Some trades owners get a lot of their calls through Google Maps and wonder whether a website is worth the trouble. The profile can be where a homeowner first sees your name, your rating, and your phone number.
Our short answer is that for most contractors, the two do different jobs, and each one works better with the other in place. This post covers what Google says a profile does, where a website adds detail the profile can’t carry, and how to build pages that are worth reading. Google’s own words appear in quotation marks, and anything that is our opinion carries a label.
What a profile does on its own
Google’s getting started page lists what a Business Profile lets you do. It says you can “Provide your business hours, website, phone number, and location so they’re visible to customers on Google.” You can also “Post photos and videos of your business and the products and services it offers,” and “Collect and respond to reviews from customers.”
That covers a lot. A homeowner can find you, see your reviews, check your hours, and tap to call without ever leaving the map. Google also says, “Only businesses that make face-to-face contact with customers are eligible for a Business Profile.” Trades that go to the customer’s home fit that description, which is why the profile is usually the first thing we look at.
Notice that “website” sits in Google’s own list of profile details. The profile has a field for one.
What a profile can’t hold
A profile is built for short facts. Some of what a homeowner wants to know before calling a contractor doesn’t fit there well.
Google’s business description rules are one example. Among the things the description must not do, Google lists: “Display links. No links of any type are allowed.”
Our view: a website is where the longer answers go. A roofer can explain what a tile underlayment repair involves. A plumber can walk through the signs of a slab leak. An HVAC company can explain the difference between a repair and a full system swap in plain words. Real photos of finished work, a short quote form, and, if you’re licensed in Arizona, your Registrar of Contractors license number all have a natural home on a site.
Why complete, detailed info matters
Google’s local ranking help page says, “Businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results.” Under relevance, it says: “Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. To help Google better understand your business and match it to relevant searches, provide complete and detailed business info.”
Google’s guidelines add, in the section on categories, “Google can also detect category information from your website and from mentions about your business throughout the web.” And under prominence, Google says, “This factor’s also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.”
That is what Google says. Here is how we read it for a contractor, as our advice and not Google’s: a profile that is complete and a website that describes the same services in more depth back each other up. When the names, services, and cities on your site match your profile, homeowners see the same business in both places.
The pages most trades start with
Our advice: a contractor site doesn’t need to be big to be useful. For most contractors, the place to start is a home page that says what you do, where you work, and how to reach you, right at the top, plus a page for each main service you sell, written in the words your customers use. “Water heater replacement” and “drain cleaning” deserve their own pages instead of sharing one line on a long list. Your phone number and a short quote form belong on every page, so nobody has to hunt for a way to reach you.
Google’s guidance on helpful content describes people-first content this way: “People-first content means content that’s created primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings.” It also asks site owners, “Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?” For a trades business, first-hand expertise is the work itself. Describe how your crew really does the job, and use photos from your own jobs.
City pages with real local detail
As a site grows, pages for the main cities you serve can help homeowners in those places see that you come to them. The risk is the copy-and-paste version, where one page is cloned and only the city name changes.
Google’s list of warning signs for search engine-first content includes, “Are you producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?” and “Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?”
Our advice: write a city page only when you have something true and specific to say. Picture Example Plumbing, a made-up company with crews working in Gilbert and Chandler. A good Gilbert page would name the jobs the crew takes on there most often, show photos from those jobs, and say which parts of town the trucks usually cover. If the Chandler page would say the same things with a different name on top, it probably isn’t ready to publish yet.
How we build contractor websites
Our websites for contractors include a page for each service you actually sell, clear service areas, your phone number shown at the top of each page with tap-to-call on phones, and a short quote form that emails you each request. Your hours and business details, and your ROC license number if you’re licensed in Arizona, are shown plainly, and the photos are real ones of your crew, trucks, and finished work. We write the copy with you. Your domain stays in your own registrar account, in your name, and we hand over your words and photos if you leave.
The website is one part of the picture. Our local SEO for contractors work handles the profile, reviews, and site pages together. Everything else we offer sits on our services page.
FAQ
Can my Google Business Profile link to my website?
Yes. Google’s getting started page lists your website among the details you can provide “so they’re visible to customers on Google.” The business description field is different, since Google says “No links of any type are allowed” there. Put your site in the website field instead.
I already have a website. Do I need a new one?
Not always. Our advice is to start with what you have. Sometimes the better move is to add service and city pages to your current site and tighten the copy, and sometimes a rebuild makes more sense. We tell you plainly which one we would pick and why.
Is my trade business eligible for a Business Profile?
Google says, “Only businesses that make face-to-face contact with customers are eligible for a Business Profile.” Most trades that work at customers’ homes fit that rule. If yours does, our advice is to have both a profile and a site, and to keep the details on each one matching.
Talk to us about your site
We’re based in the East Valley, and we build sites and profiles for trades businesses throughout the US. We work by phone, video call, recorded walkthrough, and email. Not sure where your current setup stands? Send a quick note to hello@dynamicheightsdigital.com or phone (480) 788-9594 and tell us what you have now.