Short version: you probably set up your Google listing once and haven't looked at it since. Spend ten minutes looking at it the way a homeowner with a tripped breaker would: search the job from your phone, read your listing top to bottom, tap the buttons, read your last few reviews, and open your Performance report. Write down what's wrong, then work through the list.
Why look at it like a customer
Our electrician setup guide walks through building a profile step by step. This one is for after that, when the profile exists and you want to know whether it's doing its job. You don't need to change anything to run the check. You just need your phone and a notepad.
Google says local results are "mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity" (source), and that "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google." Distance means what you see depends on where you're standing, so the listing a homeowner in another part of town sees may not match yours. The goal here isn't to move up a list. It's to make sure that when someone does find you, nothing on the listing gives them a reason to keep scrolling.
Check 1: Search the job, not your company name
Searching your own name proves almost nothing. Customers type the problem. Try a few of these on your phone, with your town name added:
- "electrician near me"
- "panel upgrade" or "breaker box replacement"
- "EV charger installation"
- "ceiling fan install" or "outlet not working"
- "generator hookup," if you do that work
Note which of those show your listing and which don't. If a job you want isn't turning you up, check whether it's in your services list. Google lets you add services from its suggestions or write your own with a short description (source).
Check 2: Read the name, category and hours in five seconds
Open your listing and give yourself five seconds, the way someone in a hurry would. Can you tell what you do, whether you're open, and how to reach you?
- Name. It should match your truck and invoices. Google's guidelines say unnecessary information in the business name isn't permitted and could get the profile suspended (source). Extra words that aren't part of your real name are a risk, not a shortcut.
- Category. The primary category should be the one that best describes the business (source). If it says something broader than electrician, fix that first.
- Hours. You can set regular hours, special hours for holidays, and "more hours" for things on their own schedule (source). If your listing says "Open 24 hours" but nobody picks up at night, change it today.
Check 3: Tap every button
Tap Call. Does it ring a phone that a person answers, or a line you stopped checking? Tap Website. Does the page load fast on your phone, show your number near the top, and say which towns you work in? If messaging is turned on, send yourself a test message and see how long it takes to notice it. Where it's offered, verified businesses can let customers message them from the profile (source), but an unanswered message looks worse than no message button at all.
Check 4: Read your last five reviews and your replies
Scroll to your newest reviews. How old is the latest one? Did you reply? Google says helpful, positive replies can show that you're responsive, and the customer is notified when you reply (source).
If the latest review is from last year, the fix is a habit, not a trick. Google's policy lets businesses ask for reviews that reflect a genuine experience, but it doesn't allow offering discounts or other incentives for reviews, or selectively asking only happy customers (source). Ask every customer the same way, with your review link (source).
Check 5: Look at your photos as a stranger would
Are they yours? Are they recent? Google wants photos in focus, well lit, and without heavy edits (source). For an electrician, a clean panel with labeled breakers, a finished lighting job, your truck with the name on it, and a person in your shirt say more than a logo. If the newest photo was uploaded years ago, take three on your next job.
Check 6: Open your Performance report
This is the part that's easiest to skip. If your profile is verified and you're signed in to the account that manages it, Google shows a Performance report: the search terms people used to find you, how many viewed the profile, how many tapped the call button, and how many clicked through to your website (source). Google notes that the searches list updates at the start of each month and can take up to 5 days to show up.
Three questions to ask of it:
- Do the search terms match the work you want, or mostly your company name?
- Are call taps going up, flat, or down over the last few months?
- Do people click to your website and then not call? That points at the website, not the listing.
Your ten-minute scorecard
| Check | Pass if |
|---|---|
| Job searches | Your listing shows for the jobs you want, from where your customers are |
| Name and category | Real business name; electrician as the primary category |
| Hours | Match when someone actually answers |
| Buttons | Call reaches a person; website loads with your number on top |
| Reviews | A recent review, and a reply on each |
| Photos | Your own work, taken recently |
| Performance | Search terms include the jobs, not just your name |
Anything marked "fix" goes on this week's list. None of it costs money, and you can do all of it yourself.
If you'd rather someone else looked
That's what our free Map Check is for. You fill in a short form, we run the same kind of search for your trade in your town and record the screen, and you get a video, about 3 minutes, of your listing next to the ones showing above it, with the three fixes we'd make first. It's free, and the fixes are yours to do or not.