Your Google Business Profile does more work than your website. It is what appears when a facility manager searches your name after getting your proposal, it feeds the Map Pack, and it is increasingly what AI assistants read when deciding whether to mention you.
It is also, for most janitorial businesses, about a third complete. Set aside twenty minutes and go through this properly. Open your profile on a laptop rather than a phone — more of the fields are visible.
Name, exactly as it is
Your business name field should contain your business name and nothing else. No city, no services, no "Best". It is against Google's guidelines, any competitor can report it, and the suspension lands on the asset you can least afford to lose.
Check it matches your website, your invoices, your certificates of insurance and your other listings character for character. "Metro Building Services LLC" and "Metro Building Services" can read as two businesses to a machine — and to a procurement team matching your COI to your bid.
Categories
Primary category first: the most specific option that is true, which for most contractors is a janitorial or commercial cleaning category rather than a general one. Then add secondaries for what you genuinely also do, such as carpet or window cleaning.
Do not add a category for work you would turn down. It brings you inquiries you cannot serve.
Service area or address, chosen on purpose
If clients do not visit your office, hide the street address and set a service area. A visible address where you do not actually receive visitors is a guideline problem, and it skews your distance signal towards a place that does not matter.
List the specific cities you serve, and be honest about the edges.
Hours: office hours, not cleaning hours
Most janitorial work happens at night, but your profile hours are when someone can reach you. Set real office hours and add special hours for holidays. If someone answers an emergency line overnight — a flood, a spill, a missed service — say so in the description. It is a real differentiator, and most contractors who have it never mention it.
Services, individually
This section is usually empty and it is one of the strongest relevance signals available. Add each service as its own entry with its own description: "Day Porter Service — on-site staff during business hours for restrooms, break rooms, lobbies and spills" is worth more than a hundred words of general copy.
The description
Written for a person. Who you are, where you work, what kinds of buildings you clean, what is different about you. If you are accredited, say so here and link your verification page — it is a checkable claim, which most business descriptions are not.
Photos
Logo, cover, and then real photos: team, vehicles, equipment, work in progress. Aim for at least ten and add a couple every month. Only photograph a client's building with their permission, and keep their name and signage out of the frame.
Questions and answers
If your profile shows a questions section, check it. Is there anything there? Is any of it wrong? Where the feature is available, anyone can answer a question about your business, including someone who has no idea. Post your common questions and answer them yourself; six is plenty to start.
Reviews: read the last ten
Not the score — the text, and your replies. Every review should have a reply, including the good ones, and the replies should sound like a person rather than a template. A row of identical "Thank you for your feedback!" responses reads worse than no replies at all. Never name a client's staff or share building details in a reply.
If there is a critical one you never answered, answer it now. Late is better than never, and the audience for that reply is not the reviewer, it is the next facility manager reading.
Messaging
If messaging is switched on, someone has to actually watch it. A profile that ignores messages is worse than one with messaging off. Decide honestly which you are.
The last check: search your own name
Open a private window, search your business name, and read the whole panel as a stranger would. Wrong phone number? Old address? A photo from years ago? Fix what you find, and put a note in your calendar to do this again in three months.