Setting up a service-area Google Business Profile in Vancouver

Are you a service-area business?

Google defines three types in its help page on managing a service area:

• Storefront business: customers come to your address, such as a shop, studio or café.
• Service-area business: you visit or deliver to customers and don't serve them at your address.
• Hybrid business: you have a place customers visit and you also go to them, such as a locksmith with a counter who also does call-outs.

If you are a service-area business, Google's instruction is direct: if you don't serve customers at your business address, remove it from the profile. Hybrids can show the address and a service area together.

Step 1: claim or create the profile

Search for your business name on Google Maps. If a profile already exists (perhaps created by a previous owner, a customer or a directory), claim it rather than creating a duplicate. If none exists, create one.

During setup, Google asks for an address, mainly for verification. Enter the real address you operate from. Don't use a mailbox, a friend's office or a virtual office. Google's profile guidelines say that a rented mailing address you don't actually operate from is not eligible, and service-area businesses can't list a virtual office unless it is staffed during business hours.

Step 2: hide the address and set service areas

Once the profile exists, choose not to show your address to customers and add service areas. You can add neighbourhoods, cities or postal areas.

For a Vancouver business, think in terms of drive time rather than distance. A crew based in Sunset can reach Killarney and Marpole far more easily than West Point Grey at rush hour, and anything across a bridge adds uncertainty. Add:

• the Vancouver neighbourhoods you serve most often;
• Vancouver itself as a broader area if you cover most of the city;
• nearby municipalities you genuinely work in, such as Burnaby, Richmond or the North Shore.

Don't pad the list with places you rarely visit. Service areas tell customers where you work; they don't force Google to rank you there.

Step 3: choose categories carefully

Your primary category has a big effect on which searches you appear for. Pick the one that describes your main money-making service, not everything you do. Add a few secondary categories only if they are genuinely separate services.

A common mistake in Vancouver's home-service trades is choosing a broad category like "Contractor" when "Plumber" or "Painter" is more accurate and more searched.

Step 4: fill in everything

Google's guide to improving local ranking says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. You can't change distance, but a complete profile improves relevance:

• Business name: your real name exactly as it appears on signage, invoices and your website. No added keywords or neighbourhood names.
• Phone number: a local number you or your team answer.
• Website: your home page or a page about your main service.
• Hours: the hours you take calls, not the hours you happen to be awake.
• Services: list each one with a short description.
• Description: two or three plain sentences about what you do, who for and where.
• Photos: real photos of your work, van, tools and team. Add new ones regularly.

If your trade is licensed, it can help trust to mention licensing on your website and point customers to the regulator, such as Technical Safety BC for gas and electrical contractors. Keep it factual and current.

Step 5: verify

Google will ask you to verify the profile, often by video, phone or another method it chooses. Follow its on-screen instructions exactly. If it asks for a video, it wants to see that the business is real and that you run it, so keep things like signed vehicles, tools and business paperwork handy before you start.

Step 6: keep it alive

A profile that never changes slowly loses ground to active competitors. A simple monthly routine:

1. Ask every customer for a review, and reply to every review within a few days.
2. Post once or twice a month about recent work, seasonal tips or service changes.
3. Add a few new photos.
4. Check for edits suggested by the public or by Google, and correct anything wrong.
5. Answer questions posted on your profile.
6. Look at the performance numbers: calls, website clicks and searches.

Our review requests service and Google Business Profile service cover these steps for you if you prefer not to do them yourself.

Common problems and fixes

• Your home address is showing. Remove the address in the profile settings and make sure service areas are set.
• A duplicate profile exists. Request removal of the duplicate or merge, rather than running two.
• The profile was suspended. Usually this follows a name with added keywords, an ineligible address or a sudden change of details. Fix the cause before requesting reinstatement.
• You get calls from areas you don't serve. Trim your service areas and state your coverage clearly on your website.
• Competitors have far more reviews. Start a steady review routine now. Consistency matters more than a burst.

Checklist

• ☐ Profile claimed, with no duplicates.
• ☐ Address hidden if customers don't visit you.
• ☐ Service areas match where you actually work.
• ☐ Accurate primary category, with only a few genuine secondary ones.
• ☐ Real name, local phone, correct hours and full services list.
• ☐ Real photos, refreshed regularly.
• ☐ Monthly routine for reviews, posts and checks.

For how your profile fits with the rest of your online marketing, see our services overview and the areas page.