Google Business Profile for NZ Tradies: The Complete Setup Checklist

Short answer: a Google Business Profile is the free listing that puts your business on Google Maps and in the local "map pack" at the top of search results. For most Kiwi tradies it's the single most valuable free thing you can set up. Here's the checklist we use to set one up properly, in order, plus the mistakes that get tradie profiles suspended.

How Google decides who shows in the map results

Google says local results come down to three things: relevance (how well your profile matches what someone searched), distance (how far you are from the searcher or the area they named), and prominence (how well known and well reviewed you are). You can't move your base, so everything below is about relevance and prominence.

Part 1: Set it up properly

1. Check you don't already have a profile

Search your business name on Google Maps first. Google sometimes creates listings automatically, and an old owner or a past web designer may have made one. If it exists, claim it rather than making a new one. Duplicate profiles split your reviews and can get both flagged.

2. Use your real business name, exactly

Enter the name on your van, your invoices and your NZBN record. Nothing extra. "Smith Plumbing" is right. "Smith Plumbing | Best Emergency Plumber Auckland" breaks Google's guidelines and is one of the most common reasons tradie profiles get suspended.

3. Pick the most specific primary category

Choose the category that matches your main work as closely as possible, such as Electrician, Plumber, Roofing contractor, Painter or Landscaper. Then add a few secondary categories for other work you genuinely do. Don't add categories for work you'd rather not get calls about.

4. Set yourself up as a service-area business

If customers don't come to you, tell Google you visit customers, hide your address, and list your service areas. Use the suburbs and towns you actually want work in, for example "Papamoa, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga" rather than the whole Bay of Plenty. Don't use a PO Box or a virtual office as your address. Google doesn't allow it.

5. Get verified

Google will offer you a verification method. For many tradies it's a short video. Plan it before you hit record: show your signwritten vehicle or signage, your tools or equipment, and something that proves you run the business, such as opening your profile dashboard on your phone. Don't edit your name, address or category while verification is pending.

6. Add your phone number and website

Use the number you actually answer. Link your website, ideally the page that matches your main service. The name, phone number and address on your profile should be word for word the same as on your website.

Part 2: Fill in everything

7. List every service you want to be found for

Add each service separately with a sentence or two: "Hot water cylinder replacement", "Heat pump installation", "Deck building". These help Google match you to specific searches, and customers read them.

8. Write a description that sounds like you

You get up to 750 characters. Say what you do, where you work, how long you've been at it, and your licence or registration if your trade has one, such as LBP, EWRB or PGDB. Write it for a homeowner, not for Google. Leave out links and prices.

9. Set honest hours

Only list after-hours or 24/7 if you'll answer. A missed "open now" call is a lost customer and often an annoyed review.

10. Add real photos, and keep adding them

Upload your logo, a cover photo, your vehicle, you or your team, and plenty of real job photos. Before and afters work best. Skip stock photos. Customers can tell, and they're choosing a person. Add new job photos every couple of weeks. Our guide to photos that win jobs covers how to shoot them on your phone.

11. Post updates now and then

Updates (posts) show on your profile. A finished job with a photo and one line about it is plenty. They show customers you're active, and they take two minutes from your phone.

Part 3: Reviews, the part that moves you up

12. Ask every happy customer, the same day

The best time to ask is when the job's done and they're pleased. Send a text with your direct review link, which you'll find in your profile under "Ask for reviews" (sometimes shown as "Get more reviews"). A steady trickle of reviews beats a big burst followed by silence.

13. Reply to every review, good and bad

Thank people by name and mention the job. For a bad review, stay calm, keep it short, and offer to sort it out offline. Future customers read your reply more closely than the review.

14. Keep reviews genuine

Don't pay for reviews, offer discounts for them, or write them for customers. Google removes them and can restrict your profile, and misleading reviews can also fall foul of the Fair Trading Act here in New Zealand.

Part 4: Connect it to your website

Your profile gets you seen. Your website is where customers go to check you out before they call: your work, your reviews, your licence, the areas you cover. A website with a page for each service and suburb also helps Google understand exactly what you do and where, which feeds straight back into the relevance score above. Our local SEO guide covers that side.