Photographs are among the most looked-at elements of a local listing, and a profile with few of its own is illustrated by whatever customers and passers-by happened to upload. Adding a decent set of your own work is one of the cheapest improvements available, and the main constraint is that you cannot delete what other people contribute.
Why this matters more than it sounds
When someone compares three businesses on a phone, the photographs are doing a large share of the deciding. They are looked at before the description, and often before the reviews.
A profile with twenty pictures of real, completed work reads as an established business. A profile with three, one of which is a blurry photograph of a van taken by a stranger, reads as uncertain. Neither impression is necessarily accurate and both are formed in about two seconds.
What to upload
Completed work, in quantity
The most valuable category by a distance. Finished jobs, photographed properly, ideally across the range of work you want more of. If you want more commercial work, the pictures should not all be residential.
The team, with faces
People hiring someone to come into their home are assessing risk. Photographs of identifiable people in branded clothing address that directly, and they are the pictures customers spend the longest looking at.
Vehicles and equipment
A signwritten van signals a real operation and helps customers recognise you on arrival. Practical rather than glamorous, and worth having.
The premises, if customers visit
The frontage, the entrance, and the parking. If people have to find you, these pictures save phone calls. If nobody visits, this category matters far less.
What weakens a profile
- Stock photography. Recognisable as stock and it undermines everything around it, because a visitor who spots one begins doubting the rest.
- Screenshots and graphics. Logos, price lists, and text-on-image posters belong elsewhere. The photo gallery is for photographs.
- Very dark or blurry pictures. Better to upload eight good ones than thirty of mixed quality, since a poor image drags the impression of the set.
- Anything showing an unsafe practice. Worth a second look before uploading, because customers and occasionally regulators notice.
- Identifiable customer property without permission. House numbers, vehicles, and interiors. Ask once at the end of the job and note the answer.
Getting usable photographs without a photographer
Most of this can be done on a phone by whoever is on site, provided a few habits are established.
- Take them in daylight and turn interior lights on. Avoid flash where possible.
- Shoot the finished work from a straight-on angle, with the surroundings tidied. Two minutes of tidying changes the photograph more than any editing.
- Take more than you think you need. Storage costs nothing and you will regularly want an angle nobody took.
- Capture before and after from the same position, which is the single rule that makes comparison pictures work, as covered in before and after galleries.
- Make it somebody's job. A standing instruction to photograph every completed job produces a library within a season. Relying on people remembering does not.
The part you cannot control
Customers and members of the public can add photographs to your listing, and you cannot simply remove them. You can report an image that breaches the platform's rules, and an unflattering but legitimate photograph generally stays.
The practical response is dilution rather than removal. A profile with forty of your own images absorbs one poor customer photograph without difficulty. A profile with four does not. Volume is the defence, and it is the main reason to keep adding rather than uploading once and stopping.
The cover image question
You can nominate a preferred cover image, and the platform treats that as a preference rather than an instruction. It frequently displays something else based on what it judges most relevant to the search.
This frustrates people, and the useful conclusion is to stop optimising one image and instead make sure the whole set is strong. If any picture in your gallery could reasonably be shown first, the algorithm's choice stops mattering.
A workable routine
Photograph every completed job. Upload a small batch monthly rather than a hundred at once, since a steadily growing gallery also signals an active business. Review the set twice a year and remove anything that no longer represents the standard of work you want to be judged on.
That is perhaps twenty minutes a month, using a phone that is already on site, and it improves the part of your listing that gets looked at first.
Frequently asked questions
How many photos should a Google Business Profile have?
More than most businesses have. Twenty or more of your own work is a reasonable target, added steadily rather than all at once, since volume also dilutes any poor photograph a customer contributes.
Can I delete photos customers added to my listing?
Not directly. You can report images that breach the platform's rules, but an unflattering yet legitimate photograph generally stays. The practical answer is to add enough of your own that it carries little weight.
What photos work best for a local service business?
Completed work in quantity, the team with visible faces, and signwritten vehicles. Photographs of people are looked at longest, because customers letting someone into their home are assessing risk.
Should I use stock photos on my profile?
No. They are recognisable and they undermine the credibility of everything around them, since a visitor who identifies one starts questioning whether the rest is genuine.
Why does my chosen cover photo not always show?
The platform treats your selection as a preference and often displays whichever image it judges most relevant to the search. The useful response is to make the whole set strong rather than optimising one picture.
Do I need permission to photograph customer property?
Ask, once, at the end of the job, and note the answer. House numbers, vehicles, and interiors are identifiable, and a quick question avoids a problem later.
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 illustrated by strangers?
We will build your profile gallery from your own completed work and set up a simple routine so it keeps growing without extra effort.
Start a Conversation