Two tradespeople do the same job in the same town. One shows up in the trio of profiles displayed with the map (the famous "local pack") when you search for their trade. The other appears nowhere. For the same service, the difference often comes down to a place no one looks at: the Google Business Profile, and the way each field is filled in.
Good news: it's free, and it can all be managed with no technical skill.
First thing to do before going any further: get access to your profile (the old "Google My Business"). Sign in with the Google account that manages it, then simply search for your business name on Google: your management panel appears above the results. And if a profile exists that you never created (Google sometimes generates them automatically), click "Own this business?" to claim it. That's the prerequisite for everything else.
How Google chooses who shows up
Google explains it itself: local ranking rests on three factors.
Distance. Google favours businesses close to the person searching. There's nothing you can do about this factor: no point trying to game it.
Relevance. Does your profile match what the person is looking for? This is where your categories, your description, your services and your attributes come into play. This whole guide serves this factor.
Prominence. Your standing, in short: how complete your profile is, the interactions it generates, the links to your site, and your reviews. On reviews specifically, we've written a dedicated guide on getting them and replying well.
One point that's often forgotten: the profile and the site work together. Google reads your site to understand your business, and your customers land on it from the profile. This is exactly what Pixel Prisme builds for its clients: a profile and a site that fit together, designed for local SEO in Toulouse, where each signal reinforces the other.
The name: your real name, nothing else
Google's rule is simple: the profile name has to be your business's real name. The one on your sign, on your paperwork, the one your customers know.
The temptation is a familiar one: adding the town and keywords ("Dupont Plumbing Toulouse emergency call-outs"). It's against the rules, and the risk is real: an automatic correction by Google, a report from a competitor, even suspension of the profile. A suspension is measured in weeks of lost visibility.
And what if your legal name says nothing about what you do ("JMC Ltd")? Don't cheat on the name: it's the category, the description and the services that will say what you do. That's their job.
The address: the rule that stings
Here too, Google is strict: the address you display has to be a real place where you work and where you can be found during your opening hours.
Three situations:
- You have premises open to the public (shop, practice, restaurant): display your exact address, and check that the pin on the map is in the right spot.
- You work from home and receive customers: you can display the address, provided you have permanent, visible signage.
- You travel to your customers (tradesperson, home-visit coach, service provider): hide the address and declare a service area, meaning the list of towns you cover.
What you must never do: use a registered-office address, a virtual office or a PO box just to appear in a given town. It's one of the most common reasons for suspension.
We know this last case from the inside: Pixel Prisme works over video and by appointment, so our profile is set up as a service area, address hidden, covering Toulouse and the surrounding area. It's compliant, and it's no obstacle at all to being visible.
The category: the most important choice
According to the industry's benchmark surveys (Whitespark, 2024-2025), the primary category is the single factor that weighs most heavily in the map-block ranking. So it's the field to get right first.
The logic: choose the most precise category that describes your main activity. "Pizza restaurant" rather than "Restaurant" if pizza dominates. "Website designer" rather than "Marketing agency". Google works out the general categories from the specific ones on its own.
For secondary categories, restraint pays off: add one to three, only for services you genuinely offer. Piling them on to "cover more searches" dilutes your relevance, and Google advises against it in black and white.
Two activities that are equally important? Make the primary one the activity your customers search for most on Google. And if you change your primary category later, expect your ranking to move while Google reassesses the profile: this isn't a field to touch lightly.
Description, services, attributes: say it all, simply
The description (750 characters maximum) answers three questions: who are you, what do you do, and for whom and where. Write naturally, slip in your town and one or two phrases your customers actually type, and stop there: keyword stuffing works against you. Google now offers an AI-generated description; you can start from its suggestion, but read it over and give it your own tone.
The services are an underused goldmine. Google suggests some based on your category: tick all the ones you actually do. Then create your own custom services for the exact things your customers look for ("Water heater repair", "One-to-one coaching", "Showcase website build"). One sentence of description per service is enough. Recent studies show these services carry more and more weight in the ranking.
The attributes are those little tick-boxes, under "Edit profile": wheelchair access, payment methods, outdoor seating, delivery, Wi-Fi. Honestly tick everything that applies to you, and update it when things change. This information answers real searches ("restaurant with terrace", "wheelchair accessible").
A profile with no website can already exist and take calls. But when a customer clicks to find out more, it's the site that closes the deal: each of these fields ideally points to a page that goes into detail. A profile that promises and a site that confirms, that's the pairing that converts. Pixel Prisme builds sites designed to extend your profile, with a page per service that confirms what the profile announces.
Photos and hours: the basics people neglect
Photos. At a minimum: a square logo, a strong cover photo (your storefront or your work), a few interior and exterior shots, and photos of what you do: dishes, finished work, before/after jobs. Sharp, well lit, with no unreadable text over them. As for pace, one new photo a month is enough to keep the profile alive. A profile with well-kept photos generates more clicks, calls and directions requests, and those interactions feed your prominence: industry analyses see them counting for more and more.
Hours. Wrong hours drive people away: a customer who finds the door shut after reading "open" rarely lets it slide. Three habits: identical hours everywhere (profile, site, shopfront), the special hours set for public holidays and your time off, and the "More hours" section for specific services (delivery, takeaway, happy hour).
Posts: show that it's alive
Posts are mini-publications shown directly on your profile. Three formats: news (something new, a change), the offer (a dated promotion, with its button), the event (a workshop, an evening, an open day).
Let's be honest about their effect: the direct impact of posts on ranking is debated among specialists. Their effect on customers, though, is certain: a profile that posts inspires trust, and every post is a chance for a click through to you.
Pace matters more than volume. One post a week is a good marker; if time is short, two regular posts a month beat a sprint followed by six months of silence. Every post is better with a photo and a button to the right page on your site.
One last useful habit: use "tagged" links in your buttons (these are called UTM parameters). They're small labels added to the link that let you see in your analytics how many customers come from your profile. Pixel Prisme sets this up as standard on the sites it delivers; the details are in our plans.
The mistakes that get a profile suspended
Let's recap the practices to avoid, because the penalty is heavy:
- Keywords or a town in the name that aren't part of the real name.
- A registered-office address or a PO box used to appear on the map.
- Categories by the dozen with no link to the real business.
- Changing everything at once (name + address + category all together): according to specialists in profile recovery, this signal looks like a hijacking and can trigger an automatic suspension. Spread out your changes, and keep proof of your business to hand: a Kbis extract, or a Sirene status notice for sole traders, and a photo of your sign.
- Inconsistent information between the profile, your site and online directories (PagesJaunes and the like): name, address and phone number must be identical everywhere.
And two panic situations, with their answers. Your profile was changed without you? It's common: Google and even members of the public can suggest changes. Look over your profile regularly, and correct anything wrong from your management panel. Your profile is suspended? Google offers a reinstatement form: attach your supporting documents and expect anything from a few days to a few weeks.
One last warning, because it targets small businesses exactly: Google will never phone you to make you pay for your profile or threaten to delete it. These calls are cold-call scams. Hang up.
And AI in all this?
Google keeps evolving its profiles. Since late 2025, the public questions-and-answers section is gradually being replaced by an AI feature ("Ask a question about this place") that answers people from your profile data, your reviews and the web. The rollout is happening in stages: you may not see it on your profile yet, but it's coming.
The consequence is clear: everything this guide recommends becomes even more important. If your services, attributes, hours and photos are complete and accurate, the AI will answer correctly on your behalf. If they're empty, it will answer wide of the mark, or not at all. A complete profile is no longer just a ranking asset: it's the raw material for the answers Google will give about you.
In short
Your Google Business Profile is filled in properly once, then maintained simply. The foundations: your real name, a compliant address (or a service area), the most precise category possible. Relevance: a natural description, detailed services, honest attributes. The life of the profile: regular photos, accurate hours, one post a week. On timelines, your changes are taken into account within a few days; the effects on your visibility, though, are judged over a few weeks. And never a risky shortcut: suspensions cost you dearly in visibility.
The next link in the chain is the site your profile sends your future customers to. At Pixel Prisme, we build both links together: a well-structured profile and a fast site that turns the visit into a quote request. Let's talk about your local visibility for 30 minutes, no strings attached.