Here is the thing most tradespeople don't know about Google Business Profile:

Google does not treat all profiles equally.

Yes, it's one of the best free tools you can use to build up your trade business.

It can also be a place littered with landmines if you neglect it.

For example:

A dormant profile — accurate when you set it up three years ago, untouched since — gets buried… quietly moved down the results… below the roofer who responded to a review this morning… or below the electrician who uploaded photos of his last consumer unit upgrade.

The curse version in the real world could be this:

A tiler in Leeds hasn't touched his profile since 2022. The photos are from a bathroom he tiled in a house that has since been sold. One good review, from a customer who has since moved away, sits unanswered. His hours still say closing at 5pm on Fridays. But he doesn't. He just never updated it.

Every week, homeowners in his area search "tiler Leeds", "bathroom tiler LS6", "floor tiling near me." Some of them would be ideal jobs. Full bathroom refits, porcelain floor tiling, wet room tanking and tiling from scratch. Exactly the kind of work he wants.

But they're booking someone else. Someone whose profile tells Google he's still actively trading, still taking jobs, still worth showing first.

That's an active profile:

Recent photos, regular posts, reviews being responded to, accurate hours and services.

That gets pushed up.

Google's local algorithm reads activity as a signal of a legitimate, operating business. It rewards it with visibility.

When a profile is active — genuinely, consistently active — it functions as a 24-hour inbound enquiry system.

It costs you nothing per click.

Read that again.

Best part:

The leads are not shared with four competitors. The homeowner who finds you in local search has already decided they want someone local, already read your reviews, already seen a photo of your work. They are not comparing you on price. They are checking whether you seem credible.

That is a fundamentally different conversation than the one that comes through a lead generation platform.

The electrician who posts a photo of an EV charger installation in Harrogate this Thursday will appear in searches from homeowners in Harrogate looking for EV charger installers. This week, next week, and for months after. One post, no cost and no subscription. His name, his number, his reviews, his photos.

That is what owning a position in local search looks like.

So a reminder about Google Business Profiles:

It is not a set-and-forget thing.

Google rewards active profiles. Which means the work of being visible is ongoing — regular posts, new photos after each job, reviewing what people are searching to find you, responding to every review including the ones you'd rather ignore, keeping your services and hours accurate as your business changes.

Done properly, it compounds.

Six months of consistent activity builds a profile that is very difficult for a new competitor to displace quickly. The reviews accumulate, the photos pile up, and the posting history signals to Google: this business is alive, active, and worth showing.

Left alone, it decays. Simples.

So. Curse or blessing?

The profile is the same either way. The tool is neutral. Google built it, it exists, and your business is probably on it right now whether you know it or not.

What determines which side you end up on is not the platform. It is whether someone is actively managing it, or whether it is quietly working against you while you're on the tools.