If you're a plumber, electrician, roofer or landscaper in Hull, here's an uncomfortable truth: your Google Business Profile is doing more work than your website. Most trades searches end in a phone call straight from the map — the searcher never clicks through to a site at all. They see your profile, your reviews, your photos and your "open now" badge, and they ring the first one that looks legit.
Which means a scruffy, half-filled-in profile is quietly costing you jobs every single week, even if your actual work is excellent. The good news: unlike a website rebuild, fixing this properly takes about fifteen minutes. Here's exactly what to do.
Why your profile matters more than your website (for now)
Websites are for building trust once someone's already interested. Google Business Profile is for winning the moment someone types "electrician Hull" or "roofer near me" and starts scrolling the map results. If your profile is thin, Google has less reason to rank you — and less reason to make you look trustworthy to the person doing the scrolling. Fix the profile first. The website can wait.
Fix 1 — Get your categories right
Most trades only set one category ("Plumber") when Google lets you add several. If you do emergency call-outs, boiler installs and bathroom fitting, say so — add "Emergency plumber" as your primary category if that's genuinely most of your work, then stack relevant secondary categories underneath. Categories are one of the biggest ranking factors Google uses to decide who shows up for which search, and it's a two-minute fix that most Hull tradespeople have never touched since the profile was set up.
Fix 2 — Fill in your actual services list
Separate from categories, Google Business Profile has a "Services" section where you list out what you do, with a short description for each. Don't skip this because it feels like admin — it's free real estate that helps Google match you to specific searches ("burst pipe repair", "landlord gas safety certificate") that a single category can't cover. Ten minutes here, done properly, will outlast most paid advertising.
Fix 3 — Photos that aren't a stock logo
Profiles with real photos get more calls and more direction requests, full stop. Add your van, you on a job (with the customer's permission), before-and-afters, your team. Delete anything that looks like a stock photo or a screenshot of your logo — it does you no favours and signals "hasn't been touched in years" to anyone scrolling past.
Fix 4 — Hours and attributes that are actually true
Wrong opening hours are one of the fastest ways to lose a customer's trust before you've even spoken to them — they'll ring, get no answer, and call the next name down. Double-check your hours are current, mark yourself correctly for holidays, and fill in the attributes Google offers (wheelchair accessible, identifies as women-owned, and so on) where genuinely true. It costs nothing and every field filled in is a small trust signal.
Fix 5 — Ask for your first review, today
You don't need fifty reviews to start winning more calls — you need to not be sitting on zero or one while a competitor two streets over has thirty. Pick your best recent customer, send them your Google review link directly (Google Business Profile gives you a shareable one), and simply ask. Most people are happy to leave a review; they just never get asked at the right moment. Do this once this week and make it a habit.
What to do every month after today
Fifteen minutes today gets your profile out of neglect. Staying visible in Hull's local search results is a small monthly habit, not a one-off: post an update or a recent job photo, check for and reply to any new reviews, and glance over your services list if anything's changed. That's it — no daily grind, just don't let it go quiet again.