A home services Google Business Profile should state the company's real-world name, the few categories that most specifically describe its core work, a description of the services it offers, a services list that matches the website, and timely updates, all within Google's guidelines. It should not stuff keywords into the name, use the description for promotions or links, or say anything the website contradicts. The profile and the site describe the same company and should agree.
For many trade companies, the Business Profile is where homeowners first see the name, phone number, and reviews. Google's guidelines for representing a business on Google do not describe how its AI features or any assistant uses profile information, and we will not guess. Treat the profile as one more public description of the company that has to be accurate and consistent with everything else.
This is a content question for owners and marketing leads, and profile policies change, so check the current guidelines before editing. Service areas and hours have their own pages: our service area page guide and our emergency service guide. This page covers the rest, as part of the wider home services and trades content plan.
Use the real business name
Google's guidelines say "Your name should reflect your business's real-world name," and that "including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted." The examples of what a name must not include cover marketing taglines, store codes, hours, phone numbers or URLs, and service or product information.
For trade companies, the temptation is to add the service and the city, so that a fictional "Ridgeline Plumbing" becomes "Ridgeline Plumbing Drain Cleaning Water Heaters Denver." A keyword is not a name. If the truck, the invoice, and the sign say "Ridgeline Plumbing," that is the name the guidelines describe, and the services belong elsewhere on the profile.
Choose few, specific categories
The guidelines say to "use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business from the provided list" and to focus "primarily on adding the most specific categories for your business." For a company that does HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work, that means deciding which work is the core and choosing the most specific matching categories, rather than adding every category that touches the trades.
Pick categories with the owner, based on the work the company does most and wants more of. Settle this question before anyone edits: "Which three jobs would we most like the phone to ring for next month, and does our category list say that?" The services list, covered below, is where the company can describe the full range of work.
Write a description that explains the work
Google says to "use the business description field to provide useful information on services and products offered." It also says a description must not display low-quality, irrelevant, or distracting content, must not "focus on special promotions, prices, and offer sales," and must not display links, since "no links of any type are allowed."
That leaves room for plain, useful facts: the trades and main services, the kinds of homes or systems the company works on, whether it offers maintenance plans or after-hours service, and how a visit begins. Here is a before and after for a fictional electrical contractor in Georgia.
| Version | Description text |
|---|---|
| Before | Best electricians in town! 10% off panel upgrades this month only. Call now or visit our website! |
| After | Family-owned electrical contractor serving homeowners since 2009. We handle panel upgrades, EV charger installation, whole-home surge protection, and troubleshooting in older homes. Licensed electricians do every job, and we explain options and pricing before work begins. After-hours service is available for electrical emergencies. |
Every fact in the after version has to be true and confirmed by the owner. The writer should not have to guess the founding year or which services the company wants to emphasize; those come from the business, and the same facts should appear on the website's about and service pages.
Keep services and updates in step with the website
Google's help page on services says businesses in some categories can choose "from suggested options tailored to your business type," can "create and add custom services options," and can "add info such as price and description." It asks owners to "avoid including profanity, gibberish, personal information, prices, or phone numbers in custom service names." Use the same service names the website uses, and describe each service in the same terms as the matching service page.
Posts are for timely information. Google's posts help page describes updates, offers, and events, and says "posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set." Its content policy says Google "may remove posts with unverified contact information," including phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles, and suggests attaching a Call now button instead. Use posts for seasonal scheduling notes, new services, or plan enrollment windows, not as a second website.
Check the contact details and give the profile an owner
Contact details are where small mistakes cost calls. Google's guidelines ask businesses to "provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location" and to "use a local phone number instead of a central call center helpline number whenever possible." They also say, "Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or 'refer' users to landing pages," and the same sentence extends that to phone numbers and pages other than the business's own. If you use call tracking anywhere, ask whoever manages the profile how the listed number is set up, and read the current guidelines before changing it.
Then check agreement. If the profile lists a service the website never mentions, or the website describes a maintenance plan the profile ignores, the homeowner meets two versions of the company. For a quick starting point on where your public information stands, the AI visibility check is a short self-assessment.
Profiles drift for the same reason websites do: nobody is assigned to them. Name one person who reviews the profile whenever the company adds a service, changes a phone number, opens a branch, or drops a trade, and who compares it with the website each season. That person should keep a record of what changed and when, so a complaint about an outdated listing can be traced and fixed.
In Hudson South's four steps, the Authority Asset holds the approved name, services, and facts that both the profile and the site draw from. Hudson Twenty-One keeps the description in the company's voice. Market Intelligence looks at how competing companies in your market describe similar work. AEO Creation writes the website answers that the profile points homeowners toward.
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- Guidelines for representing your business on Google. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-15.
- Manage your services on your Business Profile. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-15.
- Create & manage posts on your Business Profile. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-15.
- Business Profile photos, videos & posts content policy. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-15.