile. A second profile for the same office, or one for each town you drive to, breaks the rules.
Your address and your service areas
Most contractors work at the customer’s property, not at their own office, so the address question comes up often. The answer Google gives is simple: a business that serves customers at its address and also travels to them can enter both its address and its service area. Keep your real business address on the profile, and add the cities, counties or areas you actually serve.
- Keep the real address. It is part of who you are on Google, and the address customers, suppliers and inspectors know.
- Add service areas. List the places you really work, so the profile reflects where you travel.
- No virtual offices. Google says a service-area business cannot list a virtual office unless that office is staffed during business hours.
- Match your website. The name, address and phone on your website should be the same as on the profile.
If someone tells you to remove your address
Removing an address is not something we advise. Google lets you show both your address and the areas you serve, so the profile can be accurate about where you are and where you work.
Reviews: what is allowed and what is not
Reviews are public, customers read them, and both Google and the FTC have rules about them. Google’s Maps content policy does not allow reviews or ratings that have been paid for, directly or in kind; content posted from multiple accounts by or at the request of one person; offering incentives such as payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for posting any review; or discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking only happy customers. Google says fake engagement will be removed.
The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, adds federal rules on top. A business may not write, create or sell fake reviews, nor buy them when it knew or should have known they were fake. It may not give compensation or other incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Officers or managers may not post reviews of their own business without clearly disclosing the relationship. And a business may not suppress reviews through unfounded legal threats or intimidation.
- Ask every customer for an honest review, and offer nothing for it.
- Ask everyone, not only the customers you expect to be happy.
- Never review your own company, and never let staff do it without saying who they are.
- Reply to reviews calmly and factually, including the critical ones.
Photos, services and the details customers check
A complete profile is more than a name and a pin. Fill in your hours, the services you offer, a short description in plain words and the link to your website. Add your own photos of finished work, your vehicles and your team on site, with permission from anyone shown. Customers look at these when they compare two contractors on the map, and Google’s advice on relevance is to give complete and detailed business information.
Keep it current. If your hours change, a phone number changes or you stop offering a service, update the profile promptly. An out-of-date listing sends people to a closed door or a dead line, and some will not try again.
Where the website fits in local SEO
Your profile links to your website, and the website is where many people decide. A local search can also show ordinary web results under the map, so your site competes there too. The two work best together: a profile that says you remodel kitchens, linked to a page on your site that shows the kitchens you have remodeled and lists the towns you serve. The guide to contractor SEO covers the website side, and contractor website design covers how those pages should be built.
Where Local Services Ads fit
Google says Local Services Ads are shown prominently in search results when people search for the services an advertiser offers in the areas it has chosen. They are paid, not part of local SEO, but they draw on the same reputation. Google says you pay only for leads related to your business, that leads arrive as calls and messages, and that regularly failing to answer calls or messages may affect your ad ranking. Some verticals can show the Google Verified badge. Eligibility differs by trade and area, so check it in Google’s Local Services Ads sign-up. The page on Google Ads for contractors compares Local Services Ads with ordinary search ads.
A local SEO checklist for contractors
- Claim and verify your Google Business Profile, with you as owner.
- Use your real business name, exactly as customers know it.
- Choose the most specific primary category, and as few others as you need.
- Keep your real address and add the areas you serve.
- Fill in hours, services, a description and your website link.
- Add your own photos of your work.
- Ask every customer for an honest review, with no incentive.
- Make sure your website lists the same name, address and phone, and has a page for each service.
Local search is one piece of the plan. For the bigger picture of where enquiries come from, read lead generation for contractors.
Send the form for a local SEO proposal from an independent agency that works with contractors.
Questions owners ask
How does Google rank contractors on the map?
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Keep the profile complete and accurate and earn genuine reviews.
Should I hide my address if I work at customers’ homes?
No. Keep your real address and add your service areas. Google lets a business that serves customers at its address and also travels to them enter both.
Can I put keywords in my business name on Google?
No. Google’s guidelines say the name should be your real-world business name, with details like service area and category in their own fields.
Can I use a virtual office for my Google Business Profile?
Google says a service-area business cannot list a virtual office unless that office is staffed during business hours.
Can I offer a discount for a Google review?
No. Google’s Maps policy bans offering incentives such as payment, discounts or free services in exchange for posting any review.
How can we do local SEO?
Claim your Google Business Profile, keep every field complete and accurate, choose the right category, show your address and service areas, add your own photos, earn honest reviews and link to a website with a page for each service.
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