Growing Your Business With Google Business Profile For Deck Builders
If you’re a deck builder, your Google Business Profile is very likely the #1 driver of leads for your business from online.
It’s what most people see when they type on Google your business name or phrases like ‘deck builder near me’…
And it looks like the image below.
What is A Google Business Profile (GBP)
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business, or GMB) is arguebly the biggest business directory for contractors on the internet.
It allows you to show your decking business on Google for free, get high-quality leads, gather reviews, and get traffic to your website.
The only thing is…
Every deck builder and their moms has a Google Business Profile now.
And if you want yours to show up the first (or in the first three spots), you need an optimized Google Business Profile for your deck building company.
Here’s what Google looks at before it shows your Business Profile.
1. Relevance
If your main category is ‘remodeler’ but the user searched specifically for ‘deck builder’, you’re losing relevance.
That’s because Google tries to give its users the most relevant result to their search.
So it’ll most likely return someone with the main category set to ‘decking company’.
2. Distance
Google understands deck building is a local service. It’s unlikely you’ll hire someone 3 states away to build a deck at your house.
The closer your business address is to the user, the higher the chances your business will show up first.
3. Prominence
You know very well that close-rate increases as you gain positive reputation in your area.
Google will always show the decking company with more reviews, more reputation, and more experience first.
To fight that, you’ll need to gather reviews on your Google Business Profile ASAP!
Want to increase your decking business prominence on Google Maps? Read our comprehensive guide on how to get more 5-star reviews for your business.
Optimize Your Google Business Profile For More Decking Leads
First of all, you’ll need to set up your Google Business Profile or ‘claim’ your business if it’s already created.
- Claim the listing by going on Google Maps and typing in your business name. If it shows your business, look for the 'claim business' button.
- If you can't find your business on Google Maps, you'll want to create the listing first.
Here’s how to create a Google Business Profile. To optimize it, continue with the steps below.
Step 1: Set Main Category To 'Deck Builder'
This is the most important change you’ll do to your account.
If you’re a deck builder and you want leads only for deck building projects, set your Google Business Profile main category to ‘Deck Builder’.
Step 2: Add A Business Description
Write a nice business description. We have a short article that teaches you how to write a winning business description for your Google Business Profile.
Step 3: Add Secondary Categories
The secondary category represents the other jobs you’re okay taking. Some second categories specific for a deck building company are:
- Repair service
- Patio enclosure supplier
- Remodeler
- Contractor
- General contractor
- Railing contractor
- Stair contractor
- Construction company
Careful with the secondary categories though. If you don’t want poor leads, stick with highly-relevant ones.
Step 4: Add Images To Your Profile
One of the best ways to let people see your work is through images.
Upload the best decks you’ve built on your Google Business Profile and keep adding more as you go.
Profiles with images constantly added will get more interactions (clicks and views).
Step 5 Verify your business
Imagine if a direct competitor claims your Google Business Profile and gets your leads. Ouch!
To make sure that doesn’t happen, you’ll want to verify your Google Business Profile.
Here’s how:
- A video of your headquarters where you'll need to show a permanent door sign with your business name and logo
- A phone call or message with a code that you'll need to verify
- Or in some cases, you'd receive an envelope with a code at your address that you need to type into Google.
- Go to your Google Business profile.
- Click Get Verified and choose your preferred verification method.
- Follow the steps to complete verification.
Play the video below to see how to verify your Google Business profile.
Step 6: Keep Optimizing For Extra Points
When everyone does the same, no one actually has an edge. So, you need to go the extra mile.
Here’s what else you can do:
- Adding a Frequently Asked Questions section. You can ask yourself and answer yourself. Be sure to include relevant questions that your clients actually ask you.
- Answering reviews. Answering reviews gives you a great chance to use relevant keywords to your decking services. Also, people love seeing the business owner answering back to reviews (even bad ones).
- Creating posts is another great option to add content to your Google Business Profile and keep in touch with your audience.
3 mistakes People Still Make With Their Google Business profile
Knowing what not to do is just as important a knowing what to do.
So let’s see the 3 most common mistakes when managing or optimizing a business profile on Google.
1. Using The Wrong Business Name
If your business name is ‘John’s Local Builders’, don’t use ‘John’s Deck Builders In Indiana’.
The worst thing that can happen si your Google Business Profile could get suspended and then you won’t be able to update anything any longer.
Always use your legal business name, or the same name you have displayed everywhere on your website.
Don’t have a memorable name? File for a DBA, change it legally, add keywords to your name, and use that on GBP. You’ll see a great improvement in performance.
2. Adding too many keywords
The correct term for this is ‘keyword stuffing’ and it’s when you’re adding a lot of keywords in your description and business name.
This is considered a spam on Google Business Profile, and you risk getting your profile suspended.
3. Not Answering Reviews
Answering reviews won’t do much to your rankings, but it will greatly increase the trust among your potential clients.
A simple ‘Thank you for doing business with us’ is enough to show that you’re present and that you’re acknowledging your clients.
Tip: also add keywords when answering the reviews, like ‘Thank you for trusting John’s Decking Pros with your new deck! We’re super excited with how your decking surface turned out’.
Closing Thoughts
Your Google Business Profile is the most important online asset for your decking business.
It will attract local, qualified leads that want to built, replace, repair, or expand a deck.
Think of it as a FREE Thumbtack, Angi, or Home Advisor.
But to make it work and perform at 100%, optimizing your Google Business Profile is mandatory.
We’ve optimized hundreds of Google Business Profile listings, and we’re taking things a step further as well with building backlinks, citations, and more. We want you to win, and you can’t do it without a complete local SEO strategy.
If you’re interested in a one-time Google Business Profile optimization for your home building company, let’s talk!