This is the complete checklist I use, given away in full. No email wall, no teaser version. If you would rather spend your 45 minutes under a sink or on a roof, that is literally what my Care plan is for, but nothing below requires me.
One number before we start. In July 2026 I pulled 271 trades businesses in and around the Quiet Corner from Google Maps: plumbers, electricians, HVAC, septic, roofing, tree work, paving, excavation, garage doors, wells. 44 of those profiles, about one in six, have never been claimed by their owner. If that is you, the next 45 minutes are the highest-return marketing work you will do this year. And if you read why your business isn’t showing up on Maps and wondered what the full fix looks like, this is it.
Minutes 0-10: claim and verify
Go to business.google.com and search your business name. If a profile exists, claim it. If not, create it. Use your real business name exactly as it appears on your trucks and invoices, not “Best Plumber Killingly CT,” which Google can suspend you for.
Choose “service-area business” if customers do not visit your shop. You can hide your home address and list the towns you serve instead, up to twenty of them. Verification usually means a video walkthrough or a postcard; start it now because it can take days and everything else works better once it clears.
Minutes 10-15: pick the right category
The primary category is the single strongest signal you control. Be specific: “Septic system service” beats “Contractor.” “HVAC contractor” beats “Repair service.” You can add a few secondary categories, but resist stuffing in everything you have ever done. A profile that claims six trades ranks for none of them.
Minutes 15-25: make your name, address, and phone identical everywhere
Google cross-checks your profile against every other mention of your business online: your website, Facebook, Yelp, the BBB, town directories. Every variation, an old number, “LLC” present in one place and missing in another, a former address, chips away at its confidence. Pick one exact spelling of your name, one number, one address or town, and fix the stragglers. This is the most tedious step and the one that quietly moves rankings.
Minutes 25-30: list your services
Add each service as its own entry: water heater replacement, panel upgrades, septic pumping, whatever you actually sell. If you are willing to publish prices, add them; almost nobody around here does, which is exactly why the ones who do stand out. Your services list also feeds Google’s AI answers, which increasingly decide who gets recommended before anyone sees the classic results page.
Minutes 30-40: photos
Ten minimum: your truck, your work, a before-and-after, your face. Trades buyers are hiring a person, and a profile with real job photos beats stock imagery every time. Skip the logo-only profile picture. Add two or three new photos a month, which takes less time than reading this paragraph, and signals to Google that the business is alive.
Minutes 40-45: reviews and the question box
Text your last three happy customers the direct review link (the profile gives you one under “Ask for reviews”). That is the whole ask. Then reply to every review you have, including the old ones, in a sentence or two that names the job and the town. Replies are indexed, and they read as proof that a human runs the shop.
While you are there, look at the Questions and Answers section. It is empty on nearly every trades profile in the county, and anyone can post a question, including you. Seed it with the three things customers always ask, and answer them as the business.
The part nobody does: keep it alive
Everything above decays. Hours drift, photos age, reviews stop, and a competitor who posts monthly slides past you. The monthly upkeep is about 20 minutes: one post, a couple of photos, reply to new reviews, check that Google has not “suggested” changes to your hours. That upkeep is included in every Care plan I run, alongside the website itself, and it is the reason my clients’ profiles do not rot. For a shop out toward Woodstock, I will happily do the first audit with you live on a 15 minute call, free, whether or not you ever hire me. Book it here.