It is well known that having a robust Google Business Profile will positively impact rankings. The idea that any aspect that can be filled in, should be filled in, remains true. However, one aspect of profiles that has seen an uncharacteristically high change to how it affects rankings is Google Services. In a study conducted this past month, it was found that the weight Google’s algorithm gives to services listed on a Google Business Profile is disproportionately high. This is especially true in 2023 compared to how it affected rankings in years prior.
In August of 2019, Google started to suggest pre-defined services for any business profile that wished to add them to their listing. These were the first signs of encouragement Google developed to have more businesses include this information on their profiles. In attempts to push services even farther, those that include that information on their listing in 2023 receive a significant improvement on their rankings compared to businesses that do not.
This rankings increase applies both to explicit and implicit keywords used in services, meaning searches for terms such as “Piano Instructor” will pull up that service as well as related terms like “Music School”. Exact matches will see far greater ranking increases than tangential terms however.
Every business owner is encouraged to add services to their listings whenever possible. Simply having services, adding more services, even custom services that are not given to you in a pre-defined list, will impact local rankings. It is a dramatic effect and one that has been shown to take hold in as little as 24 hours after the services have been entered.