Rewind Series - Revisiting Google Business Profile — What Contractors Must Know in 2026

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) has evolved from a simple listing into one of the most powerful — and fragile — digital assets a contractor owns.

In this Rewind Series episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Caitlyn and Meredith revisit one of the podcast’s earliest and most popular episodes, originally recorded in 2023, and break down what still matters, what’s changed, and what contractors must do heading into 2025 and beyond.

The big takeaway? Your Google Business Profile is now your digital storefront. For many homeowners, it’s the first — and sometimes only — place they interact with your business before calling.

This episode covers:

• Why 60–70% of homeowners interact with your GBP before your website
• The rise of zero-click searches and why you must maintain two digital homes
• What Google now prioritizes in local rankings (proximity, activity, authenticity)
• How photos, videos, reviews, messaging, and posting frequency directly impact visibility
• The most common mistakes causing suspensions in 2025
• A practical GBP checklist that contractors can actually follow

If you want to protect your local visibility, avoid costly suspensions, and win more qualified local leads, this episode is essential listening.

Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:10

Welcome to Digital Marketing for Contractors, a podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business. Let's get started.

Caitlyn Noble: 0:30

Hey everyone, welcome back to Digital Marketing for Contractors Podcasts, the Rewind Series. We are revisiting our most popular episodes of all time and giving you the updated 2025 insights.

Meredith Medlin: 0:43

Yeah, and today we are rewinding one of our oldest and most foundational episodes, originally released in February 2023. It was so old that we were still calling it Google My Business, which yeah, makes me laugh now.

Caitlyn Noble: 0:57

We still kind of do. I don't even think we introduced ourselves, by the way. I am Caitlin and I have my lovely and beautiful business partner with me. Hello, I am Meredith, said lovely and beautiful business partner. And yes, we are recording this rewind series. Thanks for tuning back in. We've already done two. This should be the third. Um, yeah, and long before Google officially rebranded everything into Google Business Profile, which we all like it was GMB, now it's GBP. Honestly, the amount of change that has happened since February of 2023 has been wild, personally and professionally.

Meredith Medlin: 1:34

Absolutely. So today we're taking some time to break down what we said in 2023 to tell you what still matters, what's different in 2025, and what every contractor needs to be doing right now. Make sure you're keeping the leads flowing.

Caitlyn Noble: 1:48

Oh my gosh. Well, that should have gotten your attention. So what did we say back in 2023 in that original episode? We opened by saying we really want to provide some clarity around the idea of Google My Business, what it is, how it's meant to help you, and the practical things you can do to take advantage of this free tool.

Meredith Medlin: 2:08

Yeah, and we started with the basics, of course, using the classic example, my personal favorite, pizza. Pizza. Um, if you search pizza restaurants near me, the first thing you see isn't the restaurant's website, it's their Google Business Profile.

Caitlyn Noble: 2:22

Yep, correct. The listing with the photos, hours, reviews, call now, get directions, all of that. You described it perfectly. We described it perfectly. Um in that original episode. So we said if you if you don't know what Google Business Profile is, it's that little box that floats on the right hand side of the search with hours, photos, reviews. That's what Google Business is. I really hope y'all are still listening. I promise we're gonna get to it.

Meredith Medlin: 2:49

So we emphasized a shift in 2023 towards zero-click searches. Um that's where homeowners get all the information that they need without even going to your website. Um, basically, somebody gets everything they need from your Google Business profile, and they never even land on your website.

Caitlyn Noble: 3:05

It's so, so, so important. So this is still relevant. We warned that contractors, you have to have two digital homes. You have to. You have to maintain your website and you have to maintain your Google business profile. Absolutely.

Meredith Medlin: 3:19

Um, we also walked through the basics of setting it up, verifying it, adding services, photos, and we spend a big chunk of time talking about posting updates, adding products and services to it, managing your reviews, and making sure that you don't lose access to it. Um, specifically if a past employee set it up, your cousin Tanya set it up, whoever set it up, make sure you have access.

Caitlyn Noble: 3:42

And that's still very relevant. It's so relevant. We still see it happening. Um, and that is really what that first episode about GBP was focused on. It's one of our most popular episodes. You can still find it, you can still listen to it. I still think it's relevant. But what we're gonna do today is talk about what's changed. Um let's talk about what's still true because a lot of it still matters.

Meredith Medlin: 4:07

Absolutely. So um data continues to show that 60 to 70 percent of homeowners interact with your GBP before your website. I believe it. Yeah. Your your Google Business Profile drives your local presence, which as contractors who have a local service area, you know how important that is. Um, local SEO is equivalent to your reviews, um, how relevant you are, your proximity and your activity on Google Business Profile and your online um NAP consistency. So where your business listing exists, make sure it's the same everywhere. Address phone number has to be the same. Absolutely. Um, number three, reviews are still the number one trust signal for contractors. That hasn't changed at all. Um, even as consumers, we know we're gonna check the reviews before we buy something or we go with a specific company or business. Um, and your Google Business profile, that's where almost all homeowner reviews live, um if not the majority. So having those reviews and having positive reviews, that's crucial. And y'all, we have a ton of episodes you can listen about getting reviews. So go listen to that. Um, still true. You must have ownership and access to your listing. Yes. I will say that again. Please make sure you are the owner and you have access to your listing. If you don't know the login, you really don't own your digital presence at all.

Caitlyn Noble: 5:31

So no. Um I think we could go into a lot of detail about making sure you own things. I know we've gone and done an episode about that too. Uh there's a lot of different uh levels of ownership for the Google Business Profile. Right. I mean, we will get uh access to our clients and we'll be, you know, given like view access. Right. You can't do anything with that.

Meredith Medlin: 5:56

Um edit access, and we need edit access as your agency, but you as the owners, make sure you are the owner. Yes. Um and of course, posting helps. Yes. Um, but now it's not really for humans, it's more for Google's algorithm. Um, yes, your uh reviews are gonna be reviewed by humans that are gonna be prospective prospects for your company. You had to say that. I'm glad I did too. Um but really Google's algorithm is scanning for your posts, um, not just the content, but also consistency. So true. Are you posting consistently showing Google that you're an active company on the platform?

Caitlyn Noble: 6:36

Yes, we absolutely post on all of our clients' Google business profiles. No brainer, you have to do it. For sure. All right, so y'all, we just went through what's still true about your Google business profile. Um, now we need to definitely talk about why we're here, and that's talking about what's different. We are two weeks out from 2026. Uh, we know that Google Business Profile has drastically changed since the update back in 2023. So let's talk about the differences. Google is prioritizing local intent more than ever. What does that mean? So back in 2023, proximity mattered. In 2025, it's basically the number one ranking factor. Google now heavily weighs where the searcher is, where you are, where your service areas overlap, and how often you show proof that you actually work in those areas. Okay, so here's your action step taking away what you need to be doing. You need to update your service areas quarterly and make sure they match real job locations. You can do that directly in the profile. Right, right. Meredith, what's the second difference?

Meredith Medlin: 7:45

Second difference is, you know, we told you before, be posting photos, post videos, but now your photos and videos heavily affect your ranking. Um, you know, authentic job site photos are the new important factor when you're thinking about when you're when you're posting any kind of media. So photos and videos, make sure that they're real raw photos from your job sites. Take a short video when you're on the job site. Um, when people do this and when we do that for our companies, we see higher visibility, more what you call mat pack appearances, uh, more impressions and more engagement. So, action item um will challenge you to go ahead and upload three to five new photos or videos every week. Yes and do it directly from the job site. Don't worry about editing, post those raw, unpolished, and real. Um, Google loves to see that, and so do your customers.

Caitlyn Noble: 8:41

And if you listen to our last episode about branding, I mean, this is a theme that we're gonna keep saying. Please just take the video. When you take the video, don't only upload it on social, please just upload it to Google Business Profile. Done, done and done. For sure. Okay. Difference number three. What do we mean? Difference number three. Your GBP messaging is now mainstream. What does the word mainstream mean? It's everywhere. Remember when messaging was optional and half baked? Yeah, we do. It's not anymore. Nope. Homeowners expect um to message contractors directly through GBP, like texting. And if you don't respond quickly, Google will label your business as typically slows slow to respond. Yikes. You might as well have a horrible like set of reviews. Yeah. Um, I know that would turn me off from messaging somebody. So if you haven't done so already, please turn your messaging settings on and assign an internal role. Um, who's gonna respond to your GBP messages? I'm not saying you're gonna get a million. Like it's not like this dedicated job position, but somebody needs to be able to get an alert, which you do via email. This person messaged you, go and respond to them.

Meredith Medlin: 10:02

Absolutely. Um, so next difference we want to talk about is I hate this word. I know Google is cracking down so much harder on violations. Uh, in 2023, we warned you, you know, don't get cute with your business name. Google will disable your profile instantly. It's the truth.

Caitlyn Noble: 10:20

It's still the truth.

Meredith Medlin: 10:21

It really is. And those changes uh are really hard to get past the block that they put on you once you've done it. So um unfortunately, 2025, it's even harsher. Uh we've seen businesses get suspended for all kinds of things. A couple of those, um, you're adding service keywords to your business name, thinking that's going to help with SEO, uh, switching your address up, inconsistent NAP listings, too many category changes on your GBP, too many owner or admin user changes. Yes. Um, or I know too many reviews, but not just too many reviews. It's when they come in too quickly.

Caitlyn Noble: 11:00

All of this is true, y'all. We've seen all of this happen.

Meredith Medlin: 11:02

All of it. So getting a bunch of reviews back to back to back, um, you know, it can look suspicious to Google. So And it is, you know, it can look fake, it can look like, hey, I just paid a bunch of people to give me reviews. Yeah. It it's not authentic. Google is honoring authenticity.

Caitlyn Noble: 11:18

So I I think that's a really good point. And I think I'm not trying to sound like you know an oxymoron, but like you have to get reviews. You have to post content. But we're talking about going in and like physically changing your listing information. Right. Like, don't go in and change your business name. Don't go in and change your address a hundred times. Don't go in and change your categories. Like it's it's a lot, but you do need to post. You do need to get reviews.

Meredith Medlin: 11:48

Right, right. And we, you know, we do have clients and there are many companies that will change locations. If you're working with an agency, make sure you're talking to them about your location change. Um, if you aren't communicating that, things aren't gonna get updated. Um, so just a pro tip: make sure you're communicating if you're changing your location. Um, you're not gonna get penalized for changing it if you actually move, but just be intentional about it. So um, if you want an action item out of this, once a quarter, go ahead and audit your Google business profile. Um, make sure you have the correct business name, you have a stable address, you're not moving it around. Um, you have a consistent service category list, and you let's not change anything weird on your profile. Um, if somebody on your staff has access, let's try to limit that. Limit that. You know what I mean? Like let's keep it consistent. Google appreciates that.

Caitlyn Noble: 12:43

Difference number five. I mean, it's been two years. There's gonna be a lot of differences. Oh, for sure. Google Post, which we were just talking about, are now tied to your ranking relevance. So you may not like your, I mean, we're sitting here like saying address, you know, um, put photos, put videos up, you know, make sure your services are correct, make sure your phone number is correct. Down below on your um Google business profile, there's an option for post. And a lot of people just don't even see them. Google sees them. Right. So it was nice to have, like we said, you have to now post. Whether I'm telling you somebody's gonna see them or not, Google is gonna see them and they're gonna use them to understand what your services are. So make sure your posts are containing product brand names, your service types, neighborhoods, uh, zip codes, you name it, are all gonna help with ranking. Um, so again, we do this, it's a no-brainer. Post two to three weekly updates on your Google Business profile, which by the way, you can schedule ahead of time about product manufacturers, services, local neighborhoods, real job stories.

Meredith Medlin: 13:56

Absolutely. Difference number six, the Mat Pack algorithm. Now it's rewarding activity frequency. So, you know, the phrase set it and forget it, that that doesn't count anymore. Google does not reward that. Google is prioritizing GBB profiles that are showing consistent activity. So that means posting.

Caitlyn Noble: 14:17

That means we're like, do it, don't do it, do it, don't do it.

Meredith Medlin: 14:20

I know, but and and it's it's not like a high volume, right? But it's just consistency. If you're showing consistent activity, like we said, two to three times a week posting, right? Um, and also posting different kinds of content. Um, you know, post photos, post um videos on the job site.

Caitlyn Noble: 14:37

Um This is important.

Meredith Medlin: 14:39

Yeah, make sure that you're responding to your reviews. Yes. Um, there is nothing worse than getting an amazing review and then nobody acknowledging it. Yeah. Um, Google wants to see that activity. And responding to reviews, even if they're negative, um, you have to respond to those too and do it in a professional way. Um, you know, whether it's positive or negative, a response is critical, and Google will see that as active and responsive, which it will reward. Um, another one that uh you may forget to do, easy to forget, is your hours on your profile. Update those around the holidays. Um, the more accurate your business hours are, the better. So keep those updated.

Caitlyn Noble: 15:22

Google will email you. If you are the owner of that profile, you are going to, or even a manager of that profile, you are gonna get an email. Is this business open for Christmas? So go click in there, don't ignore the email and just do it.

Meredith Medlin: 15:36

Yeah, treat basically treat your Google business profile like another one of your marketing channels that you check in with weekly. It's not a static listing anymore. This isn't 2023, it's almost 2026. So let's follow these new best practices. And I think we got one left.

Caitlyn Noble: 15:53

I don't believe it. Difference number seven the review velocity and quality matter more than total count. Let's talk about what that means. This is probably gonna be a shock. Google cares less about a thousand reviews, and Google now cares more about are you getting new ones? Like, like just are you getting reviews?

Meredith Medlin: 16:19

Yeah, like okay, I got a thousand reviews, but the last one was in 2024.

Caitlyn Noble: 16:24

Yeah, you're not a real business.

Meredith Medlin: 16:25

Okay, so I would rather have a hundred reviews and they're coming in every month.

Caitlyn Noble: 16:31

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yes. So keep getting new reviews. Um, are your reviews detailed? Um, y'all like I can't say this enough. Yes, getting a review relevant is of course important. If y'all can get your customers to just go into detail and name somebody, talk about, you know, what was specifically done.

Meredith Medlin: 16:56

Um I think there's some I think a lot of our clients do um rewards for installers when they do a leave behind card to mention what them in the review, what the service was. This is a great way to meet this requirement.

Caitlyn Noble: 17:09

100%. Yeah. So within that detailed review, you're actually listing what services were um, you know, coming in. And if I if we didn't say it once, I'll say it again. Um, are you responding to the rose those reviews? So um, I know Meredith just said, you know, a couple reviews a month. A thousand reviews isn't the most important thing, but if y'all can get four to six reviews per month steady, not emburst, you're gonna be super successful and Google's gonna love to see it.

Meredith Medlin: 17:38

For sure. And we want to make the all-knowing, all-seeing Google happy. We all know that.

Caitlyn Noble: 17:42

All knowing, all seeing.

Meredith Medlin: 17:44

So if you are going to take away one thing from this episode instead of the 75 that we just listed, I liked recapping what happened in the past. Let it be this your Google business profile is now your digital storefront. Yes, it is critical. So almost more than your website, more than your social media, more than your ads, your Google business profile is your digital storefront. Treat it as such. So, Caitlin, what are the 2025, soon to be 2026 GBP must-dos.

Caitlyn Noble: 18:20

Yes, we'll rename this because we're gonna post it on our website.

Meredith Medlin: 18:24

2026, baby.

Caitlyn Noble: 18:26

So you got 2026 GBP checklist. Number one, you're gonna upload three to five photos or videos weekly. Super easy to do. Okay. Those are not as post, those are just where you can add a photo to your profile. You are gonna turn on messaging and you're gonna respond fast because that's a lead. You are going to ask for one to two reviews every week. And I'm telling you guys, like, you if you might be listening to this, you're like, I'm too small, like I don't get one to two jobs, like I don't have that. Go back and ask people from the satisfied customers. Yeah, the way back machine, and ask them. Ask them. Um, that that's super healthy. So now you're gonna also make sure you're posting uh two to three updates a week is you know, some kind of wonderful. If you post once a week, yeah, and you're including brand names, you're including neighborhoods, you're calling out services.

Meredith Medlin: 19:25

That's gonna be a lot more detailed and a lot more consistent than most of your competitors, I guarantee you.

Caitlyn Noble: 19:32

Correct. Um, you're gonna audit your service areas quarterly, just make sure, you know, you're not saying that you serve in an area that you no longer do.

Meredith Medlin: 19:40

Or if you're growing and you have new service areas.

Caitlyn Noble: 19:42

That's ideal. Let the people know. You have to let people know. Google is not just gonna know. Um, you're gonna respond to every review. Feel like I already said this, but you have to, no matter what, the good and the bad. Um, you're gonna make sure you own the listing login. Please just go check. You're the owner, you're the owner. Owner, you're the owner. Um, you're gonna use categories correctly. Uh, that's something we didn't go into too much detail about, but that's another part of your profile is categories. You're gonna use that correctly.

Meredith Medlin: 20:10

Yeah. And you know, this is an eight-point checklist, nothing crazy. It's not. Um, if you check these boxes, you're gonna outrank like 90% of the local contractors in your area. So let's get an easy step up. We have the checklist, you can follow it. Where can they find it?

Caitlyn Noble: 20:28

Oh my gosh. It's uh so easy to find, and it's a free download, which is even better. So you're gonna go to our website, fatcatstrategies.com backslash you guessed it, GBP.

Meredith Medlin: 20:41

How are we gonna remember that? I don't know. That's a hard one.

Caitlyn Noble: 20:44

Um, so our website backslash GBP.

Meredith Medlin: 20:47

Perfect. It's got everything you need, all the things to fix, what you can ignore, and very importantly, how to avoid account suspension, because that is not a fun process to have to undo.

Caitlyn Noble: 20:59

No, and it does happen more frequently than we thought. It does, it does. Um, I have another, you know, little thing for you guys as well. Plug, I guess is the right word. Yeah. Um, if you're listening to this and you're like, gosh, I'm just struggling to get reviews, I don't have time to do it. Um, I just don't want to do it. Yeah. We have a solution. Yeah. Fat Cat Strategies has a service called Review Boost. You can check it out and learn more again at our website, fatcatstrategies.com, backslash one word, review boost, and we will help you get more reviews at a pretty low cost.

Meredith Medlin: 21:38

Yeah, no. And they're authentic. They're good. They're real. There's nothing sketchy about it. No bots here.

Caitlyn Noble: 21:43

I'm gonna let you kick this one off.

Meredith Medlin: 21:46

All right. Well, I just want to thank all of you for listening for joining us in this episode of our Rewind series. Like we said, GBP has changed a lot since 2023, but it remains one of the most powerful tools you contractors have in your toolbox. Um, you know, next to the wrenches and drills and all of that.

Caitlyn Noble: 22:06

So she went there.

Meredith Medlin: 22:07

Make sure you're taking advantage of it and make sure you're subscribed.

Caitlyn Noble: 22:11

Yeah, please subscribe. Um, because next week we're gonna drop another rewind episode, the best of the best. Um, so you don't want to miss it. All right. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.

Speaker: 22:25

Digital marketing for contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatstrategies.com.