Slate Marketing LLC provides a Google Business Profile optimization checklist for contractors who want the Map Pack.
The Google Business Profile is the Map Pack. The three businesses in that box at the top of a local search take most of the calls, and the box is built almost entirely from profile signals. Most contractor profiles are half finished, which is why a checklist beats a strategy deck. Work through this one in order.
If you want the longer explanation of how the pieces fit together, read the local SEO guide for Louisville contractors. This post is the punch list.
Identity: the items Google weighs first
- Business name exactly as it appears on your truck, your license, and your website. No added keywords.
- Primary category set to your main trade, as specific as possible: Roofing contractor, not Contractor.
- Secondary categories for every other service you want calls for
- Service area set to the cities you actually work, not the whole state
- Address hidden if you work from home, shown if customers visit you
Completeness: fill every field
- Every service listed, each with a description that names the service and the city
- A business description that opens with a plain sentence: who you are, what you do, where you do it
- Hours, including holiday hours, kept current
- Attributes that are true: veteran-owned, emergency service, free estimates
- A booking or quote link that goes to a page built to convert, not the homepage
Proof: the signals customers and Google both read
- Review velocity: new reviews every week, not a burst once a year
- A reply to every review within 48 hours that mentions the service and the city
- New photos of finished work every week, taken with location on
- Answers seeded in the Q and A section for the questions you hear on every estimate
Reviews are the heaviest lever on this list, and the fastest way to move them is a system, not a reminder. Our Review Velocity System texts the customer sixty seconds after the job closes and routes unhappy customers to you privately first. The full method is in how to get more Google reviews.
Activity: show Google you are open
- A post every week: a finished job, an offer, a seasonal reminder
- Products or service tiles for your top jobs, with price ranges
- Messaging turned on, with a response time under an hour
Consistency: make the internet agree with you
- Name, address, and phone identical on your website, Yelp, Facebook, Angi, the BBB, and every directory that lists you
- Duplicate and old listings found and removed
- Your website's contact page matching the profile character for character
Citation cleanup is unglamorous and it works. Conflicting phone numbers across directories are one of the most common reasons a well-reviewed contractor sits on page two. It is a standard part of our local SEO service.
Tracking: know what the profile produces
- UTM tags on the website link so profile traffic shows separately in analytics
- A tracking number or call recording on profile calls
- A monthly look at the profile's own insights: searches, views, direction requests, calls
A profile that is complete, active, and consistent usually moves within 30 to 60 days. Reviews and citations compound after that. Our guarantee is built on it: Map Pack within 60 days, or we work free until you get there.
The three mistakes that get contractor profiles suspended
- Keywords stuffed into the business name
- Reviews bought, traded, or written by staff
- A virtual office or PO box used as the address
Any one of these can remove a profile that took years to build. Google's guidelines for representing your business spell out every rule. Play it straight. The signals above are enough.
A worked example: auditing a Louisville roofer's profile
Open the profile of a Louisville roofing company that has been in business ten years and ranks nowhere. The primary category is General contractor. Services lists three items with no descriptions. Hours were last confirmed two years ago. Photos are a logo and a truck. Reviews: seven, the newest from last spring, none answered. Yelp lists a different phone number from the website. Nothing here is a mystery, and each line maps to an item on the checklist above.
| Field | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | General contractor | Roofing contractor, with Siding and Gutter as secondary |
| Services | 3, no descriptions | 14, each naming the service and Louisville |
| Photos | 2, both branding | New job photos every week, geotagged |
| Reviews | 7, none answered | Sixty-second requests, every review replied within a day |
| Citations | Two phone numbers in the wild | One number everywhere, duplicates removed |
| Posts | None | Weekly |
| Tracking | None | UTM on the website link, call tracking on the profile |
Google's guide to improving local ranking names relevance, distance, and prominence as the three inputs. Every row in that table is either a relevance fix or a prominence fix, which is why profiles like this one usually move within the first sixty days.
The twenty-minute weekly routine
- Post one finished job with a photo and a sentence naming the service and the neighborhood.
- Reply to every review from the past week.
- Confirm this week's hours, especially around holidays.
- Add any new service you performed to the services list.
- Glance at the profile insights: searches, views, calls, direction requests.
Twenty minutes a week keeps the profile active, which is the signal Google rewards most consistently. If you would rather not, it is the first thing we take over in every local SEO engagement. The printable version of this checklist is on the Map Pack checklist page.
When you would rather hand it off
We rebuild and run profiles for roofers, HVAC companies, plumbers, and other trades across Louisville and Southern Indiana as part of every plan. The first step is a free audit where we pull your profile up next to the three businesses outranking you and show you the gaps live. Book it here.
