For plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers and similar businesses, the important journey often ends with a phone call. A clear service area and an honest call-out promise matter as much to that customer as the appearance of your homepage.
Set up the profile for a business that travels
Your Business Profile should describe your real base and service area without presenting a home or virtual office as a customer-facing branch.
Google’s Business Profile guidelines say: “If you’re a service-area business, you should hide your business address from customers.” They also say: “There should only be one profile per business, as this can cause problems with how your information displays on Google Maps and Search.”
A rented address where you do not operate does not qualify as premises. Google calls this a virtual office and says “that location isn't eligible for a Business Profile.”
We review the public profile and screenshots you supply against how you describe your business. Tell us whether anyone actually visits your premises. That distinction matters when checking address visibility, service areas and possible duplicate listings; covering another town alone does not create another branch.
Explain your patch without thin town pages
Area information should help someone decide whether you can do their job where they live.
List the places you genuinely cover, the services available and any practical limits. A page about a town needs something useful beyond its name: a real description of work you offer there, for example. Do not invent local jobs, photographs or customer stories to make a page look established.
Google’s doorway policy covers similar search-targeted pages that funnel visitors onwards, including pages targeting regions or cities. Our review looks at whether your service and area wording answers a customer’s question, and where repeated pages obscure that answer. One clear coverage page can be more useful than a list of near-identical destinations.
Make call-out hours and phone contact clear
Customers should be able to distinguish emergency availability from routine appointments before they call.
Compare the hours on your website and profile with the service you actually provide. An enquiry form accepting messages overnight does not mean an electrician is available overnight. Google’s guidelines distinguish regular customer-facing hours from businesses operating only by appointment, which should not provide hours.
As part of reviewing your website and profile details, we look for inconsistent phone numbers, unclear services and contradictory availability. You can also open your site on a phone and follow the contact route yourself: is the number readable, and does the call button use that number?
Hypothetical example: a roofer books inspections during the week, but an old directory says emergency repairs are available all weekend. The useful action is to correct the availability information and explain the booking route. This is an illustrative problem, not a client result.
Keep directory details and review requests honest
Trade listings should identify the same business, and reviews should come from real customers without incentives.
Compare your name, phone, website and service area across the listings you use. Flag an old trading name or disconnected number. Keep a record of the listing URL and the incorrect detail so the next action is specific. Do not spread a private home address to make every listing look identical.
Ask customers consistently for an honest review. Do not offer a discount, reward or free service, or ask only customers you expect to be positive. Google’s review policy prohibits incentives and selective positive requests; the CMA’s fake-review guidance explains businesses’ responsibilities.
Choose the audit that covers your listings
The Local Audit is the matching option when the problem includes your Business Profile, listings and local search appearance.
The Local Audit (£184) adds a review of your profile and listings, comparison with 3 competitors and 10 AI answers to questions we write from your intake form. We record the answers by hand and report whether you were named, linked and where you appeared, with the sources cited.
The cheaper Quick Fix Plan (£94) turns the free website check into an action plan checked by a person. Start with the free SEO and AI-visibility check if you want to inspect your website first. Neither option promises a ranking or includes making the changes.