How to Keep Your Phone Ringing: Mastering Inbound Leads with Google My Business

Ever wonder why some home-service businesses have phones ringing off the hook, while others struggle to get a call? The answer is closer—and simpler—than you might think.

Inbound marketing is all about attracting customers directly to you, rather than chasing after them. It’s about making your business visible and irresistible at the exact moment a customer is searching for your services.

In this article, we’ll dive deep into exactly how you can leverage what’s already working—especially the power of Google My Business—to ensure your phone keeps ringing with quality leads.

To understand how to get there, it helps to first look at the marketing funnel. Think of it like a map of the customer's journey. The key to more inbound leads is usually hidden in what has already worked. Find where your past leads came from, figure out what triggered them to reach out, and double down on that.

For most home-service businesses, one platform stands out far above the rest: Google My Business. It consistently delivers the highest-quality leads, defined as: people who are already searching for what you offer, ready to book, and often less price-sensitive. Even though Google doesn’t publish its ranking algorithm, the rules don’t change wildly from month to month. That consistency means agencies with years of experience can deliver results that apply immediately to your business.

Google’s core motivation is to make money—40% of its annual revenue comes from Google Ads. To protect that cash flow, Google needs to make the advertising environment work for as many businesses as possible. That means offering a stable, fair, and predictable system. And that same system governs how local businesses are ranked in Google search results. So if you can learn how to play by Google’s rules, you can win.

Optimizing your Google Business Profile comes down to two main categories: what you control directly (on-page), and what others contribute (off-page).

On-page optimization includes things like how often you update your profile, whether it’s fully filled out, and how well your business description and posts use keywords that match what customers are searching for. Off-page factors are things like reviews and backlinks—how people talk about your business online.

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Reviews are by far the most powerful factor. They build trust with potential customers and send strong signals to Google. You shouldn’t wait until a job is finished to ask for a review. You can (and should) ask at multiple points—when someone books, gets a quote, or interacts with your team. Multiple customer family members can leave separate reviews for the same job, as long as they share their own experiences. Incentives work, too, driving action from both your customers and your team. Just remember: you’ll realistically only get reviews on about 40–60% of jobs, so plan accordingly.

Posting regularly also helps. Think of every job site as a piece of content. If your team completed a whole-house repipe, post about it. If you installed a tankless water heater, write that up. These posts not only show customers what you do, they train Google to understand exactly what services you offer. The more precise you are, the better you’ll rank for those high-value keywords.

Speaking of keywords, they’re the glue that connects what your business does to what people are searching for. If you’re not using the terms people type into Google, you’re missing out. Your posts, your business description, and even the photo captions you use—those are all opportunities to tell Google who you are and what you do best.

Here’s a quick example: if your business is consistently posting about tankless water heater installations, and your competitor is only sharing generic plumbing tips or seasonal maintenance reminders, then when a homeowner searches for 'tankless water heater installation near me,' Google is far more likely to show your business. Why? Because your content clearly signals that you specialize in that service. Google wants to serve the most relevant, trustworthy results—and your keywords tell them exactly who should be shown.

Getting more inbound leads isn’t about luck—it’s about stacking the deck in your favor. A strong Google Business Profile, with regular updates, consistent reviews, and sharp keyword use, puts your business in the spotlight when it matters most.

You can follow these steps yourself. Or, you can hire us to handle them for you—and even automate the entire process using the customer data already in your CRM. That means less work, more visibility, and more calls from the kind of customers you actually want.

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