By Bret Moleta, Founder, Mindsaw · Published October 25, 2026 · Last updated October 25, 2026
This is the order I work in when a home-service business wants more calls from Google Maps. There are seven steps, and you do them in order, because each one depends on the one before it.
Step 1: Why measure before you change anything?
Because you’re probably not ranking where you think you are.
“When you rank in in this section in Google Maps, you may only be ranking in the area where you registered your Google business profile, right?”
Bret Moleta, How to set up a Local SEO Campaign for Beginners at 1:18
Search from your office and you look great. Search from across town and you’re gone. A grid tool shows your ranking point by point across your area.
“If you don’t have SEO grid software, everything that I’m going to teach you after just doesn’t make sense and it’s not going to work.”
Bret Moleta, How to set up a Local SEO Campaign for Beginners at 3:18
Run a grid for your main keyword and save it. That’s your before picture. The tools I use are in Local SEO Tools.
Step 2: Which Google Business Profile category should you pick?
Your primary category carries the most weight:
“You need to make sure your number one category is the strongest signal in Google for ranking for for your number one keyword.”
Bret Moleta, Spy Your Competitor’s Google Categories Before You Touch Yours at 5:03
Look at what the businesses ranking above you use, pick the primary category that matches your main money service, and add only secondary categories that are true for your business.
Step 3: What goes in the rest of your profile?
All of it, every field.
“Your whole Google business profile has to be filled out with what you do and where you do it.”
Bret Moleta, Google Local Search in 2026: What 99% of Businesses Are Getting Wrong (Free Playbook Inside) at 7:10
- Business description written about your real services and area
- Services list filled in
- Service areas set to towns you actually drive to, starting small
- Hours that are your real hours
Step 4: Does your website have to match your profile?
Yes. Whatever you claim in the profile, the site has to back up:
“anything you have in your Google business profile you need to have on your website.”
Bret Moleta, Your Competitor Is Silently Stealing Your Calls 7 Fixes at 4:12
Watch: Your Competitor Is Silently Stealing Your Calls 7 Fixes, from the clip above.
So if your profile says drain cleaning and water heaters, you need a page for each. If it lists a town, the site should show real work in that town. No real work there yet? Leave the town page out until you have some.
Step 5: Is your name, address and phone the same everywhere?
Check it now:
“you want to make sure that you have complete NAP information, name, address, and phone number. That needs to be on your website. It needs to be in your Google business profile.”
Bret Moleta, Google Local Search in 2026: What 99% of Businesses Are Getting Wrong (Free Playbook Inside) at 4:21
Same spelling, same suite number, same phone, on your site, your profile and every directory listing. One wrong suite number is one more thing to clean up later.
Step 6: What photos should you add?
Real ones. Your trucks, your crew, your jobs, your signage.
“Get real pictures. You could use an iPhone, right? The cameras on the iPhones now are great.”
Bret Moleta, Google Local Search in 2026: What 99% of Businesses Are Getting Wrong (Free Playbook Inside) at 6:08
Never stock photos and never AI images passed off as your work. If you use an illustration, label it as one.
Step 7: How do you get reviews the right way?
Ask every customer, every job:
“But you have to send out this review link to your clients. Have them text the review link to them.”
Bret Moleta, Google’s AI Mode What Local SEOs and Business Need to Know Now at 10:17
Send the link to everyone, happy or not. No rewards and no picking only the customers you think will be nice. If you like, ask everyone to mention your town and the job, the same way every time. Reply to every review, good and bad.
The checklist
- [ ] Grid scan saved as your starting point
- [ ] Primary category matches your main money service
- [ ] Every profile field filled out with what you do and where
- [ ] A website page for every service and real service town in your profile
- [ ] Name, address and phone identical everywhere
- [ ] Real job photos on the profile and the site
- [ ] Review link sent to every customer after every job
- [ ] Grid scan rerun after the changes settle
On timing: Google’s Gary Illyes shared typical ranges for how long changes take to show, and they vary. Rerun your grid on a set schedule and compare it to your starting scan.
Next step
Want us to run steps 1 through 5 for you? Get a free Google Maps audit or text (718) 227-2300. If you’d rather hand off the whole list, see our local SEO and pricing pages.
Written from Bret’s videos with AI help; reviewed by Bret.
