Guides
Local SEO checklist for carpet and upholstery cleaning companies
A step-by-step local search checklist for a carpet and upholstery cleaning company: profile setup, service areas, categories, photos, reviews and the rules that keep a listing safe.
What to take away
- Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence, and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. The work is in getting the profile accurate, complete and trusted.
- A cleaning company that travels to customers is a service-area business. It should hide or remove its address, list up to 20 service areas by city or postal code, and keep the area within about two hours of driving time.
- Use as few categories as possible, and choose the one that completes the sentence "This business is a ...". Do not put services or marketing phrases in the business name.
- Ask every customer for a review with a link or QR code, never offer a discount or gift in return, and reply to every review.
- Fake, bought or gated reviews break Google's policy, and the Federal Trade Commission has a rule against buying reviews and review suppression.
This checklist follows Google's help pages and FTC guidance as read in October 2026. Google changes its rules, so check the linked pages before you edit a live profile.
Start with how Google decides who shows up
Google's help page on local ranking says results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Distance is how far the business is from the person searching. Prominence is how well known a business is, and Google notes that links to your business and your review count both contribute.
You influence relevance through accurate categories and descriptions, and prominence through reviews. You cannot control distance, which is why a van that serves several towns needs its service areas set properly. Google also states plainly that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Step 1: Qualify and verify the profile
A cleaning company that travels to customers is eligible, as Google's guidelines say a business may create a profile if it has a physical location customers can visit or travels to customers. A rented mailing address where you do not operate is not eligible, and a P.O. box or a mailbox at a remote location is not acceptable.
- Create one profile for the central office or base with a designated service area.
- Verify the profile. Google says verification shows you are authorized to represent the business and makes it more likely to show up in search results, and photos appear publicly only after verification. Follow the on-screen options, and see the linked help article for the current methods.
- Keep one profile per location. A second listing for the same base is the kind of duplicate that causes trouble later.
Step 2: Name, address and service areas
Business name. Google says the name should reflect your real-world name as used on your storefront, website and stationery. It tells you to leave out taglines, hours, phone numbers, URLs, service descriptions and location details. Including unnecessary information is not permitted and could result in suspension. A plain trading name belongs there, and a string of services, hours and sales words does not.
Address. If you do not serve customers at your business address, remove the address from your profile. If you work from home, this also keeps your home out of search results. A hybrid business that serves customers at its address and also travels can show the address, set hours and add a service area.
Service areas. Go to Edit profile, then Location, then the service area section.
- You can set up to 20 service areas.
- The area should not extend more than about two hours of driving time from your business.
- You cannot define an area as a radius. Use cities, postal codes or other area types, and be as specific as you can.
- Approved edits can take up to 48 hours to appear.
Choose the areas where your routes pay. The site's guide to route density in carpet cleaning explains why a long drive for a small upholstery ticket eats the margin, and rural route costs show the same logic with longer distances. Do not list towns you will turn down.
Step 3: Categories, hours, phone and website
Categories. Google says to use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business, and to choose categories that complete the statement "This business is a". Do not use categories to describe services you offer. If you do both carpet and upholstery work, pick the category that best describes the core business, then list the other work in the services section.
Hours. Provide your regular customer-facing hours. Google says businesses that operate only by appointment should not list hours, so if you do not take walk-ins, check how your own profile handles this. Use special hours for holidays.
Phone and website. Provide a phone number or website that represents your location, preferably a local number you control. Do not use premium numbers, or numbers and URLs that redirect elsewhere.
Description. The business description cannot contain links, promotions, prices or sales offers. Say what you clean and where, in plain language.
Keep the same business details everywhere you list the company. That is not a ranking trick; it follows from Google's own rule that your name should match the one on your website and paperwork. A customer who finds two phone numbers will call neither.
Step 4: Photos and videos
Google's media guidelines list the technical limits:
- PhotosJPG or PNG, 10 KB to 5 MB, recommended 720 by 720 pixels and minimum 250 by 250 pixels.
- Videosup to 30 seconds and 75 MB, at 720p or higher.
- Photos should be in focus and well lit, with no significant alterations or excessive use of filters.
Add a logo and a cover photo, and add photos of your work. Before-and-after photos of a cleaned sofa or carpet are the natural fit, but get the customer's permission. Google's page says new media can take 24 to 48 hours to go live. What you show online should match the quality checks you use on site.
Step 5: Reviews, done by the rules
Reviews feed prominence, so Google's page says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. But the way you get them has rules.
- Ask every customer.Google lets you share a review link or QR code. Put it on the invoice, the follow-up text and a card left with the customer.
- Never offer incentives.Google's help page treats offering free or discounted goods or services in exchange for reviews as fake or misleading content. The same applies to incentives to change or remove a negative review.
- Do not filter who you ask.The Google page does not address review gating directly. The FTC's rule bars conditioning compensation or incentives on a review expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative, and bars misrepresenting displayed reviews as representing all or most reviews when negative ones were suppressed.
- Reply to every review.Google's guidance is to keep replies professional, polite and short, to make them specific, to avoid promotions or deals, and to move complex issues to phone or email. Acknowledge mistakes and be clear about what you can and cannot do.
- Flag, do not threaten.If a review breaks Google's policies, flag it. The FTC rule bars unfounded legal threats, intimidation or certain false public accusations to remove negative reviews.
- No insiders without disclosure.Reviews from company insiders must clearly disclose the material connection. Do not ask staff or their relatives to write reviews.
The FTC announced its final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials in August 2024. It covers reviews from people who do not exist or had no real experience, and it allows the agency to seek civil penalties against knowing violators. It is US federal law, so owners elsewhere should check their own consumer protection regulator.
Step 6: A monthly routine
- Check that hours, phone and service areas are still correct.
- Add new job photos.
- Reply to every new review within a few days.
- Review which towns produce booked jobs, and adjust service areas.
- Record calls and bookings from the profile in your monthly KPIs.
