A complete GBP isn't the same as a strategically optimized one.
Most GBP optimization advice focuses on completing the profile, adding hours, photos, responding to reviews. That's necessary but not sufficient. The businesses that rank in the top 3 of the Maps Pack don't just have complete profiles; they have profiles with strategic keyword placement in every available text field.
Your GBP tells Google what your business does, what searches it should show up for, and how relevant it is compared to competitors. Here's how to build a keyword strategy that maximizes the signals you can control.
Google processes text from multiple GBP fields when determining which searches to show your profile for. Each field has different weight and purpose.
Primary keyword signals (highest impact):
Business Category: The most powerful single signal. Google heavily weights your primary category for category-based searches. "Emergency Plumber" vs. "Plumber" as a category produces measurably different search visibility.
Services Section: Individual service entries are direct keyword signals. A plumber with "Emergency Plumbing" listed as a service ranks for emergency plumbing searches at a level that a plumber with just "Plumbing" doesn't.
Business Name: Google reads your business name for keyword signals, but this is also heavily monitored for keyword stuffing violations. Don't add descriptor keywords to your business name unless they're part of your actual legal business name.
Secondary keyword signals:
Business Description: 750 characters of natural-language text about your business. Contains keyword signals but lower weight than category and services.
Review Content: Keywords that customers naturally include in reviews ("they fixed our water heater quickly") create matching signals for those specific service terms.
Posts and Updates: Regular GBP posts create fresh keyword signals, a monthly post about "air conditioning service" creates a recency signal for that query.
Q&A Section: Questions and answers in your GBP that mention specific services and locations.
Category selection is the single highest-impact GBP optimization decision. Get this wrong and no amount of other optimization fixes the gap.
Primary category selection: Choose the most specific category that accurately describes your main service offering. Not the broadest, the most specific.
Wrong: "Contractor" (too broad) Wrong: "General Contractor" (still broad) Right: "Kitchen Remodeling Contractor" (if kitchen remodeling is your primary service)
Google has thousands of categories. The more specific one you can justify using, the stronger the relevance signal for that service type.
Secondary category strategy: Add 3–5 secondary categories that cover your other service types. A home service business might use:
Each secondary category creates additional keyword matching for those specific service types.
How to find the right categories: Search your primary service keyword on Google Maps and look at the categories listed for the top-ranking competitors. The categories they use for their Maps Pack positions are a direct indicator of which categories perform best for that service type.
💡 Pro Tip: You can see a competitor's categories by clicking "More about this business" in their GBP listing. This reveals their primary category and often secondary categories too.
The Services section is the most underused keyword tool in GBP. Most businesses add 1–3 generic service names. The businesses that rank best have 8–15 specific service entries.
How to build a comprehensive services list:
Think at the service level, not the category level. Don't list "HVAC", list:
Each service entry creates a separate keyword match point. When someone searches "furnace repair near me," Google looks for GBPs that have "Furnace Repair" as a service, not just businesses in the HVAC category.
Service descriptions: Each service allows a description field. Fill this out with 1–2 sentences that naturally include related keyword variations. For "Air Conditioning Repair": "Professional AC repair and diagnosis for all makes and models. Same-day service available for most repairs."
Your 750-character business description isn't primarily for SEO, it's what customers read when they're deciding whether to call you. But keywords included naturally in your description do contribute to relevance signals.
Description structure that balances conversion and keywords:
Sentence 1: What you do and who you serve (include your primary service and city). "[Business Name] provides residential and commercial plumbing services in Austin, TX and surrounding areas."
Sentences 2–3: Your primary service types (natural keyword inclusion). "We specialize in water heater installation, drain cleaning, and emergency plumbing repair. Our licensed plumbers handle everything from kitchen faucet repairs to full bathroom remodeling."
Sentence 4: Differentiators and trust signals. "Family owned since 2011, all plumbers are licensed and insured, and we offer same-day service for urgent repairs."
Final sentence: CTA. "Call us for a free estimate on any plumbing project in the Austin metro area."
This structure includes your primary service types naturally while being genuinely readable for prospective customers.
Reviews are the one GBP keyword source you can't directly control, but you can influence what customers write by how you prompt review requests.
Prompting keyword-rich reviews: When requesting reviews, briefly describe what you did: "We appreciate you choosing us for your water heater replacement. If you're happy with the work, a quick Google review mentioning what we helped you with would mean a lot."
This soft prompt increases the likelihood that the review mentions the specific service, "they replaced our water heater quickly and professionally", which creates a keyword-rich review entry that matches future water heater search queries.
Review keyword density: Businesses where reviews frequently mention their specific service types rank better for those service-specific searches. This is why review content strategy matters beyond just getting star ratings.
Regular GBP posts create fresh keyword signals. A monthly post about "spring AC tune-up" creates a recency signal that your profile is active and relevant for HVAC spring maintenance searches.
Post keyword strategy: Rotate your posts to cover your primary service keyword variations over the course of a month:
This rotation ensures your GBP is regularly producing keyword signals across your full service range.
The Q&A section lets you add your own questions and answers to your GBP. This is a direct keyword opportunity, you control both the question and the answer.
How to use Q&A for keywords:
Add 5–10 questions that naturally target keyword variations:
Answer each question with 2–3 sentences that include the keyword naturally.
These Q&A entries appear in your GBP, are indexed by Google, and create keyword matching for the specific question terms, including long-tail variations like "emergency plumber Austin" and "same day drain cleaning."
Can I add keywords directly to my GBP business name? Only if they're part of your actual legal business name. Google's guidelines prohibit adding keyword descriptors (like "the best plumber in Austin") to your business name. Businesses caught doing this can have their name edited by Google or receive a GBP suspension.
How many services should I list in GBP? As many as you actually offer, with no upper limit. 8–15 services is typical for most home service businesses. Multi-specialty practices or service businesses with 20+ services should list them all, each entry adds keyword relevance, and there's no documented penalty for comprehensive service lists.
Do keywords in Google reviews actually affect rankings? Yes, according to Google's own documentation on local ranking factors, which cites "keywords in Google reviews" as a positive relevance signal. This is why prompting customers to mention specific services in their reviews has measurable ranking impact over time.
How long does it take for GBP keyword changes to affect rankings? Changes to categories typically affect rankings within 1–4 weeks as Google recrawls and recalibrates. Service additions may take longer, 4–8 weeks for visible ranking movement for new service keyword targets. Consistent GBP posting shows faster relevance signaling, often within weeks.
Your GBP is a keyword strategy document, not just a business listing. Every text field, categories, services, description, Q&A, posts, and the content of customer reviews, contributes to the keyword signals Google uses to decide which searches to show your profile for.
Fill every field deliberately. Use specific service entries rather than general categories. Build keyword-relevant Q&A content. And prompt reviews that mention the specific services you want to rank for.
That strategic approach to GBP content is what separates a profile that shows up for "plumber near me" from one that shows up for "emergency water heater repair Austin", the more specific, higher-converting search.
