The Louisiana Owner's Google Business Profile Setup Guide (Free, 45 Minutes)

Before you spend a dollar on a website, ads, or SEO, do this. The map results at the top of every local search come from Google Business Profiles — and a complete, active profile beats an expensive website with a neglected one. It's free. Here's the whole setup, in the order that matters.

Step 1: Claim it (10 minutes)

Go to business.google.com and search for your business — it may already exist from customer check-ins. Claim it if it's there; create it if it isn't. Use your exact legal business name — no stuffing ("Bayou Plumbing | Best Plumber Baton Rouge" will eventually get you suspended; "Bayou Plumbing" won't).

Service-area business? If customers come to you (a shop, a restaurant), list the address. If you go to them (trades, cleaners), choose a service-area business, hide the address, and list the parishes and cities you actually cover.

Step 2: Verify (varies — start now)

Google verifies by video, phone, or postcard. Video is fastest: they'll ask you to walk through your workspace, show equipment, business licenses, or signage. It feels odd; do it anyway. Nothing else counts until you're verified — this is why claiming your profile is step one and not step five.

Step 3: Fill in every field (20 minutes)

Completeness is a ranking factor. Do all of it:

• Categories — the primary category is your biggest single lever. Pick the most specific one that fits ("HVAC contractor," not "Contractor"). Add secondaries for every real service line.
• Services — list each service individually with a sentence of description. These match you to specific searches.
• Hours — real ones, including holiday hours. An "open now" filter excludes you if this is blank.
• Phone + website — the same number and domain everywhere on the internet. Mismatches blur your ranking signals.
• Description — 750 characters. Say what you do, where, and for whom. Plain language beats buzzwords.

Step 4: Add real photos (10 minutes)

Profiles with real photos get dramatically more calls and direction requests. Upload your actual work: trucks, storefront, team, before/afters. Skip the stock photos — customers can tell instantly, and so can Google.

Step 5: Build the review habit (ongoing — this is the one that ranks you)

Reviews are the strongest local signal you can influence. Two rules:

1. Ask at the peak moment — right after the job, when they're happiest. Google gives you a short review link (Profile → "Ask for reviews"); text it. Asking once, at the right moment, gets more reviews than any follow-up campaign.
2. Reply to every review — good and bad. Replies signal an active business to Google and show the next customer how you handle things.

Step 6: Stay minimally active

A post every few weeks, new photos monthly, questions answered. Activity is a small signal, but abandonment is a loud one — a profile with two-year-old photos reads as "maybe closed" to both Google and customers.

Where your website fits

The profile gets you found; the website closes the job. Google explicitly uses your site to understand and rank your profile — service pages, your city in the copy, and fast mobile load all feed the map pack. That's why the businesses that dominate local search do both. If your site isn't holding up its half, the free audit will show you exactly where it's leaking — with Google's own measurements.

Louisiana-based and want the website half handled? Builds start at $199 flat, first draft in 3–5 days — serving Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, and everywhere between.