The Checklist
A Google Business Profile that's genuinely finished has eleven things done. Most Melbourne profiles we open have four or five.
- Primary category set as narrowly as it can honestly go
- Secondary categories added for every distinct service
- Services listed individually, each with its own description
- Service area set to the suburbs you actually travel to
- Hours accurate, including after-hours and public holidays
- Photos from real jobs, added monthly
- Products or menu populated where the category supports it
- Business description written for a person, not for keyword density
- Messaging switched on, and answered
- Q&A seeded with the questions you get asked on the phone
- Reviews coming in steadily, with replies to all of them
That's the list. The rest of this is why each one matters and where people get it wrong.
Why This Matters More Than Your Website
For a local Melbourne business, the Google Business Profile usually generates more enquiries than the website does. It sits above the organic results in the map pack, it carries your rating and review count visibly, and it offers a call button that skips your site entirely.
It's also free, it takes an afternoon, and about half the profiles we audit have never been fully filled in.
There's a second reason now. AI systems read these profiles. When we tracked a Google AI Overview for a local plumbing job in Preston in September 2026, the answers consistently surfaced businesses with complete profiles, visible review counts and suburb-specific pages. The profile is part of what AI assembles its answer from, not just part of what Google ranks.
Categories: The Setting Everyone Gets Wrong
Your primary category carries more ranking weight than anything else in the profile. It should be the narrowest category that honestly describes the main thing you do.
"Plumber" beats "Contractor". "Bathroom remodeler" beats "Home improvement store". "Family law attorney" beats "Legal services".
Then add secondary categories for genuinely separate services. A plumber who also does gas fitting should have both. A business with twelve secondary categories, half of which it doesn't really offer, is diluting the signal and occasionally gets flagged.
Two things to check. One: Google adds and renames categories regularly, so the narrow one that didn't exist when you set this up may exist now. Two: look at what your top three local competitors have set. The tool to do this is free — their profiles are public.
Services, Listed Properly
The Services section is a separate field from your description, and it's the one most often left empty.
List each service as its own entry with its own short description. Not "all aspects of plumbing". Separate entries: blocked drains, hot water system replacement, gas fitting, leak detection, tap and toilet repairs.
This matters because Google matches searches to these entries directly. Someone searching "hot water system replacement Reservoir" is matched against a profile that names that service far more readily than one that says "all plumbing services".
Write the descriptions in plain language. These get read by people deciding whether to call.
Service Area, Set Honestly
Set it to the suburbs you'd actually drive to on a normal Tuesday.
The temptation is to list everything within 50km. It works against you. A broad service area dilutes relevance for every suburb in it, and Google has got better at noticing when a business claiming to serve 60 suburbs has no evidence of working in 55 of them.
If you're genuinely metro-wide, that's fine — say so. If you're really a northern-suburbs business that occasionally crosses the river, set it to the north.
A separate note for businesses with a physical address: if customers can visit you, keep the address visible. Hiding it to appear in more areas is a common piece of bad advice and it removes you from "near me" proximity ranking, which is often where your best leads come from.
Photos: The Underrated One
Profiles with recent, real photos get more engagement than profiles without. Not a surprise. What is a surprise is how few businesses add any after the first week.
Add photos monthly. From real jobs. The finished bathroom, the new switchboard, the team on site. Geotagging does nothing — that myth has been debunked repeatedly — but the content of the photo matters, because customers scroll them before calling.
Avoid stock. Australian customers spot it immediately and it reads as a business with nothing of its own to show.
Reviews: Rate, Not Just Count
In the Preston search results we studied, one plumber's listing showed 4.7 stars from 285 reviews before anyone clicked anything. That number was doing the selling.
Three things matter beyond having some.
Steadiness. Forty reviews in one week then nothing for eight months reads as a push. A few every month reads as a working business.
Specificity. Ask the customer to mention the job and the suburb in their own words. "Replaced our hot water system in Reservoir, came same day" carries information. "Great service" doesn't.
Replies. Reply to all of them, including the bad ones, briefly and without defensiveness. Prospective customers read the replies more carefully than the reviews.
On how to ask: after the job, by text, with a direct link. Not a QR code on an invoice nobody reads. Not a request three months later.
What not to do: never offer anything in exchange for a review. It breaches Google's policies and, more seriously, incentivised reviews without clear disclosure are exposure under Australian Consumer Law.
Q&A, Which You Can Seed Yourself
Almost nobody uses this. Anyone can ask a question on your profile, and the business can ask and answer its own.
So seed it. Take the five questions you answer on the phone every week, do you charge for quotes, do you service my suburb, how quickly can you come, do you do weekends, are you licensed. And post each one, then answer it.
This is one of the few places you get to write both the question and the answer in Google's own interface. It also feeds the question-shaped queries that AI systems favour.
Posts: Worth It, With Limits
Google Posts appear on your profile and expire after a week unless they're event or offer posts.
They're worth doing if you'll keep it up, one a week, about real things: a job just finished, a seasonal reminder, a service you want more of. They're not worth doing as a one-month burst that then stops, because an abandoned Posts section looks worse than an empty one.
Keep expectations proportionate. Posts help engagement. They don't move rankings much.
What This Won't Fix
If your core problem is that nobody searches for your category in your area, a perfect profile won't manufacture demand.
If your reviews average 3.2 stars, optimising the profile makes more people see a 3.2. Fix the service problem first.
And if you're in an emergency category, the profile matters enormously but so does Google Ads. The map pack has three slots and paid sits above it.
For the broader local picture, our practical local SEO guide for Melbourne businesses covers what sits around the profile, and SEO for tradies covers the trades-specific version. If you'd like us to check where you currently stand, that's the free audit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I optimise my Google Business Profile?
Set the narrowest accurate primary category, add secondary categories for separate services, list every service individually with its own description, set the service area to suburbs you genuinely cover, keep hours accurate, add real job photos monthly, seed the Q&A section with questions you get on the phone, and reply to every review.
Which Google Business Profile category should I choose?
The narrowest one that honestly describes your main service. "Plumber" outperforms "Contractor"; "Bathroom remodeler" outperforms "Home improvement store". Primary category carries the most ranking weight of any profile field. Check what your top three local competitors have set, since their profiles are public, and recheck periodically because Google adds categories regularly.
Does my service area affect Google Business Profile rankings?
Yes, and setting it too wide hurts you. A service area covering 60 suburbs dilutes relevance for each one, and Google increasingly discounts claimed areas with no supporting evidence. Set it to the suburbs you'd actually drive to on a normal week. If you have a visitable address, keep it visible rather than hiding it to claim more area.
How many reviews do I need on my Google Business Profile?
There's no threshold that switches something on. The pattern matters more than the count: a steady trickle reads as a working business, a burst reads as a campaign. Specificity matters too, reviews naming the job and suburb carry more weight than generic praise. Reply to all of them, including negative ones.
How do I get more Google reviews?
Ask after every job, by text, with a direct link to the review form. Immediacy is what drives completion, a request sent the same day converts far better than one sent weeks later. Ask the customer to mention what you did and where. Never offer anything in exchange, which breaches Google's policies and creates Australian Consumer Law exposure.
Do Google Business Profile posts help rankings?
Not much directly. Posts improve engagement and give prospective customers something current to look at, which has value, but they're not a meaningful ranking lever. Do them if you'll maintain roughly one a week; an abandoned Posts section dated six months ago looks worse than none at all.
Should I use the Q&A section on my Google Business Profile?
Yes, and almost nobody does. The business can post and answer its own questions, which means you control both sides. Seed it with the five questions you field on the phone weekly, quoting, service area, availability, weekend work, licensing. And answer each plainly. It also feeds the question-shaped queries AI systems favour.
Do photos affect Google Business Profile performance?
They affect engagement, which affects outcomes. Profiles with recent, genuine photos get more calls and direction requests than those without. Add them monthly from real jobs rather than once at setup. Geotagging photos does nothing despite persistent advice to the contrary. Stock imagery is counterproductive, Australian customers recognise it immediately.
Does my Google Business Profile affect whether AI tools recommend me?
Yes. AI systems assemble local answers from profiles, directories, review platforms and business websites together. In our September 2026 study of local search results in Preston, the businesses surfacing in Google's AI answers consistently had complete profiles with visible review counts. An incomplete profile removes one of the main sources an AI has to work from.
How often should I update my Google Business Profile?
Photos monthly, posts weekly if you commit to them, and a full review of categories, services, hours and service area every quarter. Hours need updating ahead of public holidays and any seasonal change. Beyond that, the profile is mostly a set-up-properly-once job followed by steady review generation.