What Should a Contractor Post on Their Google Business Profile?

Most contractor profiles fall into one of two camps. The first camp has never published a single post. The second posts generic junk: a stock photo of a handshake, a paragraph of hashtags, a “Happy Friday from the team!” that nobody asked for.

Both camps waste one of the few free marketing surfaces where homeowners are already looking directly at your business. Here’s what to post instead, how often, and what to skip entirely.

What do Google posts actually do for your business?

Let’s be honest first, because plenty of marketers oversell this. Posts are not a magic ranking lever. Publishing twice a week will not, by itself, move you from position 9 to position 2. Their direct ranking impact is modest.

They earn their keep two other ways:

They’re an activity signal. Google rewards profiles that look open, active, and engaged. A profile whose last post is from 2023 reads as parked, and looking abandoned is one of the reasons businesses fall out of the Map Pack. Posts are the easiest recurring proof that you’re alive and taking work.

They’re a conversion surface. Everyone who sees your posts is already on your profile, usually comparing you against two or three competitors. A fresh photo of a finished job in their town does more to win that comparison than anything in your business description.

So think of posts this way: they won’t win the ranking fight alone, but they help Google see an active business and help the homeowner pick you over the next listing.

Which post types actually work for trades?

Four types, in rough order of value.

1. Finished-job spotlights. A real photo of completed work, what you did, and the town it’s in. This is the highest-value post a contractor can publish because it’s proof: proof you exist, proof you work nearby, proof the results look good. If you only ever post one thing, post this.

2. Seasonal offers. Spring AC tune-ups, fall gutter cleanouts, winter furnace checks, early-booking discounts for decks and patios. Use Google’s Offer post type so it shows the dates and stands out. One real offer beats five vague “contact us today” posts.

3. Service explainers. Two to four sentences on one service: what hydro jetting is, when a driveway needs resealing, why flashing fails before shingles do. These show expertise without bragging, and they help your profile match more of what people search.

4. FAQ-style answers. Take one question you answer on every estimate and answer it in a post. “Do you haul away the old fence?” “How long does a tear-off take?” You already know the questions. The homeowner reading your profile has the same ones.

How often should a contractor post?

Twice a week. That’s 8 posts a month, and it’s the exact cadence we run for clients in our Google Business Profile management. More than that adds work without adding much return. Less than weekly and the profile starts drifting back toward parked.

Consistency beats bursts. Twelve posts in one motivated weekend, then silence for two months, looks worse than one steady post every few days.

The practical move is batching. Sit down once a month with your camera roll, pull 8 job photos, and write 2 to 3 sentences for each. Twenty to thirty minutes covers the month. A simple rotation works: job spotlight, explainer, job spotlight, offer or FAQ, repeat.

What should you never post?

A bad post hurts more than no post, because the person reading it is a potential customer judging your standards. Skip all of these:

• Auto-generated filler. AI-written posts churned out in bulk read as generic to homeowners and violate Google’s content policies. If a tool wrote 30 interchangeable posts in one click, they aren’t helping you.
• Stock photos. A homeowner can spot a stock photo instantly, and it quietly says “we don’t have real work to show you.” Your worst real photo beats the best stock image.
• Walls of hashtags. Hashtags do nothing on Google. They just make the post look like recycled Instagram content.
• Anything you wouldn’t show a customer in person. Blurry shots, messy half-finished job sites, inside jokes, rants. The profile is your digital storefront. Treat it like one.

A job-spotlight post you can copy

Here’s the structure, using a made-up deck job as the stand-in. Swap in your trade.

Headline: the service plus the town. “New composite deck in Homer Glen.”

Body, 2 to 3 sentences: what you did and one detail that shows craft. “This 400 square foot deck replaced a 20-year-old wood deck that was past saving. Composite boards, hidden fasteners, and a built-in bench seat, finished in four days.”

Photo: one clear shot of the finished work, taken in good light from the angle a proud homeowner would choose. Straight off your phone is fine.

CTA button: match it to how people buy your trade. “Call now” fits urgent work like plumbing repairs and no-heat calls. “Get a quote” or “Learn more” fits project work like decks, roofs, and remodels. Link the button to the matching service page on your site, not your homepage.

That’s the whole post. No hashtags, no slogans, under five minutes once the photo exists.

How do posts fit with photos and reviews?

Posts are one of three freshness signals on your profile, and they work best together.

Photos uploaded regularly tell the same story as posts from a different angle. Add real job photos straight from your phone every few weeks, not in one annual dump.

Reviews arriving steadily, with a response to every one, are the strongest trust signal a profile has. A consistent ask-and-respond system is the core of good reputation management, and a post about a finished job pairs naturally with the review request you send that same customer.

A profile with fresh posts, recent photos, and new reviews looks like a business in motion. A profile with posts alone looks like someone doing the minimum. Run all three and each one makes the others more believable.

Not sure what your profile needs first?

Posting twice a week only pays off if the profile underneath is set up right: correct primary category, complete services, accurate hours, real photos. Posts on a broken profile are paint on a cracked foundation.

If you want to know where you actually stand, our free marketing audit reviews your full profile, your post and photo activity, and where you rank for the searches that bring real jobs like “deck builder near me.” It’s free, it’s delivered within 24 hours, and there’s no pitch attached.