I asked a room of about 40 contractors at an industry event how many had claimed their Google Business Profile. About half raised their hands. Then I asked how many had actually filled it out completely with photos, services, and updated hours. Four hands stayed up. That's the problem.
Why This Matters More Than Your Website
When someone searches "HVAC repair near me," Google shows a map with three business listings before any website results. Those three spots are called the Local Pack, and they're driven almost entirely by your Google Business Profile. Your website could be gorgeous and still not show up there if your profile is incomplete.
People in the moment of needing HVAC service aren't browsing websites. They're looking at that map, reading star ratings, and calling the first business that looks legitimate. If you're not in that pack, you don't exist to them.
What "Filled Out Completely" Actually Means
Go to business.google.com and check your profile against this list. Business name, address, and phone number that match exactly what's on your website. Category set to "HVAC Contractor" or the most specific option available. Business hours including holidays. A description that mentions what you do and what cities you serve. Services listed individually with descriptions.
Photos matter more than people realize. Interior photos, exterior, your truck, your team, jobs you've finished. Google rewards profiles with more photos. Customers trust them more. Aim for at least 15 photos and add new ones periodically.
The Part Almost Everyone Skips: Posts
Google Business Profile lets you post updates just like social media. Most contractors never use this. You can post about a seasonal promotion, share a before-and-after from a recent job, or just post something useful about preparing your system for summer.
Posts only live for seven days before they go stale, but they signal to Google that your profile is active. Active profiles rank better. It takes five minutes once a week. The ROI on five minutes is hard to beat.
Getting Reviews the Right Way
Your average star rating shows up right next to your business name on that map. This matters. A lot. The best way to get reviews is to ask, immediately after a job goes well, with a direct link. Google gives you a short URL you can text or email to customers. Put it in your invoice follow-up. Put it in your email signature.
Don't offer incentives for reviews. Don't ask employees to post fake ones. Google catches this and the penalty is brutal. Just ask real customers in real time. Most of them will do it if you make it easy.
If you want to track how well your local presence is working, WerkOps helps you manage customer follow-ups so you can hit that review request at the right moment, every time.
Put this into practice with WerkOps
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Written by
Dina Good
Founder, WerkOps
Dina grew up in the trades. Her father was a contractor, then a building inspector, and the job site was her classroom long before any formal one was. She went on to own her own contracting company, which is where she first felt the pain of running a skilled trade business on bad software and worse spreadsheets. A love of data pulled her into programming, and the two worlds eventually collided into WerkOps - software built by someone who has actually been on the truck.