There is a section inside every Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) that most local businesses treat as an afterthought. They type in a few service names, hit save, and move on. What they don’t realize is that the services section is one of the most powerful ranking tools on the entire profile — and leaving it half-done is the equivalent of handing Google a blank page. Business owners who want professional help getting this right can explore done-for-you Google Business Profile management, but those ready to do it themselves will find everything they need right here.
The Most Common Mistake in the Services Section
When local SEO professionals audit Google Business Profiles, the same problem shows up over and over again. Business owners add service names — plumbing, landscaping, hair coloring, tax preparation — but leave the description field completely empty.
It seems harmless. The service name is there, so Google knows what the business does, right?
Not exactly. A service name with no description gives Google almost nothing to work with. It is the difference between handing Google a sticky note and handing Google a full briefing. The businesses that show up in local search are the ones that gave Google the full briefing.
Why Service Descriptions Are So Important for Local SEO
Google does not just match searches to business names. It matches searches to the specific language businesses use to describe themselves. When someone types “emergency water heater repair Indianapolis” into Google, Google scans every available signal to find the most relevant result. The services section is one of those signals.
A service description that says “Plumbing services” tells Google almost nothing. A description that says “Plumbing services in the greater Indianapolis area, including clogged drain repairs, water heater repair and replacement, sump pump repair and replacement, leak detection, and emergency plumbing” tells Google exactly what the business does, where it does it, and which specific searches it should match.
That difference shows up in rankings. And rankings show up in phone calls.
Understanding why this matters starts with understanding how local SEO works and why Google Business Profile is at the center of it. Every field on a profile is an opportunity to send Google a clearer signal. The services section is one of the biggest opportunities most businesses leave on the table.
What a Strong Service Description Actually Looks Like
Here is the core principle that separates a useful service description from a wasted one: stop talking about reputation and start talking about specifics.
Every business says things like “We are committed to quality work” or “We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction.” These phrases are everywhere. They mean nothing to Google and they don’t help a potential customer decide whether to call. Google is not scanning for reputation language. Google is scanning for the keywords users type into search — and the geographic locations those users are searching in.
As Leah Severson of Severson Digital Marketing explains it, “You shouldn’t be talking about your reputation and the quality of your work in your service descriptions. Every business can say the same thing. You should be focusing on the keywords users type into Google to find a business like yours and the geographical locations you serve.”
A plumber in Denver should not write “We offer expert plumbing services with over 20 years of experience.” They should write “Plumbing services in the greater Denver area, including clogged drain repairs, water heater repair and replacement, sump pump repair and replacement, pipe leak repairs, and 24-hour emergency plumbing.” The second version gives Google specific services and a specific location. The first version gives Google nothing useful.
Get Specific — and Use Every Character You Can
Google allows up to 750 characters for each service description. Most businesses use fewer than 100. That is a massive missed opportunity.
The goal should be to use as many of those 750 characters as possible — not by padding the description with filler, but by being genuinely specific. List the individual services within the service. Name the cities and neighborhoods served. Include the types of customers served if that is relevant. Use the actual words a customer would type to find that service.
A landscaping company adding a description for “Lawn Care” might write: “Residential and commercial lawn care in the greater Columbus area, including weekly and biweekly mowing, edging, blowing, and seasonal cleanup. Serving Columbus, Dublin, Westerville, Hilliard, and New Albany. Available for one-time services and ongoing maintenance contracts.” That description is specific, geographic, and full of the kind of language real customers search for.
Compare that to “We offer professional lawn care services.” One of those descriptions helps. One does not.
This same principle of specificity applies everywhere on a Google Business Profile. Writing a strong Google Business Profile description follows the exact same logic — use real keywords, name real locations, and skip the generic reputation language.
Add Every Service the Business Offers
Another pattern that shows up constantly: businesses add three or four services when they actually offer ten or twelve. Every service that gets left off the profile is a missed search. Every missed search is a potential customer who found a competitor instead.
Google allows businesses to add custom services beyond its pre-suggested list. There is no reason to leave anything out. A hair salon should not just list “Hair Coloring.” It should list balayage, highlights, color correction, root touch-ups, toning, and glossing treatments — each as its own service with its own description. Each of those is a different search. Each search represents a real person looking for exactly that thing.
This is the same logic that explains why every service deserves its own page on a business website. One vague page trying to rank for everything performs worse than specific pages targeting specific services. The Google Business Profile services section works the same way.
How to Add and Edit Services in Google Business Profile
For businesses that have never updated their services section, here is how to do it:
- Go to business.google.com and sign in to the account
- Select the correct business profile
- Click “Edit profile” and navigate to the “Services” tab
- Review Google’s suggested services and accept the ones that apply
- Use “Add custom service” to add anything Google doesn’t suggest
- Click the pencil icon next to each service to add or edit the description
- Write specific, location-aware, keyword-rich descriptions for every service
- Aim to use as many of the 750 available characters as possible
- Save all changes
Google typically takes a few days to reflect these changes across Search and Maps. Once live, those descriptions become part of how Google reads and ranks the profile.
Keep It Updated as the Business Evolves
Services change. A business adds new offerings, drops old ones, or shifts its focus. The services section should reflect those changes as they happen — not six months later.
An outdated services section sends the wrong signals to Google. More importantly, it confuses potential customers who land on a profile and can’t tell whether the business actually does what they need. Setting a quarterly reminder to review the services section takes fifteen minutes and keeps the profile accurate and competitive.
Staying on top of a Google Business Profile — services, posts, photos, reviews, and everything else — is one of the core components of how Google ranks local businesses. Relevance is one of Google’s three main local ranking factors, and a complete, detailed services section is one of the clearest ways to send that relevance signal.
The Bottom Line
The services section of a Google Business Profile is not a formality. It is a ranking tool. Businesses that treat it like one — filling every description with specific services, real keywords, and geographic locations — give Google exactly what it needs to match their profile to the right searches.
Businesses that skip it, or fill it with vague reputation language, are essentially telling Google nothing useful. And Google has no reason to show a business it doesn’t understand.
Log into Google Business Profile today. Open the services section. If the descriptions are empty, vague, or missing location information, that is the first thing to fix. It costs nothing, takes less than an hour, and can have a direct impact on how often the profile shows up in local search results.
Business owners who want to learn how to fully optimize every part of their profile — services, description, posts, photos, and more — can find hands-on instruction through Google Business Profile training built specifically for local business owners who want to do it right.
