Writing a Business Profile Description That Isn't a Keyword List

Write your Business Profile description for the person deciding whether to call you, not for Google's ranking systems. In plain sentences, say what you do, where you do it, what's different about you and how to get started, then stop. A description stuffed with "plumber Richmond VA plumbing Henrico Glen Allen" reads badly to a customer and isn't what decides where you show up.

What the field does and doesn't do

Google's help page on editing your Business Profile currently says to stay under 750 characters in the description field. The guidelines for representing your business on Google currently say the description can't contain links of any kind and shouldn't focus on promotions, prices or sales. Both pages change from time to time, so check the current versions before you publish.

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. The description is one of the places you tell Google and customers what you do, so it touches relevance. It can't move your shop closer to the person searching, and it doesn't add reviews or links. Treat it as one small piece of relevance that sits next to your categories, your services list and your website, and don't expect a rewrite to move rankings on its own. The website half of that usually matters more: one page per service gives each job a place to be described in full, and the map pack walkthrough shows how those pieces add up for one invented business.

What the description is good for is the customer who has already opened your profile. They want to know, in a few seconds, whether you do the job they need, in their part of town, and whether you seem like people they'd trust with it. That makes it sales copy with a hard length limit.

A structure that fits

Four parts, in this order:

1. What you do, in the words customers use. "We repair and replace water heaters in homes" beats "full-service plumbing solutions."
2. Where you work. Name places the way a customer would: Henrico, Chesterfield, the city of Richmond, Mechanicsville. If you're a service-area business that hides its address, this sentence does the job the address would have done (more on that setup in hiding your address without disappearing from the map).
3. What makes you different, as a fact someone could check. Years in business, a warranty, the same crew every visit, one kind of job you specialize in. Leave out adjectives nobody can verify.
4. How to start. "Book online or call for an estimate" is enough. No web address, since links aren't allowed in the field.

Aim for roughly 450 to 700 characters. Read it out loud once. If you trip over a phrase, a customer reading it on a phone will too.

Three sample descriptions

These are for invented businesses. The names are made up so you can see the structure. Swap in your own facts, and don't borrow a claim that isn't true for you.

A two-van HVAC company in Mechanicsville (hypothetical, 614 characters)

Ironfern Heating & Air repairs, maintains and replaces heating and cooling systems in homes across Hanover County, including Mechanicsville and Ashland, and in eastern Henrico. We're a family-run company with two service vans, so the technician who diagnoses your system is usually the one who fixes it. We work on heat pumps, gas furnaces and central air, and we offer spring and fall maintenance visits so small problems show up before the first hot week. Our contractor license number is listed on our website. When you book, tell us what the system is doing and we'll bring the likely parts on the first visit.

Why it works: the first sentence answers "do they do my job, and do they come to me." The two-van detail is specific and checkable. The license line points to the website instead of pasting a link. If you mention licensing, look up what DPOR currently requires for your trade rather than guessing at the wording.

A coffee shop in the Fan (hypothetical, 473 characters)

Sparrowgate Coffee is a neighborhood coffee shop on a corner in the Fan. We roast in small batches and bake pastries in our own kitchen every morning, and breakfast sandwiches are served until 11. There's seating for about twenty inside, a few sidewalk tables, and outlets along the window counter if you need to work for an hour. Dogs are welcome at the outside tables. You can order ahead for pickup, and we keep a pot of decaf going all day for the late-afternoon crowd.

Why it works: a storefront doesn't need to list a service area, because the address and map pin already say where it is. The space goes to the questions people ask before walking over: food, seating, outlets, dogs, ordering ahead. There are no prices, and nothing like "this week only."

A bookkeeping office downtown (hypothetical, 584 characters)

Ledgerlark Bookkeeping keeps the books for small businesses in Richmond and the surrounding counties: monthly bookkeeping, bank and card reconciliation, payroll setup and a clean year-end package for your tax preparer. We work with owner-run shops, trades and practices that have between one and fifteen employees. We meet by appointment at our downtown office or by video call, and you get the same bookkeeper every month. We send a short summary with your statements so you can see where the money went without opening a spreadsheet. Book a first meeting to see whether we're a fit.

Why it works: a professional firm sells fit and process more than location. Naming the kind of client it serves tells the wrong client to keep looking, which saves both sides a call. "By appointment" heads off people who'd otherwise walk in.

What to cut before you publish

Go through your draft and take out:

• Strings of keywords and town names. A profile can list up to 20 service areas in its own setting, so the description doesn't need to repeat every one.
• Web addresses and links. They aren't allowed in the field.
• Prices, coupons and seasonal deals. Put those on your website, where you can change them the same day.
• Superlatives. "Best in Richmond" and "top-rated" tell a reader nothing and invite a skeptical squint.
• Your name and category repeated. Both already appear on the profile.

While you're in the profile, look at the business name field too. Adding keywords to a Business Profile name breaks Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended, which costs far more than a weak description ever could.

Keep it current

Reread the description whenever something real changes: a new service, a dropped service, a new county you'll drive to, hours that shift for the season. An accurate plain paragraph ages better than a clever one. A useful test is to hand your phone to someone who doesn't know the business, let them read the profile for ten seconds, then ask what you do and where. If they can't say, rewrite the first sentence.

The description is one part of a profile. Categories, services, photos, reviews and service areas carry their own weight, and we cover how they fit together on our local SEO page for Richmond-area businesses.

Once you've rewritten yours, you're welcome to book a call and bring the draft along. We'll read it with you next to the rest of your profile and point out anything a customer might trip on.