The Google Business Profile checklist that wins the Melbourne map pack

When a homeowner searches for an emergency plumber or an air conditioning repair, the three businesses in the map pack take the overwhelming majority of the calls. Your Google Business Profile is what decides whether you are one of them.

Get the fundamentals exactly right

• Primary category set to your highest-value service, not a generic one
• Every relevant secondary category added, and nothing irrelevant
• Service list populated with the actual jobs you want more of
• Service area set to the suburbs you genuinely cover
• Hours accurate, including after-hours and public holiday settings
• Business name matching your real trading name - no keyword stuffing

Reviews are the ranking factor you control

Volume matters, but recency and response matter just as much. A profile with steady reviews arriving every week outperforms one with a burst from two years ago. Build the request into job completion so it happens without anyone having to remember.

Photos prove you are real

Profiles with regular, genuine job photos get more clicks and more calls. Vans, team, before-and-afters, completed installs. Stock imagery does the opposite - homeowners can tell, and so can Google.

Keep the profile alive

Posts, seasonal service reminders, updated services and answered questions all signal an active business. It is a small weekly habit that compounds into map pack position, which compounds into calls.