Local SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Jobs

Most home service companies know they need to show up on Google Maps. Fewer understand what actually makes that happen. And a lot of them are actively hurting their rankings without realizing it. Like all home service marketing channels, local SEO only produces results when the systems downstream are working.

Local SEO is not complicated, but it’s easy to get wrong. The mistakes below are common, fixable, and probably costing you money right now.

Mistake 1: Treating all citations as equal

A citation is any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number. The idea is that the more places your business appears online, the more Google trusts that you’re a real, legitimate company.

This is true, but not all citations are created equal.

A listing on Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, or Angi carries real weight. These are high-authority sites that Google trusts. A listing on some random free directory nobody has ever heard of is worth almost nothing. In some cases, spammy directories can actually hurt you.

The other problem is inconsistency. If your business name is “Johnson Plumbing LLC” on your Google Business Profile but “Johnson’s Plumbing” on Yelp and “Johnson Plumbing Co” somewhere else, Google gets confused. Same with variations in your address or phone number. Even small differences like “Street” versus “St.” can create problems.

Quality matters more than quantity. Get listed on the directories that actually matter for your industry, make sure your information is exactly the same everywhere, and skip the garbage sites that promise to list you on 500 directories for $50. That’s not helping you.

Mistake 2: Thinking you don’t need a website

Some contractors figure that if they have a Google Business Profile with good reviews, they don’t really need a website. Google will show their profile in the map pack, people will call, and that’s good enough.

This is wrong, and it’s costing you rankings.

Google uses your website to verify and understand your business. Your site tells Google what services you offer, what areas you serve, and how legitimate you are. A business with a professional website that matches its Google Business Profile information is going to rank higher than one with no website at all.

About 60% of plumbing companies link to a real website from their Google Business Profile. The other 40% are either linking to a free Google site, a Facebook page, or nothing at all. Those businesses are leaving rankings on the table.

Your website doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to exist, it needs to load fast, and it needs to clearly describe your services and service areas. The GBP setup guide covers exactly what pages you need.

Mistake 3: Setting it and forgetting it

A lot of business owners treat local SEO like a one-time project. They set up their Google Business Profile, fill everything out, and never touch it again.

Google notices when profiles go dormant. And Google rewards profiles that stay active.

This doesn’t mean you need to spend hours every week on your profile. But you should be posting updates regularly, even if they’re short. You should be responding to every review, good and bad. You should be adding new photos when you have them. You should be updating your services if anything changes.

The posts don’t need to be long. Three hundred words or less is fine. Most people won’t even see them. But Google sees that you’re interacting with your profile, and Google likes it. An active profile signals a legitimate, operating business.

Set a reminder to update your profile at least once a week. Add a photo from a recent job. Write a quick post about a seasonal service. Respond to any new reviews. Ten minutes a week keeps your profile alive in Google’s eyes.

Mistake 4: Stuffing your profile with categories

Google lets you choose up to ten categories for your business. Some contractors take this as an invitation to add every category that could possibly apply, figuring more categories means more searches they’ll show up for.

The opposite is usually true.

Your primary category is by far the most important. It’s what Google looks at first when deciding whether to show you for a search. If you’re a plumber, your primary category should be “Plumber.” About 94% of plumbing companies get this right.

The problem comes with secondary categories. Adding categories for services you barely offer, or adding so many categories that Google gets confused about what you actually do, dilutes your relevance. A profile with three focused categories will typically outrank one with ten scattered categories.

The rule of thumb is to ask yourself: “Would I want to be known as a [category] business?” If the answer is no, it probably belongs in your services section, not your categories.

For HVAC companies, there’s a seasonal strategy worth considering. Some contractors change their primary category based on the time of year. In summer, “Air Conditioning Contractor” becomes primary. In winter, they switch to “Heating Contractor.” This aligns your profile with what people are actually searching for in that moment.

Mistake 5: Ignoring backlinks because “that’s for regular SEO”

There’s a belief out there that backlinks only matter for traditional website SEO, not for local search. The logic is that local rankings are about proximity and reviews, so why would links to your website affect your map pack position?

They do. Significantly.

Google uses your website’s authority as a signal for your local rankings. A plumbing company with backlinks from local news sites, industry associations, and other businesses is going to rank higher than one with zero links, all else being equal.

Local backlinks are particularly valuable. A link from your local chamber of commerce, a neighborhood blog, a local news outlet, or even other local businesses you partner with tells Google that you’re a trusted part of your community.

The easiest way to start building local links is through relationships you already have. Think about the other businesses you work with or refer customers to. Accountants, real estate agents, insurance providers, other trades. Many of them have websites with resources pages or partner sections. Ask if they’d be willing to link to you, and offer to do the same.

Sponsoring local events, joining local business associations, and getting mentioned in local publications all create link opportunities. It takes time, but it compounds. The businesses with strong local link profiles have a significant advantage in the map pack.

Mistake 6: Not responding to reviews (especially negative ones)

Most contractors understand that reviews matter. Fewer realize that how you respond to reviews also affects your rankings.

Google tracks review responses as a signal of business engagement. Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, tells Google that you’re active and that you care about customer experience. It also influences potential customers who are reading reviews before deciding who to call.

For positive reviews, a quick thank you is enough. Mention the technician’s name if you can. Keep it genuine and short.

For negative reviews, resist the urge to get defensive. Thank them for the feedback, acknowledge the issue, and offer to make it right. Even if the review is unfair, your response is really for the hundreds of other people who will read it. A thoughtful response to a one-star review can actually build more trust than another five-star review would.

One specific tactic for dealing with clearly fake reviews: reply stating that you can’t find any record of them as a customer. This is important because it signals to both Google and future readers that the review may not be legitimate. Don’t argue about details or thank them for feedback they never actually gave you.

For a complete system on getting more reviews consistently, check out the review generation guide.

Mistake 7: Using a virtual office or fake address

Google’s algorithm heavily favors proximity. Businesses that are physically closer to the searcher tend to rank higher. This leads some contractors to game the system by setting up virtual offices or using fake addresses in areas they want to rank for.

This is a terrible idea.

Google has gotten very good at detecting fake locations. They verify addresses through multiple methods, including video verification where you have to show your physical presence at the location. Virtual office traces like shared mailbox numbers or common suite addresses are red flags that can get your profile suspended.

When you get caught, and businesses do get caught, your profile gets removed entirely. You lose all your reviews, all your rankings, everything. Rebuilding from a suspension is painful and slow.

If you’re a service area business without a physical storefront, that’s fine. Google has a specific setup for businesses that go to customers rather than having customers come to them. You can hide your address and just list service areas. This is the legitimate way to handle it.

The one exception where some contractors get away with service area business setups is when they have an exact match or near-exact match business name. Something like “Boca Raton Dumpster Rental” might rank for that area even without a physical address because the business name itself is so geographically specific. But this is risky and not a strategy to rely on.

Mistake 8: Ignoring the Q&A section

Your Google Business Profile has a Q&A feature where anyone can ask questions about your business and anyone can answer them. Most contractors completely ignore this section.

That’s a problem for two reasons.

First, customers might ask questions and get no response, or worse, get answers from random people who don’t know your business. An unanswered question looks bad. A wrong answer looks worse.

Second, you can seed your own Q&A section with common questions and answers. Think about what customers ask you most often. Do you offer financing? What areas do you serve? Are you licensed and insured? Do you give free estimates? Add these questions yourself and provide the answers.

This serves the customer by giving them information upfront. And it serves your SEO by adding relevant keywords and content to your profile. Google indexes this content and uses it to understand your business better.

Mistake 9: Not uploading photos regularly

Businesses with photos get more clicks. Google’s own data shows that profiles with photos get 42% more requests for directions and 35% more clicks to websites. And yet most contractors upload a logo and maybe a truck photo and call it done.

Photos do more than make your profile look better. Image search is the fourth largest search engine after Google, YouTube, and the one nobody remembers. When you upload photos tagged with your business name, services, and location, you’re creating more opportunities to show up in searches.

The photos should be relevant to your business. Your team, your trucks, your equipment, your completed projects. Before and after shots are particularly effective. They show what you actually do and give potential customers a sense of your work quality.

Upload new photos regularly as part of your weekly profile maintenance. Every job site is a photo opportunity. The technician is already there. Have them snap a few pictures before and after.

Mistake 10: Expecting results without a website strategy

Your Google Business Profile doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s connected to your website, and your website’s optimization affects your map rankings.

If you’re targeting “AC repair in Phoenix” but your website never mentions Phoenix, you’re making Google do extra work to figure out where you operate. If your homepage targets too broad an area or no area at all, you’re leaving rankings on the table.

The contractors who dominate local search have websites with dedicated pages for each major service area. Not just one “service areas” page that lists ten cities, but individual pages for each location with relevant content about serving that specific community.

Your homepage should target your primary city. Your service pages should be optimized for [service] + [location] keywords. Your title tags, headers, and content should all reinforce where you work and what you do.

The GBP setup guide covers exactly how to structure your website pages for local SEO.

The real key: consistency over time

The businesses that rank well in local search aren’t doing anything magical. They’ve set things up correctly and they maintain them consistently over time. They respond to reviews. They post updates. They upload photos. They keep their information accurate across the web.

Local SEO is not a project you complete. It’s a practice you maintain. The good news is that it doesn’t take much time once you have the foundation in place. The bad news is that your competitors who do this consistently will outrank you if you don’t.

Start by fixing the mistakes on this list. Then set up the systems to keep your profile active and accurate going forward. For the complete foundation, read the GBP setup guide. For more advanced optimization tactics, check out the GBP optimization guide.

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Pipeline Research Team