Your GBP is the highest-paying free work you're not doing.

Categories and services: say what you haul

Primary category matters most, and the services list is machine-readable inventory — name estate cleanouts, appliance removal, construction debris, hot tub removal explicitly. Google matches searches to the services list; “we haul anything” matches nothing.

Review velocity beats review count

Fifty reviews from 2023 lose to five arriving weekly. Build the ask into the job: text the link from the driveway, before the truck leaves. Reply to every one — responses are a ranking signal and a sales page. This single habit moves the pack and the close rate at once.

Photos are proof of work

Before/after pairs, the crew, the truck — uploaded steadily, not dumped once. Customers picking from three pack results click the profile that looks like a real operation this week.

Service-area honesty

Set the service area to where you actually drive. Too wide dilutes relevance everywhere; too narrow forfeits towns you'd happily serve. In big-radius markets like Chatham-Kent this single setting decides profitability.

Q&A: answer before they ask

Seed the questions you answer by phone daily — pricing ranges, same-day availability, what you won't take, where it ends up. Q&A text feeds both Google relevance and the AI engines that increasingly answer these questions directly. Which is the subject of the next guide.