What goes on a profile, and who controls it?
You control most of it, once you have claimed and verified the profile. The name, the primary category (the single most telling field, because it says what you are), extra categories, hours, holiday hours, phone, website, services with prices, a description, photos and posts are all yours to edit. The reviews are written by customers, and you can reply to each one. Some details can also be suggested by the public, so a profile nobody looks after can drift.
Google sets the rules in "Guidelines for representing your business on Google". The name must be the business's real name as used on the signage and paperwork, without extra keywords added, and a profile that stuffs "Best Mechanic Mildura Cheap" into the name risks suspension.
Why does a local trade need one?
Because for a search with a place in it, the profiles often appear before any website does. Someone typing "mechanic near me" on a phone sees a map with three businesses under it, and each one is a Business Profile with stars, hours and a call button. Google Business Profile Help ("Tips to improve your local ranking on Google") says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and a complete, accurate profile is the part of relevance you can do something about. The local pack entry covers how those three play out.
What changed when a Mildura mobile mechanic filled the profile in properly? (example figures)
A mobile mechanic in Mildura, one van, had a profile with a name, a phone number and nothing else. Over one weekend the owner set it up as a service-area business covering Mildura, Irymple, Red Cliffs and Merbein, added the hours, listed services with prices (logbook service from $260, pre-purchase inspection $180), uploaded 15 photos of real jobs, and replied to the 9 reviews already there. Three months later, the profile's Performance page compared with the same months a year before:
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Calls from the profile | 22 a month | 51 a month |
| Website clicks | 14 a month | 33 a month |
| Jobs the owner's diary traced to it | about 9 | about 21 |
At an average job of $320, the extra 12 jobs are worth about $3,840 a month in work, from a free listing and a weekend. The prices on the profile also cut down the calls that were only asking how much.
How does your profile connect to CoraVision?
CoraVision does not read Google Business Profile directly. It reads Google Analytics 4 every night once connected, including visits by channel, so the people who tap your profile's website link show up there. Tag that link with UTM parameters and those visits appear as their own source instead of disappearing into "organic search". When a profile clean-up is a step in your plan, Cora teaches it on your own screen, and you make every edit.
Questions
Does a Google Business Profile cost anything?
No. Google does not charge for a profile, and nobody needs to be paid to create or verify one. Be wary of calls offering to secure your Google listing for a fee: the profile is free from Google directly.
Can I have a profile if customers never come to me?
Yes. A business that travels to its customers can be set up as a service-area business, with the address hidden and a list of the suburbs or towns it covers shown instead. Google still needs an address to verify you, but it stays private.