Search for any local service and watch what happens: a map, three businesses, star ratings, photos. For a growing share of customers, the decision is made right there. Your actual website never enters the story.
The profile is the first impression now
A prospect comparing three plumbers sees ratings, review counts, photos, and response times side by side. That comparison panel is brutal and fast. If your profile is a name and an unclaimed address while competitors show forty photos and two hundred reviews, you've lost before your website loads.
The weekly fifteen minutes
Profile optimization isn't a one-time setup. The businesses that dominate local results treat it as a channel:
- Reviews: ask every happy customer, reply to every review — including the bad ones, where your response is really addressed to future readers
- Photos: upload real work, real premises, real people monthly; stock imagery is instantly recognizable and quietly distrusted
- Posts and updates: offers, completed projects, seasonal notices — signals that the business is alive
Categories and services: the boring goldmine
Most profiles pick one category and stop. Filling out every applicable secondary category and the services list is often the single biggest visibility jump available, because it's the data the ranking system actually matches against searches.
Measure it like a channel
The profile dashboard tells you calls, direction requests, and website clicks. Screenshot the numbers monthly. When you can show that profile calls doubled after eight weeks of photos and review replies, the fifteen minutes stops feeling optional.