Told to add keywords to your GMB page? Put the jobs you do in the services list and each service's description. Keep them out of the business name unless they're on your sign, because Google's guidelines, read Nov. 1, 2026, warn that extra words there "could result in the suspension of your Business Profile." Use the fields Google provides to describe the work clearly and keep the business identity consistent.
Last verified: November 1, 2026.
Google's page on how local ranking works says businesses "with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up." Here, keywords means plain words for your work in the fields Google built for them.
Every field, and whether job words belong there
Each line gives the field, whether job words belong there, and what we measured.
- Business name: no, unless they're in your real name, since extra words risk suspension. About 3 in 100 competitor listings add words after a dash, pipe or colon.
- Primary category: the one that describes your core business. Not measured.
- Additional categories: only if true, and as few as possible. Median 3 per profile.
- Services, Google's suggested: yes. 19.4% of 9,128 listed services.
- Services, custom names: yes, the job's plain name, with no price or phone number. 80.6% of listed services.
- Service descriptions: yes. 44.3% of services have one, at a median 197 characters.
- Business description: yes, written for customers, with no links. Median 662 characters; none has a link.
- Service areas: only real places, up to 20. Median 12, and 23.8% use all 20.
- Posts: yes; offers are allowed, unrelated links aren't. Not measured.
- Review replies: plain words, no deals. Not measured.
Profile figures cover 105 home-service Business Profiles connected to Cheers; Method details both sources.
Your business name has one rule
Google wants the "real-world name" on your storefront, website and stationery, with no taglines, hours, phone numbers, services, products or locations added. "[Brand] Plumbing" is a name, while "[Brand] Plumbing | Water Heater Repair [City] 24/7" is an invented one with a service, a town and the hours bolted on.
People do it because it seems to work. Miriam Ellis's Sept. 8, 2026 study for Whitespark found home-service names with a keyword reach the Map Pack's top three about twice as often, and experts in Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey scored keywords in the business name third of 187 factors, though that's opinion rather than measurement.
But the study counts a company always called "[Surname] Plumbing" the same as one that added words. It can't show that adding words works.
Whitespark suggests a legal rebrand or DBA for owners who want that edge, and Google treats a name change that misses its criteria as a new business. That's a brand decision, not a profile edit.
Check whether a competitor's city or service wording is part of its real brand before drawing conclusions from the name; some franchise names legitimately include a location. If its name carries words its sign doesn't, Google's reporting paths start with Suggest an edit in Google Maps.
This week, check the profile names of your three busiest branches (or your one location) against the van wrap, the sign and an invoice, and plan to cut any extra city, service, "24/7" or "near me." Wait if a verification code is on its way; Google's verification page says a name, address or category edit during that wait stops the code working.
Google reviews name changes before they go live, and its editing page says you "might need to verify your business again" afterward. Rank can move too, so change one branch and wait until it shows as published before doing the rest. For a franchise branch whose real name carries its city, see Can Franchises Add Cities or Services to Profile Names?
Categories say what the branch is
The guidelines say to "use as few categories as possible" for your core business, and the editing page adds a flat "Do not use categories solely as keywords."
Whitespark's survey ranks the primary category first, two places above keywords in the name. The additional-category median above isn't a target: when a branch shows up for the wrong jobs, the fix is usually a better primary choice, and a category naming a single job belongs in the services list.
Test a primary switch on one branch, watch calls and map position for a few weeks, then roll it out. Torn between HVAC contractor and Air conditioning contractor? See How Should Brands Choose Business Profile Categories?
Services are where the job words go
Google's services help page says when local customers search for something you offer, "that service may be highlighted on your profile." Use that field to make the branch's actual work clear to the customer.
Most entries on the profiles we checked are custom names, allowed but outside the list Google tailors to each business type. Fewer than half carry a written description.
Services list
Four in five listed services are custom names
80.6%
of listed services are custom names the business typed in, not Google's suggested services
Base: 9,128 service entries on the 94 of 105 home-service profiles (18 companies) that list services
44.3%
of entries carry a written description
9,128 entries
40.2%
of entries carry a description, with the largest company set aside
197
median characters in a written description (155 with the largest company set aside)
Cheers analysis of Google Business Profile data for 105 home-service profiles in 18 companies, snapshots taken Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2026. Queried Nov. 1, 2026.
| Finding | Value | Base |
|---|---|---|
| of listed services are custom names the business typed in, not Google's suggested services | 80.6% | 9,128 service entries on the 94 of 105 home-service profiles (18 companies) that list services |
| of entries carry a written description | 44.3% | 9,128 entries |
| of entries carry a description, with the largest company set aside | 40.2% | Stated in the source |
| median characters in a written description (155 with the largest company set aside) | 197 | Stated in the source |
To add one, select Edit services on your Business Profile, then Add more services to see Google's suggestions for your business type. Pick the one that fits; for a job the branch really sells that isn't there, select Add custom service and type its plain name. Then select the service, add its description and save.
Click path
Add a service and its description
- 01Profile
Go to your Business Profile
Signed in with the account that manages the branch.
- 02Services
Select Edit services
Then Add more services to see Google's suggested options for your business type.
- 03Services
Pick the suggested service that fits
If the job isn't listed, select Add custom service and type its plain name, with no price or phone number.
- 04Description
Select the service and add a description
Our advice: two or three sentences on what the job includes, the equipment or property types, and where the branch does it.
- 05Check
Save, then check the public profile
Google automatically rejects custom services that break its policy.
Google Business Profile Help, 'Manage your services' (answer 9455399), read Nov. 1, 2026.
- How to add a service and its description to a Google Business Profile
- 1. Go to your Business Profile: Signed in with the account that manages the branch.
- 2. Select Edit services: Then Add more services to see Google's suggested options for your business type.
- 3. Pick the suggested service that fits: If the job isn't listed, select Add custom service and type its plain name, with no price or phone number.
- 4. Select the service and add a description: Our advice: two or three sentences on what the job includes, the equipment or property types, and where the branch does it.
- 5. Save, then check the public profile: Google automatically rejects custom services that break its policy.
Two or three sentences per description is enough (our advice; Google's help page doesn't give a length limit). The gap is coverage, so write one for each of the ten jobs a branch sells most. An invented good one:
Tankless water heater installation: we remove the old tank, fit a gas or electric tankless unit, add venting where it's needed and haul the old heater away. We install in [City], [City] and [City].
An invented bad one, made of search terms nobody says out loud: "Water heater repair [City] [City] [City] best water heater plumber near me."
Claim only what the branch does, and check the public profile after you save, since Google says "Custom services that violate policy will be automatically rejected."
Roll-ups can add "share of services described" to the monthly profile report. Which jobs belong on which branch is covered in Google Business Profile Services for AI Search.
The business description is for customers
Write the description so a customer can quickly understand the business. The editing page says "Do not exceed 750 characters," allows no URLs or HTML, and asks you to focus on the business "instead of details about promotions, prices, or sales."
All but one profile we checked has a description, but only 47.6% name their own city and 41.0% say the business is licensed, so start there. Say what you do, how long you've done it, where you're based and whether you're licensed, plus 24/7 service, warranty, insurance or financing if they're true.
Letting Google's tool write it for 40 branches? Read Should You Use AI for Business Profile Descriptions? first.
Posts: offers are fine, unrelated links aren't
The "For merchants" block of Google's Maps content policy, which Search Engine Roundtable first reported on Oct. 6, 2026, bars email addresses, phone numbers, social media links and links to other sites "that are not related to your business" in posts, and says offers and updates are "otherwise permitted in posts." Write about real jobs in plain words and link each relevant update to a useful next step.
Service areas: only real ones
Google's service-area help page has you set them by city, postal code or other area, never as a radius. The guidelines say the overall area shouldn't extend past about two hours' drive from your base, though they allow that "For some businesses, larger service areas may be appropriate."
Use the available slots for the places the branch actually serves. Check the list against the towns your crews drove to this year, keep the ones where you'd really send a truck, and put town-by-town detail on the page the profile links to.
Reviews are the customer's words; replies stay plain
Google's content policy says merchants asking for reviews shouldn't "request that specific content be included," and it separately bars staff from asking for it. So ask for an honest review without requesting a service, town or name; the job names you want go in your services list.
Google's tips on reviews say "Be conversational, not promotional," with no deals in replies and no one-size thank-you. Keep service-and-city strings out too; a reply that reads like a search query reads that way to customers.
How AI engines show your name
In October 2026, 2.7% of US ChatGPT map cards in the Cheers Market Baseline, our own research panel, showed a business name with a dash, pipe or colon and more words after it, close to the rate in raw competitor listings. Google AI Mode showed it on 0.5%, and Canada ran the same way, so ChatGPT's card names look more like raw listings than AI Mode's.
AI map cards, October 2026
Map card names with extra words after a dash, pipe or colon
Share of map cards
827 of 30,843 cards
149 of 31,800 cards
761 of 21,110 cards
106 of 20,445 cards
The Cheers Market Baseline, our own research panel: the same 32 home-service questions asked weekly in 100 metro areas, 60 in the US and 40 in Canada, October 2026. Queried Nov. 1, 2026.
| Engine and country | Share of cards (%) |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT, US | 2.7% (827 of 30,843 cards) |
| Google AI Mode, US | 0.5% (149 of 31,800 cards) |
| ChatGPT, Canada | 3.6% (761 of 21,110 cards) |
| Google AI Mode, Canada | 0.5% (106 of 20,445 cards) |
Search each branch in ChatGPT and read the name on its map card, or run Cheers' free AI visibility check to see how the engines show it. If it carries words your sign doesn't, compare it with Yelp, Apple Business Connect, Bing Places and your homepage title, and fix whichever has the extra words.
A one-hour check for one branch
Run this on one branch, then hand it to whoever owns the profiles. Before changing a name or category, make sure no verification code is on its way.
- Name: matches the business's real-world name as consistently used in signage and other branding. Check the sign, van and invoices as evidence; Google's rule does not require every name word to appear on all three.
- Primary category: describes what the branch mostly does. Pass: a customer would pick the same one.
- Additional categories: each is a kind of business the branch really is. Pass: none is a single job.
- Services: the ten jobs the branch sells most, using Google's suggested service where one matches. Pass: all ten listed, no custom name with a price or phone number.
- Service descriptions: two or three sentences each on what's included, the equipment or property types, and where the branch works. Pass: ten of ten.
- Business description: under 750 characters on what you do, how long, where you're based and whether you're licensed. Pass: no promotion, price or link.
- Service areas: each is somewhere you'd send a truck. Pass: you can name a recent job in each.
- Posts and replies: no unrelated contact details or links in posts, no deals in replies. Pass: the last five of each are clean.
- ChatGPT: the map card name. Pass: it matches the sign.
Method
Profiles: 105 home-service Google Business Profiles connected to Cheers, from 18 companies, with snapshots taken Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2026; 21 more were left out because their snapshots were older and missing service data. These are established operators with someone tending the profile, so read the shares as a description of this connected sample, not a market average or ceiling. Every published profile number has at least 10 companies behind it.
Services: the 9,128 entries on the 94 profiles that list services, 7,361 of them custom names and 1,767 Google's suggested services. The 4,041 entries with a written description sit at 14 companies. "With the largest company set aside" drops the company with the most entries: custom names stay above three in four, the described share is 40.2%, and the median description runs 155 characters rather than 197.
Other medians move without the company that has the most profiles: additional categories from 3 to 4.5, service areas from 12 to 15, and description length from 662 to 679 characters. Descriptions: 104 of the 105 profiles have one, and 34.3% run 700 characters or more (36 profiles, 13 companies). The own-city share covers 50 profiles at 12 companies, the licensed share 43 profiles at 11. Description mentions are word-pattern matches, so a match can sit inside a longer phrase. The profiles using all 20 service areas number 25, at 12 companies.
Business names: competitor listings from Sept. 28 to Oct. 31, 2026. The listings come from Cheers' weekly scans of Google's local map results in markets where 10 Cheers home-service customers operate, so they aren't a national random sample. We removed those customers' own and sister listings.
AI map cards: the Cheers Market Baseline is our own research panel. Every week it asks ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Gemini the same 32 home-service questions in 100 metro areas, 60 in the US and 40 in Canada, and its metro areas skew large (the smallest US one has about 300,000 people). Cards come from October 2026 answers. In the US, 827 of 30,843 ChatGPT cards and 149 of 31,800 Google AI Mode cards showed the pattern; in Canada, ChatGPT showed it on 3.6% (761 of 21,110) and AI Mode on 0.5% (106 of 20,445). A name counts when more words follow a pipe, or a dash or colon with a space on each side. That also catches some real franchise names, so these figures measure a naming pattern, not rule breaks. The two engines don't always show the same businesses, so part of the gap may come from which businesses each one picks, and we can't say which source ChatGPT took any given name from. The competitor listings cover a different set of markets than the panel. Queried Nov. 1, 2026.
Outside data: Whitespark's name study covered more than 1.4 million listings across 17 industries. In home services, names with a keyword reached the top three 4.57% of the time for an exact match and 4.71% for a partial one, against 2.21% for names without one.
Cite this: Cheers, "Where to Add Keywords in a Google Business Profile," November 2026: 105 home-service Business Profiles connected to Cheers (snapshots Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, 2026) and Cheers Market Baseline map cards (October 2026).
Sources
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help, undated. The name, category, suspension and service-area rules.
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help, undated. The complete-and-accurate line, with no mention of keywords.
- How Keywords in Business Names Currently Impact Google Local Pack Rank and AI Search, Whitespark, Sept. 8, 2026. Home-service top-three rates and the DBA suggestion.
- Local Search Ranking Factors, 2026 edition, Whitespark. Expert scores for categories, names, services and descriptions.
- Verify your business, Google Business Profile Help, undated. Edits that stop a pending verification code.
- Edit your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help, undated. The 750-character limit, category warning and re-verification.
- Manage your services, Google Business Profile Help, undated. Suggested and custom services, the click path and rejection.
- Prohibited & restricted content, Google Maps Help, undated. The "For merchants" posts rule and review requests.
- Updated Google Maps Policy: What Merchants Can't Post In Listings Or Posts, Search Engine Roundtable, Oct. 6, 2026. When the merchants clause was first reported.
- Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses, Google Business Profile Help, undated. The 20-area limit and no radius.
- Tips to get more reviews, Google Business Profile Help, undated. How to word review replies.
Sources read November 1, 2026.
Dylan Allen-Arnegård is the CEO & Co-Founder of Cheers, the done-for-you local visibility partner for established home-service companies and PE-backed portfolios.