If you run a service business, you might have noticed the Products section on your Google Business Profile and wondered whether you should be using it. After all, products are normally associated with physical items. If you're a plumber, electrician, landscaper, cleaner or another service provider, you might assume this feature isn't relevant to your business. But there's an important marketing principle here: your services are also products that customers buy. When available and appropriate for your business profile, the Products feature can give you another way to present what you offer, explain the benefits to customers and direct interested people towards relevant pages on your website. Used properly, it can help you create a more informative Google Business Profile and make it easier for potential customers to understand why they should choose your business. Let's look at how it works. 1. What Is the Products Section on Google Business Profile? Google Business Profile provides several ways to tell customers about your business, including categories, services, photographs, reviews and, for eligible profiles, products. A product listing can include: A photograph representing your product or service. A product name and category. A description explaining what you offer. A link to a relevant page on your website, where supported. A call-to-action button, such as Learn More, where available. Many business owners overlook this area because they assume it's only intended for businesses selling physical goods. However, where Google makes the feature available and permits the type of listing, it can offer a useful way to showcase a service. For example, a landscaping company might use a visually appealing photograph of a professionally maintained garden to demonstrate its lawn care offering. Instead of simply listing "Lawn Mowing", it can explain the experience and benefits of having someone else take care of the garden. The important distinction is that you're not just describing a service. You're presenting something that solves a customer's problem. It's worth noting that the Products feature isn't available to every business, and Google has specific policies for product listings. Service businesses should use the dedicated Services section as their primary way of listing services. 2. Connect Your Google Business Profile Categories and Services One of the most common mistakes I see when auditing Google Business Profiles is businesses that haven't properly organised their categories and services. Google allows businesses to select a primary category and, where relevant, up to nine additional categories. Imagine a plumbing business that offers: General plumbing repairs. Drainage services. Hot water cylinder installation. Gas fitting. Emergency plumbing. Rather than relying on one broad category, the business should review whether additional categories accurately describe the work it actually carries out. It should then organise its services beneath the appropriate available categories. Your categories help explain what type of business you operate, while your services describe the individual jobs you perform. For businesses with access to suitable product listings, these can provide another customer-facing opportunity to highlight important offerings. The key is consistency. Don't claim services or categories simply because Google makes them available. Select the ones that genuinely represent your business. 3. Use Product Listings to Highlight Your Most Valuable Services Not every service deserves the same level of promotion. Some services generate considerably more profit than others. Some produce ongoing work, while others attract the ideal customers you want to work with. If you're considering which offerings to feature more prominently, concentrate on services that: Generate healthy profit margins. Attract your ideal customers. Have strong local demand. Represent areas where you want to grow. Can be supported by a dedicated page on your website. For example, a gardening company might offer lawn mowing, hedge trimming, garden maintenance and complete garden tidy-ups. Instead of promoting everything equally, it might concentrate its marketing on a comprehensive garden maintenance package. This presents a more valuable offering than simply advertising an hourly lawn mowing service. And that brings us to one of the most important parts of marketing any service: how you write the description. 4. How to Write a Service Product Description That Attracts Customers When writing descriptions for services, I use a simple formula. It works because most customers aren't particularly interested in the technical details of how you do your work. They're interested in the results they will receive. My approach follows four steps: 1. The desired outcome 2. The customer's problems and frustrations 3. Your solution 4. A clear call to action Let's use a lawn mowing and gardening service to demonstrate how this works. Start With the Desired Outcome People don't necessarily want their lawns mowed. What they really want is a beautiful garden without spending their weekends maintaining it. They want time to relax, enjoy their hobbies, go fishing, watch their children play sport or simply spend quality time with their families. Your opening paragraph should connect with that desired result. Example: "Imagine enjoying your weekends without worrying about mowing lawns, trimming hedges or keeping your garden looking beautiful. Come home to a professionally maintained outdoor space and spend your free time doing the things you enjoy." That communicates the benefit rather than merely listing what the business does. Identify the Problems and Frustrations Next, explain the problems the customer wants to avoid. For gardening services, these might include: Spending hours mowing lawns. Cutting and trimming overgrown hedges. Removing garden waste. Maintaining gardening equipment. Sharpening mower blades. Finding time to keep everything looking tidy. By highlighting these frustrations, you demonstrate that you understand your customer's situation. Explain Your Solution Now introduce the service as the natural solution. For example: "Our complete garden maintenance service takes care of everything, including lawn mowing, hedge trimming, garden tidy-ups, weeding and green waste removal. We bring the equipment, complete the work and leave your outdoor areas looking their best." The customer can now see how your service removes the problems you've described. Finish With a Clear Call to Action Finally, tell the customer what to do next. Examples include: "Learn more about our complete garden maintenance service." Or: "Request your free garden maintenance assessment." Where Google provides an appropriate website link button, direct people to the relevant service page rather than sending everyone to your homepage. This helps potential customers find the information they're looking for. 5. Why Your Website Needs to Support Your Google Business Profile Your Google Business Profile and website should work together. If you're promoting drainage services through your profile, ideally you should also have a dedicated drainage service page on your website. That page should explain: The drainage problems you solve. The services you provide. The geographical areas you cover. Why customers should trust your business. How customers can contact you. Include relevant photographs, customer testimonials and examples of completed work where possible. This creates a consistent customer experience. Someone who discovers your business through Google can follow the link to your website and find more detailed information about exactly the service they're interested in. It also helps Google understand the relevance of your website to particular services, although simply adding product listings doesn't guarantee improved rankings. If you're unsure whether your profile and website contain the information they should, I've put together a Google Business Profile checklist to help you review the important areas. 6. More Visibility Is Only Half the Battle Getting your business seen on Google Maps and local search is important. But visibility doesn't automatically translate into enquiries. Think about what happens when someone searches for a local plumber. They might discover several businesses offering the same service. Before making contact, they could examine: Customer reviews and ratings. Business photographs. Services offered. Website information. How established and professional the business appears. Your aim is to make your business the natural choice. A detailed, informative Google Business Profile can help customers understand your offering and feel more confident about contacting you. Remember that your Google Business Profile doesn't charge you for organic profile clicks or calls. That makes it a valuable marketing asset worth maintaining alongside your website and any paid advertising. 7. Review Your Google Business Profile Regularly Your Google Business Profile shouldn't be something you set up once and forget about. As your business develops, your services, photographs, priorities and website content may change. Review your profile periodically to make sure it accurately reflects what you currently offer. Pay particular attention to your categories, service descriptions, website links and the services you most want to promote. If you'd like a second opinion, you can start with a free Google Business Profile audit to identify opportunities for improvement. Conclusion: Should Service Businesses Use Products on Google Business Profiles? The most important thing is to make full use of the Google Business Profile features that are available and appropriate for your particular business. Start by selecting accurate business categories, completing your Services section and making sure your website supports the work you advertise. Where suitable product-style listings are supported, they can provide another opportunity to showcase valuable offerings and communicate the benefits to potential customers. Focus on the outcome your customers want, the problems they're trying to avoid and how your business provides the solution. Because ultimately, people aren't buying a list of services. They're buying the results those services deliver.
Should you add products to your Google Business Profile? If you sell physical products, the answer is generally yes. But what if you're a service business, such as a gardener, electrician, plumber or cleaning company? This is where things get interesting. Many business owners think of products as physical items, something you can pick up, put in a box and sell. But from a marketing perspective, you can also turn a service into a clearly defined package that customers understand and want to buy. For example, rather than simply offering "gardening services", you might offer a complete lawn mowing and garden maintenance package. That's effectively productising your service. However, Google distinguishes between physical products and services. Its Product Editor is designed for physical goods, while service businesses should use the Services Editor. The important thing is making sure your potential customers understand what you offer, what problems you solve and why they should choose your business. Let's look at how to do that properly. 1. Understand the Difference Between Products and Services on Google Business Profile Your Google Business Profile allows you to provide information about what your business offers. There are two important features to understand. Google Business Profile Products If you're a retailer selling physical goods, you may be able to add individual products through Google's Product Editor. Depending on the features available to your business, product listings can include photographs, descriptions and other relevant details. For example, a garden equipment retailer might showcase lawnmowers, hedge trimmers, leaf blowers and other products. These listings help potential customers understand what the business sells. Google Business Profile Services For service businesses, Google provides a separate Services Editor. This allows you to list the services your business provides, organise them under relevant categories and add descriptions or prices where available. For example, a gardening business might offer lawn mowing, hedge trimming, garden maintenance, weed control and green waste removal. You should include the genuine services your business provides rather than attempting to disguise them as physical products. The objective is the same: make it easier for customers to understand what you offer and take the next step. 2. Get Your Google Business Profile Categories Right First Before spending time improving your service descriptions, check that you've selected the most appropriate business categories. Google allows you to have one primary category and up to nine additional categories. Your primary category should describe your main business activity. Secondary categories can help describe other relevant activities your business genuinely performs. For example, a company providing several types of property maintenance might qualify for multiple categories. However, don't simply select every category you can find. Choose the categories that accurately represent your business. Then make sure your website supports those services. If you provide lawn mowing, hedge trimming and garden maintenance, your website should explain these services clearly. For more significant services, consider creating dedicated pages rather than squeezing everything into one general page. This gives potential customers somewhere to learn more about the specific work they need. 3. Turn Your Services Into Packages Customers Want Here's where I think many service businesses miss an opportunity. They describe what they do instead of explaining what the customer actually wants. Let's take lawn mowing and garden maintenance as an example. A business might describe its service like this: "We offer lawn mowing, hedge trimming, garden maintenance and green waste removal." That's accurate, but it's not particularly compelling. What does the customer really want? They probably don't wake up on Saturday morning thinking, "I'd love to buy some lawn mowing." They want the result. They want a beautiful garden without having to spend their entire weekend maintaining it. This is where my three-part approach to writing service descriptions comes in. 4. The Three-Part Formula for Writing Better Service Descriptions When I write marketing content, I think about three things: The desired outcome, the problems and frustrations, and the solution. Then I finish with a clear call to action. Part 1: Start With the Desired Outcome Rather than immediately explaining what your business does, start by describing what the customer wants to achieve. For our gardening example, that might be: "Imagine enjoying your weekends in a beautifully maintained garden, with freshly cut lawns, neatly trimmed hedges and tidy garden beds, without having to lift a finger." That's a much more appealing picture. Your customer might want to spend their weekends fishing, playing golf, relaxing with a coffee or spending time with the children. They don't particularly want to spend hours pushing a lawnmower around. You're selling them their time back. Part 2: Address Their Problems and Frustrations Next, think about everything involved in doing the job themselves. They've got to get the lawnmower out, check it's working, cut the grass, trim the edges, tackle the weeds and deal with overgrown hedges. Then they've got to clear everything away. Perhaps the green waste bin is already full. Now they're trying to squeeze branches into it, borrow a neighbour's bin or organise a separate trip to dispose of the waste. And that's before considering lawnmower maintenance, sharpening tools and storing equipment. All those little frustrations add up. Good marketing shows customers that you understand what they're dealing with. You don't need to exaggerate the problem. Just describe the genuine hassles they're trying to avoid. Part 3: Present Your Business as the Solution Now you've established the desired outcome and demonstrated that you understand the problem. It's time to explain why your business is the solution. I sometimes call this the "Yoda section". You're the experienced guide who knows how to get the customer from where they are now to where they want to be. For example: "Our experienced garden maintenance team takes care of everything, from mowing lawns and trimming hedges to removing green waste. We arrive with the right equipment, complete the work professionally and leave your garden looking fantastic." If you have relevant qualifications, insurance, years of experience or other genuine credentials, mention them. These details help build confidence. Finish With a Clear Call to Action Don't leave customers wondering what to do next. Think about what normally happens when somebody phones your business. Do you arrange a site visit? Provide an online estimate? Book an appointment? Whatever that next step happens to be, make it clear. For example: "Request a free garden maintenance quote and we'll help you get your weekends back." The call to action should lead towards the next logical step in your sales process. 5. Use Photographs That Demonstrate Your Services Photographs are particularly important for local service businesses. If you're a gardener, show the gardens you've maintained. If you're a painter, show beautifully finished rooms. If you're a roofer, show completed roofing work. Before-and-after photographs can be particularly effective because customers can immediately see the transformation. Whenever possible, use genuine photographs from jobs you've completed locally. Smartphone photographs are perfectly acceptable, provided they're clear, well-lit and accurately represent your work. You don't need an expensive professional photography session for every service. And although smartphone photographs may contain GPS location information, Google hasn't established that geotagging photographs improves your local rankings. Choose photographs because they're useful and relevant to customers, not because you expect hidden location data to give you an SEO advantage. 6. Link Your Services to Relevant Website Pages Your Google Business Profile and website should support one another. If somebody discovers that you offer garden maintenance, they should be able to find a website page explaining what's included. For example, you might create a garden maintenance page covering lawn mowing, hedge trimming, garden clearance and regular maintenance packages. That page can contain photographs, detailed explanations, customer reviews and an enquiry form. Where your Google Business Profile provides an appropriate website link option, use a relevant landing page rather than always sending customers to your homepage. For services without a direct link option, make sure the corresponding content is easy to find through your website. If you'd like to check whether the essential areas of your profile are properly set up, my Google Business Profile checklist provides a useful starting point. 7. Keep Your Google Business Profile Accurate and Up to Date Your Business Profile isn't something you should set up once and forget about. As your business changes, review the services you offer. Add genuine new services, remove anything you no longer provide and update photographs or descriptions when necessary. Make sure your business hours, contact information and categories remain accurate. Google's local ranking system considers relevance, distance and prominence. Keeping your profile complete and accurate helps Google understand your business, although individual changes don't guarantee improved rankings. If you're unsure whether your profile is communicating everything your business offers, you can request a free Google Business Profile audi t to identify potential improvements. Conclusion: Should You Add Products to Your Google Business Profile? Yes, if you sell physical products and Google's product feature is available to your business. If you primarily sell services, concentrate on making the most of your Google Business Profile's service listings instead. But apply the same marketing principles. Don't simply list what you do. Describe the outcome your customers want, demonstrate that you understand their problems and show them why your business is the right choice. Use genuine photographs, write helpful descriptions and support your main services with relevant website pages. Most importantly, always think about what you want your prospective customer to do next. Because getting found on Google is only the first step. The real goal is turning that visibility into enquiries, bookings and paying customers.
If you're wondering whether you should add all your services to your Google Business Profile, the short answer is yes. But how you organise those services can make a significant difference to how clearly Google understands your business and how easily potential customers find you. One of the most common mistakes I see when reviewing Google Business Profiles is businesses adding dozens of services without properly considering their business categories. They might have 50, 70 or even 94 services listed, but everything is grouped under one primary category. The problem isn't necessarily the number of services. It's how they're organised. Your Google Business Profile categories and services work together to describe your business. Getting that structure right can help improve your relevance for local searches and make it easier for customers to understand exactly what you offer. Let's look at the wrong way, the right way and one additional step on your website that many businesses overlook. Why Adding Services to Your Google Business Profile Matters When someone searches Google Maps for a particular service, Google tries to identify businesses that are relevant to that search. Your business categories are an important part of that process, while your listed services provide additional detail about what you offer. For example, someone searching for an electrician might be looking for a completely different service from someone searching for heat pump installation or electrical repairs. Even though one business might provide all three services, those searches can have different intentions. That's why it's worth taking the time to organise your profile correctly rather than simply adding everything to one long list. The Wrong Way to Add Google Business Profile Services When you open your Google Business Profile dashboard, you'll find an option called Edit Services . Naturally, most business owners click that button and start adding everything they do. Google may suggest services as you go, so it's easy to keep adding more. Before long, you might have 94 services sitting under a single business category. Some might be closely related to that category, while others are quite different. The result can be a rather higgledy-piggledy collection of services with very little structure. Although listing those services isn't automatically wrong, you may be missing an opportunity to describe the different parts of your business more accurately. The better approach is to look at your categories first. The Right Way: Organise Services Using Google Business Profile Categories Google allows businesses to select one primary category and up to nine additional categories. However, that doesn't mean every business should use ten categories. You should only select categories that genuinely describe what your business is and the work it provides. Step 1: Review Your Existing Services Start by looking at all the services you've already added to your profile. If you've got 94 services, don't start deleting them. Instead, copy them into a document or spreadsheet and examine how they relate to one another. You might find they fall naturally into four or five different service groups. Step 2: Use ChatGPT to Help Group Your Services One simple method is to copy your list of services into ChatGPT and ask it to suggest relevant Google Business Profile categories. For example, you could use this prompt: "Here is a list of services my business provides. Group these services into appropriate Google Business Profile categories. Suggest a primary category and relevant secondary categories, using official Google Business Profile category names available in New Zealand." This can save you considerable time. However, there's one important point: ChatGPT doesn't always get the official category names right. Sometimes Google's categories use American terminology or wording that isn't what you'd naturally use in New Zealand. Always check the suggested categories against the actual options available in your Google Business Profile. Step 3: Add the Relevant Secondary Categories Once you've identified suitable categories: Open your Google Business Profile. Select Edit Profile . Find your business category settings. Keep the most appropriate primary category. Add the relevant secondary categories. Save your changes. For example, you might end up with one primary category and four additional categories. Now you've got a more descriptive structure for your business. Step 4: Organise Your Services Under Those Categories Next, return to Edit Services and review how your services are organised. Where Google's available categories and service options allow it, group the relevant services under their corresponding business categories. You may still have those same 94 services, but they're now arranged into more meaningful groups. The categories tell Google what types of business activities you provide, while the services explain the specific work customers can contact you about. This creates a clearer picture of your business for both Google and potential customers. Don't Forget Your Website: It Needs to Support Your Google Business Profile This is the next step I regularly see businesses overlook. Once you've organised your Google Business Profile categories, you need to look at your website. Does your website clearly explain the services and business activities you've listed on Google? If not, you've got more work to do. Your website should support the information you're providing through your Google Business Profile. Create Pages Around Your Main Service Categories Imagine you've selected five Google Business Profile categories, each covering several different services. Ideally, your website should have relevant content for each of those main service areas. Depending on how your business operates, this might mean creating a dedicated page for each major service category. For example, an electrical company might have separate pages for: Residential electrical services Commercial electrical services Heat pump installation Electrical repairs and maintenance Each page should explain the work you do, who you help and which services you provide. This also helps visitors find the information they're looking for without having to search through one enormous services page. How Much Website Content Do You Need? This depends partly on how competitive your market is. In smaller cities, a well-written category page covering several closely related services may be a sensible starting point. However, in larger cities or highly competitive industries, you'll often need more detailed content. For important services, consider including a dedicated section containing a useful explanation and a relevant photograph. For your main revenue-generating services, creating individual service pages may be even better. Don't simply list 15 service names and assume that's enough. Explain what the service involves, who it's for, the problems it solves and why someone should choose your business. The aim is to create genuinely helpful website content rather than pages written solely for search engines. Keep Your Google Business Profile and Website Consistent Google may review changes to your Business Profile, and information that doesn't accurately represent your business can cause problems. That's another reason to make sure the services and categories you select genuinely reflect the work you perform. Your website, business categories and listed services should tell a consistent story. For example, if your profile says you provide commercial electrical installation, your website should ideally explain that service rather than focusing entirely on residential work. If you're unsure whether your profile is properly structured, my free Google Business Profile audit can help identify areas worth reviewing. Getting More Visibility Is Only Half the Job Organising your categories and services is an important part of improving your Google Business Profile. But there's something else to remember. Getting found on Google Maps doesn't automatically mean you're going to get more customers. You might improve your visibility and attract more people to your profile, but what happens when they get there? Do they see a business they trust? Are your reviews strong enough? Are your photographs professional and relevant? Is it obvious what you do and how customers can contact you? These things matter because visibility is only the first step. The real objective is turning that visibility into telephone calls, enquiries, appointments and paying customers. My Google Business Profile checklist covers the important areas worth checking to help make sure your profile is working effectively. Conclusion: Add Your Services, But Get the Structure Right So, should you add all your services to your Google Business Profile? Yes, provided they're services your business genuinely offers. But don't just add a long list and forget about it. Review your primary category, identify relevant secondary categories and organise your services as clearly as possible. Then make sure your website backs up what your Google Business Profile says about your business. These improvements can help Google and potential customers understand your business more clearly, although they don't guarantee higher rankings. And remember, the end goal isn't simply to appear more often on Google Maps. It's to turn that visibility into more enquiries, more bookings and ultimately more customers. That's what makes your Google Business Profile a valuable part of your marketing.