How contractors actually get found on Google
No jargon, no packages. Just what's actually happening when someone searches for a contractor, and which parts you can influence.
There are two different results, and they work differently
Search 'plumber near me' and you get a map with three businesses, then a list of ordinary blue links below it. Those are two separate systems with two separate sets of rules, and most contractors don't realise they're competing in both.
The map block — the 'map pack' — is driven almost entirely by your Google Business Profile. The links below are driven by your website. The map block gets far more clicks, which is why a free profile often outperforms a paid website.
What actually moves the map results
Three things, roughly in order. Your primary category, which is the single biggest lever and takes about a minute to fix. Your proximity to the person searching, which you can't control. And your reviews — both how many and how recent.
Almost everything else marketed as local SEO is a distant fourth. If someone is selling you a package and hasn't asked what your primary category is, they aren't paying attention.
Where the website still matters
For anything that isn't a 'near me' search. 'How much does a new furnace cost in Wisconsin' has no map block — it's a page of links, and the businesses that wrote something useful are on it.
Your site also feeds the profile. Google cross-references what your site says you do and where you work against your profile. Contradict yourself and both suffer.
The order to do things in
Finish your Google Business Profile properly, including categories and service areas. Get to ten genuine reviews. Then make sure your website is fast, says clearly what you do and where, and has a page for each real service.
That's the whole thing. Anyone adding steps before the profile is finished is selling something.
Want us to just handle it?
$149 a month, nothing down. Or take everything above and do it yourself — genuinely, that's a fine outcome.
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