If you run a trade shop, a lot of new jobs start on a phone with someone typing “plumber near me.” They are not looking for your truck. They are looking at a map.
What a Google Business Profile is
A Google Business Profile is the listing Google shows on Maps and in the local results — your name, hours, photos, reviews, the towns you serve, and a button to call. Same thing used to be called Google My Business. It is the pin.
Without one, you are hard to find when someone nearby searches for the work you do. With one that is claimed and filled in, they can tap Call without leaving the map.
Why it matters
Homeowners type the job plus “near me”: plumber, electrician, AC repair, a roofer after hail. Google answers with a map and a short list of shops. They pick from that list. They do not scroll to page four of the regular results.
That is why the profile is not extra marketing. It is the storefront they already use. If yours is missing, unclaimed, or empty, they tap the next pin.
Reviews help that listing. So does a real website on it. Those are separate jobs — asking for reviews, and putting a professional site behind the pin. First you need the profile itself.
How to create it for free
Google does not charge to create, verify, or manage a Business Profile. Anyone asking you to pay just to give you access and have you fill out the profile is charging for something Google already gives you.
- Sign in with a Google account that should own the shop — not a personal account you might lose access to.
- Search your real business name on Google or in the Maps app. If a listing is already there, claim it. If it is not, add your business. You can also start at google.com/business.
- Use the name on the truck and the invoices — not “Best Plano Plumber 24/7.” Pick the category that matches the work, like Plumber, not a vague “Home services.”
- If you work from a truck or your house, you are a service-area business. Hide the home address. List the cities you actually drive to. Do not publish a house number customers should not show up at.
- Add the phone they should call, your hours, and a website if you have one. One shop, one profile.
- Verify when Google asks. Postcard, phone, or video — they pick the method. Do what they ask. Do not start a second listing while you wait.
After it is live, keep the name, phone, and towns the same on the profile and the website. That is how the pin and the page tell the same story.
If you’d rather someone handle it
The listing is free. Making it match a real site is the part that takes work. Turnkey Tech does that for tradesmen in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. After a short conversation, I design and build the website, put it live, and set up the Google Business Profile so you show up on Maps with a page behind the pin. You can see how it works and what it costs on the homepage, or just call or text if you want to talk it through.