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Your Google Business Profile, set up right.
When someone searches « electrician in Blainville » or « hairdresser in Levis », it's the Google map that shows up first, not the websites. Here's exactly how to set up your profile to be in it, step by step, without paying a cent in ads.
- One profile only. Never two.
- The most precise category. « Electrician », not « Contractor ». That's factor number one.
- Name, address, phone identical everywhere. Down to the comma.
- Fill everything in. Description, service areas, real hours, services one by one, questions and answers.
- Ten photos or more. Your phone is enough.
- Reviews are 80 % of the result. Two to four a month, forever. Reply to every one.
« Thanks for your business! If you have 30 seconds, a Google review helps me a lot: [your link]. »
01Why your profile beats your website
On a local search, Google shows three blocks: the ads, the map with three businesses, then the websites. People click the map, massively. And now that everyone asks ChatGPT their questions, it's still your Google profile the AI reads to decide whether to recommend you: your categories, your reviews, your photos.
Put another way: you can have the best-looking website in the province, but if your profile is empty, you're invisible where it counts.
02The basics people get wrong
- Never two profiles. If you already have one, work on it. Creating a second one confuses Google and splits your reviews.
- The most precise main category possible. « Electrician », not « Contractor ». That is THE number one ranking factor in the map. Add 2 to 4 real secondary categories.
- Name, address, phone identical EVERYWHERE, down to the character. Your profile, your website footer, your Facebook page: the exact same spelling. One comma off and Google gets suspicious.
03The fields everybody leaves empty
- The description (750 characters): your services, your towns, what sets you apart. Written for a human, not stuffed with keywords.
- Service areas: the real list of towns you travel to.
- Your REAL hours. An emergency electrician whose profile says « closed » at 7 p.m. loses calls. Put the hours when you ANSWER the phone.
- Your services, one by one, each with a one-line description. That's what gets you found on precise searches like « electrical panel replacement ».
- Questions and answers: ask yourself the 3 to 5 questions everyone asks you (rough price, area, licence, lead time) and answer them. Otherwise a stranger will do it for you.
Google rewards COMPLETE profiles. Every empty field is one more reason to show your competitor instead of you.
04Photos: ten minimum
Your logo, a cover photo in your brand colours, before-and-afters of jobs, your truck, your team, your shop. Profiles loaded with photos get far more calls than profiles with one. You don't need a photographer: your phone, daylight, and real job sites.
05The engine: reviews
The classic trap: asking twenty old customers for reviews all at once, then nothing for a year. Google reads that as an artificial burst. What wins is a steady flow: two to four reviews a month, forever. A recent review carries more weight than an old one, no matter your lifetime total.
The simple method: grab your short review link from your profile (the « Ask for reviews » button), then send the text at the top of this page after EVERY finished job. No complicated automation: a shortcut in your phone, and you're done.
And reply to every review, even the old ones, working the town and the service naturally into your answer: « Thanks! Glad the charger install in Blainville went well. » Every reply is one more line Google and the AIs can read.
06The full checklist
- One profile, precise main category + 2 to 4 secondary ones
- Name, address, phone identical everywhere
- Description filled in, service areas, real hours
- Ten photos or more, services listed one by one
- Questions and answers filled in by you
- Review link saved as a shortcut in your phone
- A review text after every job, two to four a month
- A reply to every review, town and service in it
Do this once, keep the reviews flowing, and within a few weeks you'll see the difference in your calls. Of everything you can do to get seen locally, this pays back the most for the time it takes.
Published April 14, 2026