Google Business Profile: The Free Tool Most Irish Tradespeople Are Ignoring
If you do one digital thing for your trades business this year, make it this. Not a new website. Not Facebook ads. Not Instagram. A fully completed, actively maintained Google Business Profile.
It’s free. It takes two to three hours to set up properly. And for a local trades business, it is the single most direct route to appearing in front of customers who are actively searching for what you offer, right now, in your area.
Here’s how to do it correctly.
What Google Business Profile is and why it matters
Google Business Profile (GBP), previously called Google My Business, is the system Google uses to manage local business listings. When someone searches “plumber Dundalk” or “electrician near me”, the results that appear in the map at the top of the page are all GBP listings.
That map section, the “map pack”, gets somewhere between 40–60% of all clicks for local searches. The three businesses shown there get the vast majority of the calls and messages. Everything below the map pack is further down the page and receives significantly less traffic.
Getting your GBP set up correctly is how you get into that map pack. Without it, you simply don’t appear in map searches, regardless of how good your website is.
Step-by-step: claiming and verifying your profile
Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account. Search for your business name. If it already exists as an unverified listing (Google sometimes creates these automatically from third-party data), claim it. If it doesn’t exist, create a new one.
Fill in your business name exactly as it appears elsewhere, on your website, your van, your invoices. Consistency matters.
Select your business category carefully. Start with your primary trade: Plumber, Electrician, Painter, Roofer, Landscaper. You can add additional categories later. Google uses your primary category heavily in determining which searches you appear for.
Add your service area. Most tradespeople don’t have a shopfront. They travel to customers. Add the towns and areas you cover rather than a single address. You can specify a radius or list specific areas.
Verification: Google will send a postcard with a PIN to your registered address. This typically takes 5–14 days. Don’t skip this step. Unverified profiles have significantly less prominence in local search results.
The fields most people leave blank that Google rewards
Once verified, most people consider the job done. They have a listing. It’s live. What more is there?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. The completeness of your profile is a direct ranking signal. Incomplete profiles rank lower than complete ones.
Business description: Up to 750 characters. Use this to describe what you do, the areas you cover, how long you’ve been operating, and any relevant accreditations. Mention your trade and your location naturally. This is not the place to stuff keywords, but relevant terms should appear.
Services: Add every service you offer as a separate line item. Don’t just say “plumbing”. Add “emergency plumbing”, “bathroom installation”, “boiler repair”, “drain unblocking” as individual services. Each service can have a description and a price range. Google uses this to match your listing to more specific searches.
Hours: Keep these accurate and up to date, including public holidays. Google penalises profiles that show incorrect hours. It damages trust and Google tracks when customers report incorrect information.
Attributes: These are the small badges that appear on your listing, such as “online appointments”, “onsite services”, “veteran-owned” (if applicable). Check which attributes are available for your category and add all that are accurate.
Photos: what to upload and how often
Profiles with photos receive significantly more engagement than those without. Google’s own data suggests businesses with photos get 42% more requests for directions and 35% more website clicks.
What to upload: exterior photo of your van (with livery), photos of you at work on recent jobs, before and after shots of completed jobs, any certifications or awards displayed. Don’t use stock photos. Google can detect them and they don’t build trust.
How often: at minimum, add new photos monthly. Profiles that are actively updated signal to Google that the business is active. A profile with 50 photos added over two years ranks higher than one with 50 photos all uploaded on the same day.
Posts, Q&A, and messaging: features nobody uses
Google Business Profile has several features that most businesses completely ignore and that provide easy differentiation.
Posts: You can publish short posts to your GBP: updates, offers, photos of recent work, seasonal promotions. These appear on your listing for seven days. Most trades businesses never use this feature, which means using it makes you stand out. One post per week, showing a completed job with a brief description, is enough.
Q&A: The Q&A section allows anyone to ask a question about your business. You can also add your own questions and answers. Seed it with the questions you actually get asked most often: “Do you cover [town]?”, “Do you provide free quotes?”, “Are you certified gas safe?” (or the relevant Irish equivalent). This saves customers time and gives Google more text to index.
Messaging: You can enable direct messaging through your GBP so customers can send you a message without calling. If you enable this, respond quickly. Google tracks response times and penalises slow responders by hiding the messaging feature from your listing.
How to maintain it going forward
A GBP that was fully set up and then ignored will gradually lose ground to competitors who maintain theirs actively.
The ongoing routine is minimal: add a photo once a week, post an update once a week, respond to all reviews within 48 hours, and check that your information is still accurate after any changes to your hours, services, or contact details.
That’s approximately 20–30 minutes per week. Few things you can do for your business in 30 minutes per week will have a comparable impact on your visibility to new customers.
Want your Google presence set up and managed properly?
Our Digital for Trades service includes full Google Business Profile setup and ongoing management, so you get the benefit without the time investment.
Book a free 30-minute call. We’ll audit your current online presence and show you exactly where the gaps are.
Or read next: How to Get Google Reviews Without Feeling Awkward About It