The services section lets you list what you do individually, each with a description, and it is left empty on most small business listings. It is the one place on a profile where you control substantial text, and it accepts the phrasing customers actually use rather than the category names the platform supplies.

Where this sits on the profile

Categories determine which searches you are eligible for. Services describe what you actually do within them, in your own words, with a description for each.

That distinction matters. Your category might be a broad trade classification while your services are the twelve specific jobs people search for. The category gets you into the pool; the services describe what is in it.

It is also substantial space, which is unusual on a profile where most fields are short. A business with fifteen services, each with a description, has several paragraphs describing its work in the customer's language.

Why most listings leave it empty

Because it appears after the fields that feel mandatory, it takes half an hour rather than two minutes, and nothing prompts you to fill it in.

The platform will also suggest services based on your category, and accepting those suggestions unchanged is the common shortcut. Those suggestions are generic and they are not written in your customers' words, which is most of the value.

How to list them

One entry per thing people search for

Not per thing you do. If customers search for two phrasings of the same job, both are worth listing. If you do something nobody searches by name, it can sit inside a broader entry.

Use the customer's phrasing

The trade term and the customer term are frequently different. Customers describe the symptom or the outcome rather than the process. Where the platform allows a custom service name, use theirs.

Write a real description for each

A sentence or two saying what the work involves and who it suits. Left blank, the entry is a label. Filled in, it is content describing your work in the place customers are already looking.

Lead with what you want more of

Order matters where the display truncates. Put the profitable work first rather than the most common work, which is frequently a different list.

The products section

Available on many profiles and useful beyond literal products.

For a service business it can carry packages, plans, or defined offerings: a maintenance plan, an annual service, an inspection, a fixed-price callout. These display more prominently than service entries on some layouts and can carry a price and an image.

That makes it a reasonable place to put the thing you most want people to buy, particularly anything with a fixed price, since it becomes visible without the customer having to reach your website.

What not to do

What it is worth

Being honest: this is not the field that decides your ranking. Categories, proximity, and reviews carry considerably more weight.

What it does is help someone comparing three similar listings understand what you actually do, in language they recognise, without leaving the results page. It also gives the platform more to work with when matching your listing to specific searches, which matters more for the less common services than the obvious ones.

Half an hour, once, plus a review each year. That is a reasonable return for a section most competitors have left empty, and it sits alongside the rest of the profile work covered in setting up a business profile properly.

The practical approach

Take your website's service list, add the phrasings customers actually use from your enquiry records, and work through them in one sitting. Write two sentences each rather than one, since the second sentence is where the useful detail goes.

Then put a note in the calendar for a year out, because this is exactly the kind of thing that becomes inaccurate quietly and is never noticed from inside the business.

Frequently asked questions

What is the services section on a business profile?

A list of what you do, each with a description, separate from the category. Categories determine which searches you are eligible for; services describe what you actually offer within them.

Why does it matter if categories drive ranking?

It helps someone comparing three similar listings understand what you do in their own language without leaving the results page, and gives the platform more to match against for less common services.

Should I use the suggested services?

Only as a starting point. The suggestions are generic and written in platform language rather than the phrasing your customers use, which is where most of the value is.

Can I put my service areas in the service names?

No. Adding location names to service titles is against the rules and can affect the listing. Areas belong in the service area setting instead.

What is the products section for on a service business?

Packages and defined offerings such as a maintenance plan, an annual service, or a fixed-price inspection. These can carry a price and an image and often display prominently.

How often should this be updated?

Once a year alongside the rest of the profile. Services change and listings do not, and this is the kind of detail that becomes inaccurate without anyone inside the business noticing.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Listing with an empty services section?

We fill it out using the words your customers actually use, and put the work you want more of at the top.

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