Categories and completeness
Your primary category is one of the strongest signals Google uses to decide which searches your profile should appear for. A roofer categorized generically as "Contractor" competes in a much broader, harder pool than one correctly categorized as "Roofing Contractor" with accurate secondary categories added. Get this wrong and the profile can be active, reviewed, and photographed — and still barely show up for the searches that matter.
Beyond category, completeness compounds: accurate hours, a real service area (not just a pin), your website URL, a business description that states what you do in plain language, and services listed individually rather than lumped into one line. Every empty field is a small tax on how well the profile performs.
Photos and posts
Profiles with recent, real job photos outperform profiles with a handful of years-old stock-style images — both in how Google ranks them and in how likely a visitor is to call. Photos are proof: proof you're active, proof the work looks like what you claim, proof there's a real crew behind the listing.
Regular posts (a recent project, a seasonal reminder, a completed job) send a similar signal of activity. Neither takes long. The advantage goes to whoever does it consistently, not whoever does it best once.
Reviews and responses
Volume, recency, and your responses all factor into both ranking and conversion. A profile with eleven reviews from three years ago reads as inactive next to a competitor with fresh reviews arriving every week — even if the underlying work quality is identical.
Responding to every review, including negative ones, matters more than most owners assume. Future customers read your responses as a preview of what you're like when something goes wrong — a calm, specific reply to a bad review often builds more trust than another five-star review with no reply at all.
Ranking well vs. converting well
A profile can rank in the map pack and still not convert, if what a visitor finds when they click in doesn't build confidence — sparse photos, an old review with no response sitting at the top, hours that don't match reality. Ranking gets you the click; completeness and recent activity get you the call. Both matter, and it's common for a business to have fixed one and not the other.
The maintenance habit that matters more than any one fix
None of the fixes above are sophisticated. The advantage almost always comes down to consistency — a company that adds photos monthly, asks for reviews on every job, and replies within a day or two will out-convert a competitor doing the same list of tasks sporadically. Treat the profile as a living asset that needs a few minutes a week, not a one-time setup task.
If you'd rather talk it through, that's what Karen does: a focused conversation about your goals and constraints, and a clear read on what to fix first.