Guide · By Alif, True & Level · Updated 2 October 2026

Google Business Profile for roofers and builders: a plain guide

Search "builders in Walsall" and you'll often see a map with three firms underneath it before any website. Those listings come from Google Business Profile, Google's free business listing. For a roofing, loft or building firm, it's often the most useful free thing you can set up, and one of the easiest to get wrong. Here's how to set it up properly, and the mistakes that get profiles suspended.

Set it up as a service-area business

Most trade firms go to the customer rather than the customer coming to them. Google calls this a service-area business. When you set up or edit your profile:

• Say you don't serve customers at your address, and add the towns or areas you cover instead. Google lets you list up to 20.
• Your address is still needed to verify the business, but it can be hidden from the public.
• The address must be somewhere real where you work or are based. Virtual offices and mail-forwarding addresses aren't allowed, and profiles using them are often suspended.

Google usually verifies new profiles with a short video showing your business: your van or signage, your tools, and something with the business name on it. Have those ready before you start.

Get the basics exactly right

• Business name: your real trading name and nothing else. Adding "Best Roofer Birmingham" to the name breaks Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.
• Primary category: the most specific one that fits, such as "Roofing contractor". Add a few secondary categories for other work you genuinely do.
• Phone number and website: the same as on your website and everywhere else you're listed.
• Services: list the actual jobs you do, in the words customers use: flat roofs, new roofs, dormer loft conversions, single storey extensions.
• Opening hours: the hours you actually answer the phone.
• Description: a few plain sentences on what you do, where, and for how long. No lists of keywords.

Photos: your biggest advantage

Real photos of real jobs do more than anything else on the profile. Buyers want to see work like theirs.

• Add photos of finished jobs regularly: a new roof, a completed dormer, an extension before and after.
• Include your team and vans, so people can see you're a real firm with staff.
• Use your own photos, never stock images or AI-generated pictures.

Reviews: ask everyone, fake nothing

• Ask every customer when the job is finished. A QR code on a card, or a text with your review link, makes it easy.
• Don't pick and choose who you ask. Only asking happy customers ("review gating") is against Google's rules.
• Never offer discounts or gifts for reviews, and never write them yourself or ask friends and family. Fake and incentivised reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025, and Google removes them.
• Reply to reviews, including the bad ones. A calm, factual reply to a complaint reassures the next reader.

Keep it active

• Post an update now and then: a recent job with a photo and a line on what was done and where.
• Keep your hours, services and phone number current. Out-of-date details lose trust quickly.
• Check the profile every month for suggested edits. Anyone can suggest changes to your listing, and Google sometimes accepts them.

Make it match your website

Google, and AI tools like ChatGPT, trust a business more when its details agree everywhere. Your profile, your website and directories such as Yell, Bing Places and Apple Business Connect should all show the same name, phone number and services. If your profile says you cover Solihull, your website should have something about your work in Solihull.

For the AI side of this, see our guide on how trade firms get recommended by ChatGPT.

More guides for trade firms →