Google Business Profile Guide for Irish Tradespeople
If you only do one thing for your online presence this year, make it this: set up and optimise your Google Business Profile. It’s free, it takes less than an hour, and it directly controls whether you show up when someone searches for your trade in your area.
What Google Business Profile is
It’s the box that appears on the right side of Google when someone searches for a business, and it’s what powers the map results at the top of local searches. When someone searches “painter Dundalk” and sees a map with three businesses pinned, that’s Google Business Profile at work.
How to set it up
Go to business.google.com and claim or create your profile. You’ll need to verify your address. Google will send a postcard with a code, or you may be able to verify by phone. Once verified, fill in everything: business name, category, address, phone, website, hours, and a description of what you do.
The details that matter
Photos are important. Upload pictures of your actual work: finished jobs, before-and-afters, your van, your team if you have one. Real photos from real jobs. Google rewards profiles with more photos by showing them more often.
Your business description should be plain and specific. Don’t write “we provide high-quality bespoke solutions.” Write “we’re electricians based in Dundalk covering Louth and Meath. We do house rewires, fuseboard upgrades, and new-build electrical work.”
Services and areas
List every service you offer individually. Google lets you add them one by one. Then make sure your description mentions the towns and areas you cover. This helps Google match your profile to searches in those locations.
Posts and updates
Google Business Profile lets you post updates, offers, and photos, like a mini social media feed. Most tradespeople ignore this. Posting once a week, even just a photo of a finished job, signals to Google that your business is active and keeps your profile fresh.
Set it up once, keep it updated, and ask for reviews. That’s the formula.