For a lot of tradies, Google is where new customers find the number. Someone searches your trade and their suburb on their phone, your listing comes up, and they tap Call. That call goes to whatever number your Google Business Profile shows.
Missed-call text-back works on one mobile: the one you keyed the divert codes into. If your Google listing shows a different number, such as the office landline, the mobile you had three years ago, or a call-tracking number a marketing company set up, those callers never ring that mobile. Text-back can't catch a call that never arrives, so they get voicemail, a ring-out, or a number nobody answers.
This guide covers the calls side of your Google listing only: the phone number, your hours, the call button, your categories and review replies. It is not a guide to getting found on Google. For the full setup of the profile itself, see how to set up your Google Business Profile.
Every step below links Google's own help page. Google changes these menus from time to time, so if a button has moved, the linked page has the current wording.
Step 1: check which phone actually rings
Before you change anything, find out. On your phone, search Google for your business name, open your listing and look at the number. Then ring it from another phone, or ask someone to tap Call on your listing, and let it ring out. Don't pick up.
- Your mobile rang and the text arrived: you're done with the number. Skip to step 3.
- Your mobile rang but no text came: the divert isn't set, or voicemail won it. Work through the set-up guide: voicemail off first, then a few standard codes, then the test call.
- A different phone rang, or nothing did: the listing shows the wrong number for text-back. Step 2 fixes it.
If the listing shows an office landline that forwards to your mobile, the test call is the only way to know whether a missed call still gets a text. Some forwarding setups hand over cleanly and some don't, so test it rather than assume.
Step 2: change the number on your listing
Google's Edit your Business Profile page has the steps. You need to be signed in to the Google Account that manages the profile.
- On Google Search, go to your Business Profile (searching your business name while signed in brings it up).
- Select Edit profile.
- Change the primary phone number to the mobile you diverted.
- Select Save.
In the Google Maps app it is the same idea: tap Business at the bottom right, then Edit profile, make the change and tap Save.
Three things worth knowing from Google's pages:
- You can have up to 3 numbers: the primary one plus up to 2 more. They can be mobile or landline, not fax. Put the diverted mobile in as the primary number, then run the test call again to check it is the one that rings.
- Edits are checked before they go live. Google's page on what happens to your edits says it usually takes up to 10 minutes, but sometimes up to 30 days. Until then the change shows as Pending.
- Make sure the number isn't hidden. Google lets you hide your phone number (More, Business Profile settings, Advanced settings, then "Don't show" under Phone number). If that is on, there is no number to call. Check it is off.
Google's guidelines for representing your business say the number must be under your direct control and should connect to your business, a local number rather than a central call centre where possible. A mobile you answer yourself fits that.
The number on Google is not the only one out there. If your website, your van or your invoices still carry the old landline, the same problem applies to those callers. The fix is the same: the number people ring should be the mobile you diverted.
Step 3: set your hours so after-hours callers aren't surprised
Your hours show on your listing, and people check them before they ring. Set the hours you actually take calls. Google's Edit your business hours page has the steps:
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Hours.
- Next to "Hours", select the edit icon, then Open with main hours.
- Tick each day you work and set the times with the dropdowns.
- Select Save.
If you take a lunch break or split shifts, Google lets you add two sets of hours for the same day with Add hours. For public holidays or a week off, use Special hours on the same screen rather than changing your normal week.
Why it matters for calls: a caller who sees "Closed, opens 7am" and rings at 9pm expects to get you tomorrow. When they get a text back from you a few seconds after the call, that reads as a business that has its act together. A call you don't answer outside your hours still gets the same text, as long as your divert is on.
Step 4: the call button on mobile
On a phone, your listing shows a Call button. That is the shortest path from a search to your mobile ringing, and it only works if a number is on the listing and not hidden (step 2).
To see how many people use it, open your profile's performance figures. Google's performance and insights page describes the Calls figure as "the number of times a customer clicked on the call button on your Business Profile". Performance data is only available for verified profiles.
Two limits on that number, so you read it right:
- It counts taps on the button, not answered calls. Someone who copies your number and dials it themselves isn't counted.
- It doesn't tell you how many of those calls you missed. Your Text-Back Inbox does: every missed call sits there, with who rang, when and what they said.
Step 5: categories that match the jobs you want
Your categories tell Google what kind of business you are, which decides which searches your listing can show up for, and so which calls you get. Google's Manage your business category page has the steps:
- Go to your Business Profile and select Edit profile.
- Next to "Business category", select the edit icon.
- In the "Primary category" box, start typing and pick a category from the list.
- To add more, select Add another category.
- Select Save.
Google's own advice, in plain terms:
- Primary category: the most specific one that fits your main work. Google's example is "Nail salon" rather than "Salon"; for a tradie, that might be "Electrician", or something more specific if it is listed and is genuinely your main work.
- Additional categories: a few, for the other kinds of work you do. Not one for every service. Google's test is whether the category completes "This business IS a", not "this business HAS a".
- You can't make up your own. If nothing specific fits, pick the closest general one.
One warning from Google: adding or changing a category can ask you to verify your business again. Do it when you have time to deal with that, not on a busy Monday.
If you only want certain jobs, the category is where that starts. A plumber who doesn't do gas fitting shouldn't list it and then field calls about it.
Step 6: reply to your reviews
People read your reviews before they ring, and your replies sit right under them. Google's Manage customer reviews page has the steps:
- Go to your Business Profile.
- Select Read reviews.
- Next to the review, select Reply.
- Write your reply and select Reply.
What Google says happens next: replies are checked against its content policies, usually within 10 minutes and sometimes up to 30 days. The reply posts under the review as your business, not your personal name, and the reviewer gets a notification.
Keep replies short and specific: thank them, name the job, and that's it. For the bad ones, here is how to reply to a bad Google review, and for getting more of the good ones, the ask that works.
The short version
- Ring your Google number from another phone and let it ring out. Did the text arrive?
- If not, make the diverted mobile your primary number on Google, and check it isn't hidden.
- Set the hours you actually take calls.
- Check your categories describe the jobs you want.
- Reply to your last few reviews.
- Ring it again. A text should arrive within seconds.
If the divert isn't set up yet, the set-up guide walks through it: voicemail off, a few standard codes, one test call.