Adding services to your Google Business Profile
The services list on a Business Profile tells people on Search and Maps exactly what jobs you take on. This guide covers who gets the services editor, the difference between suggested and custom services, grouping, prices and descriptions, how services relate to categories and service areas, and where they appear, using what Google documents.
This guide is built from Business Profile Help: Manage your services on your Business Profile, Manage your business category, Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses, Manage your local business links, the Guidelines for representing your business on Google and Tips to improve your local ranking on Google. Creating, verifying and running a profile is in our Google Business Profile guide; this page is only about the services section.
Who can add services
Not every profile gets a services list. Google's wording is careful: "Businesses in certain categories, like service businesses, might have the option to showcase their offerings directly on their Business Profile." Whether you see the option depends on your business category.
The category help page gives examples of category-specific features. Restaurants can add menu, ordering and reservation links and menu items; hotels can show class ratings and amenities; and "health and beauty businesses" can add a booking button and "update their list of services." Facts about the place itself, like Wi-Fi or a wheelchair-accessible entrance, are attributes rather than services (see our attributes guide). If you can't find Edit services, check first that your primary category is the most specific one that fits, for example "Nail salon" rather than "Salon", which is the example Google itself uses.
Suggested and custom services
The services editor offers two kinds of entries:
- Suggested services. Google offers options "tailored to your business type." Its example is a plumbing business seeing "Install faucet" or "Repair toilet."
- Custom services. If what you offer isn't in the list, you can create your own entry with Add custom service.
Custom services are checked against policy. Google states that "custom services that violate policy will be automatically rejected" and asks you to avoid "profanity, gibberish, personal information, prices, or phone numbers in custom service names." So "Boiler repair" works as a service name, while the same name with a price or phone number added is rejected. The price has its own field.
How to add and edit services
Google's steps all start from your Business Profile and the Edit services button.
Add services
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit services.
- Select the services you want to add, then select Save.
- For more, select Edit services > Add more services. If yours isn't listed, select Add custom service.
Edit or remove a service
- Select Edit services, then the service you want to change.
- Add a price and description, or select Delete service to remove it.
- Select Save.
Group services by category
If you offer different types of services, Google lets you "group services into categories." Select Edit services > Add a new business category, pick a category from the options, then select or create the services under it and save. A cleaning company might group window cleaning and gutter cleaning separately from carpet cleaning, for example.
Services versus business categories
Categories and services do different jobs, and mixing them up is a common reason profiles look stuffed. Google's guidelines ask you to pick categories that complete the statement "This business IS a" rather than "this business HAS a", and say the goal is "to describe your business holistically rather than a list of all the services it offers." The category help page is direct: "Do not select a category for every product or service." Categories should not be used "solely as keywords" either.
In practice: a few accurate categories say what the business is, and the services list says what it does. Keep in mind that Google warns "if you add or edit an existing category, you might be asked to verify your business again." Our verification guide explains what that involves, so don't change categories casually just to unlock a service.
Descriptions and prices
Each service can carry "additional details, like descriptions and prices." Google's services page doesn't set rules for what goes in them. A sensible guide is what Google asks of the business description: be "upfront and honest," focus on "content that's relevant and useful to your customers," and avoid "misspellings, gimmicky character use, gibberish."
The service description is not the same as the business description. The business description is one field for the whole profile, and Google's guidelines say it should not "focus on special promotions, prices, and offer sales" or contain links of any kind. Prices belong on the individual service, where Google provides a field for them.
Services and service areas
For a business that travels to customers, the services list works together with the service area. Google defines a service-area business as one that "visits or delivers to customers directly but doesn't serve customers at their business address", and a hybrid business as one that also serves customers at its address. The rules that matter when you set the area:
- You can set up to 20 service areas, by city, postal code or other area.
- You "can't set your service area as a radius distance around your business."
- The overall area "shouldn't be more than about 2 hours of driving time" from where the business is based.
- Approved service area edits "may take up to 48 hours" to show.
- Businesses selling age-restricted products or services, such as alcohol, cannabis or weapons, need a storefront.
To change it, go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile > Location, then Edit next to "Service area." Address rules, hiding your address and storefront versus service-area status are in our main profile guide. If you also want pages on your website for the towns you cover, read location and service-area pages without doorway spam.
Service and booking links
Next to the services list, a profile can carry links. Google says you can add "a single link" that helps customers check a menu or "review a list of services (such as telemedicine or virtual)", and "up to 10 links per category" for actions such as booking an appointment or making a reservation. When you have several, you can mark one as "Business preferred."
Booking providers can add links to your profile on their own. Google says you can't delete a third-party booking or reservation link from your profile settings: you ask the provider to opt you out, and providers "are required to process opt-out requests within 5 business days." If they don't, you can report a third-party violation. Our guide to online booking for service businesses covers the booking side.
Where services show
Google describes two places. First, "when local customers search Google for an offering you provide, that service may be highlighted on your profile." Second, "on the Google Maps app, customers can view your full menu under 'Services.'" The word "may" matters: Google decides when to highlight a service, and adding one doesn't guarantee it shows for a search.
Google doesn't list services as a ranking factor of their own. Its local ranking help says results "are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity", and describes relevance as "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for", which complete and detailed business info helps with. A clear services list is part of that detail. To see which searches your profile actually appears for, use the searches list in our Business Profile performance guide.
Our view: writing a useful services list
This part is our own practice, not Google guidance. We start from the suggested services and only add custom ones for real jobs the list doesn't cover, named the way customers say them ("Leaking tap repair", not "Hydraulic fixture remediation"). One service per entry, no locations in the name, since the service area already does that job. We match the list to the service pages on the website, so someone who taps through finds the same offer described in more depth, and we mark those pages up as described in our local business schema guide. Prices go in only if the business keeps them current; an out-of-date price causes more trouble than a missing one. We review the list whenever the business adds or drops a line of work.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see Edit services on my Business Profile?
Google says businesses in certain categories, like service businesses, might have the option to show their services. The option depends on your business category, so if it's missing, check that your primary category describes what the business is.
Can I put prices in a service name?
No. Google automatically rejects custom services that break its policy and asks you to avoid profanity, gibberish, personal information, prices or phone numbers in custom service names. Use the price field of the service instead.
Should I add a business category for every service?
No. Google's category help says not to select a category for every product or service. Use a few categories that describe what the business is, and list individual offerings as services.
How many service areas can I set?
Google allows up to 20 service areas, set by city, postal code or another area, not as a radius. Its guidelines say the overall area shouldn't extend beyond about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based.
Do services help my profile rank?
Google doesn't name services as a separate ranking factor. Its local ranking help says results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that complete, detailed business info helps Google match your profile to relevant searches.
For more on local search, see our guides to Google Business Profile, suspended profiles, Google Local Services Ads and small business SEO.