Google Business Profile by Industry

At a glance

What this is: Guides that take one trade at a time and set out what Google's own documentation says for it.
The guides so far: Dentists, Plumbers, Roofers, and HVAC contractors.
What every guide covers: Who gets a profile and how it is named, categories and verification, the profile fields that matter, reviews and content policies, the advertising path where Google offers one, and the audit benchmarks.
Where the facts come from: Google's own pages, linked at the end, and the audit's own benchmarks, read from its scoring code.

Industry guides

Each guide is a single page: the rules, the fields that matter, the policies that bite, the advertising path where Google offers one, and the benchmarks for that trade.

Google Business Profile for Dentists

Covers:: Practitioner and practice profiles, categories, verification, booking links, review and health content rules, Local Services Ads screening, and dental practice benchmarks.
Questions answered:: 14.
Reviewed:: September 12, 2026.

Google Business Profile for Plumbers

Covers:: Service areas and the hidden address, video verification without a shop, the services editor, job types in reviews, Local Services Ads screening for plumbers, and Home Services benchmarks.
Questions answered:: 13.
Reviewed:: September 12, 2026.

Google Business Profile for Roofers

Covers:: Service areas and the hidden address, the roofing contractor category against the generic one, seasonal hours, job-site photos, reviews, Local Services Ads screening for roofers, and Home Services benchmarks.
Questions answered:: 14.
Reviewed:: September 12, 2026.

Google Business Profile for HVAC Contractors

Covers:: Service areas and the hidden address, the category Google's public data returns for the trade, hours around the clock, the name, reviews, Local Services Ads urgent-category screening for HVAC, and Home Services benchmarks.
Questions answered:: 14.
Reviewed:: September 11, 2026.

What every guide covers

Who gets a profile in that trade, and how it is named.
Categories and verification.
The profile fields that matter, with Google's rule for each.
Reviews and the content policies that reach the trade.
The advertising path, where Google offers one.
The audit benchmarks and the performance report.

How Google's rules differ by trade

Google's guidelines for representing a business carry additional guidelines for chains and brands, departments, and individual practitioners, its category page names features that depend on the category, and its content policy names the products and services it restricts. These are the rules that decide which guide applies to you.

Individual practitioners

Google defines an individual practitioner as a public-facing professional, typically with their own customer base, and names doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents. A practitioner may hold a dedicated profile beside the organization's, and it may include a title or degree certification such as Dr., MD, JD, Esq., or CFA. Sales associates or lead generation agents for corporations are not individual practitioners and are not eligible for a profile. The dentists guide sets out the practitioner rules in full.

Service-area businesses

A business that visits or delivers to customers directly but does not serve them at its business address, with cleaning services and plumbers as Google's examples, should hide its address, can set up to 20 service areas, and can only have one profile for the whole area it serves. Businesses whose products or services require a minimum customer age, like alcohol, cannabis, or weapons, are not permitted as service-area businesses without a storefront. The plumbers guide sets out the service-area rules in full.

Category-specific features

Google's category page names three: hotels can show class ratings and list the amenities they offer; restaurants can add links for online orders, reservations, and menus, and add menu items directly; health and beauty businesses can add a booking button and update their list of services. Businesses in certain categories, like service businesses, might have the option to showcase their offerings on the profile.

Regulated products and services

For products and services subject to local regulation, which Google's list says includes alcohol, gambling, tobacco, guns, health and medical devices, regulated pharmaceuticals, adult services, and financial services, uploaded content may not feature calls to action or offers for sale. Google's posts page says a business in a regulated industry can use posts but must not include content about the products.

Retail and hotels

Showing in-store products on a profile is available only for retail businesses in eligible countries or regions, and Google says those products might then show in local search results. Hotels cannot create offer posts or any post that mentions or links to deals, promotions, special offers, or discounts.

Eligibility and its exceptions

A business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, with the exceptions Google names: ATMs, video-rental kiosks, and express mail drop boxes; seasonal businesses such as an ice-skating rink open only in winter, which must display permanent signage year-round; and delivery-only food services, with conditions. Lead generation agents or companies, and brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses, are not eligible.

Review benchmarks by industry

Google publishes no review count target for any industry. The free audit scores review volume against thresholds set per industry group, not one standard for every business. These are the 20 groups and the review count that begins each band: no reviews scores 0 of 100, below the average count 20, the average band 50, the good band 75, and the excellent band 100.

The review counts that begin the average, good, and excellent bands in the GBPcentral audit for each of its industry groups. Source: the GBPcentral audit's industry benchmarks.

The review count that begins each band

Restaurants & Food: average from 20 reviews, good from 100, and excellent from 300. No guide yet.
Medical & Wellness Specialties: average from 10 reviews, good from 40, and excellent from 150. No guide yet.
Healthcare: average from 10 reviews, good from 40, and excellent from 100. No guide yet.
Dental Practices: average from 10 reviews, good from 40, and excellent from 100. Guide: Dentists.
Beauty & Personal Care: average from 15 reviews, good from 60, and excellent from 200. No guide yet.
Fitness & Sports: average from 15 reviews, good from 60, and excellent from 200. No guide yet.
Legal Services: average from 5 reviews, good from 25, and excellent from 75. No guide yet.
Professional Services: average from 5 reviews, good from 25, and excellent from 75. No guide yet.
Home Services: average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150. Guide: Plumbers, Roofers, HVAC contractors.
Retail: average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150. No guide yet.
Hotels & Hospitality: average from 30 reviews, good from 200, and excellent from 500. No guide yet.
Auto Services: average from 15 reviews, good from 60, and excellent from 200. No guide yet.
Entertainment & Attractions: average from 50 reviews, good from 200, and excellent from 500. No guide yet.
Landmarks & Destinations: average from 50 reviews, good from 500, and excellent from 2000. No guide yet.
Parks & Outdoors: average from 30 reviews, good from 200, and excellent from 500. No guide yet.
Education: average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150. No guide yet.
Government & Civic: average from 5 reviews, good from 25, and excellent from 75. No guide yet.
Places of Worship: average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150. No guide yet.
Transit & Transportation: average from 20 reviews, good from 100, and excellent from 500. No guide yet.
Industrial & Commercial: average from 5 reviews, good from 20, and excellent from 50. No guide yet.

The certificate gates

The same thresholds gate the certificates. Gold requires an audit score of 90 or higher, a rating of 4.5 or higher, and at least the review count that begins the group's good band; Platinum requires 95 or higher, 4.7 or higher, and at least the count that begins the excellent band. A listing whose Google type belongs to no named group is scored against the General Business thresholds, average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150, and the report says so beside the review volume score.

Local Services Ads by trade

Google says Local Services Ads are available only for certain service categories, and its getting-started page for the United States lists them. Every Local Services advertiser must have a public, verified Google Business Profile.

The categories on Google's United States list

24 of the categories on Google's list, named as Google prints them. Where a trade on this site has a guide, the category links to it, and that guide's Local Services Ads section sets out the screening Google lists for the category.

Dentist
Orthodontist
Primary care physician
Dermatologist
Chiropractor
Physical therapist
Veterinarian
Plumbers
Roofers
Electricians
HVAC (heating or air conditioning)
Lawyers
Financial planning services
Tax services
Real estate services
Insurance agency (California and Florida only)
Hair Salon
Barber Shop
Massage therapist
Personal trainer
Auto Repair Shop
Pet grooming
Pizza Restaurant
Italian Restaurant

What Google publishes about the program

Screening: Google says the screening process varies by type of service and country and may include license, insurance, and background checks.
The badge: The Google Verified badge is issued once every verification requirement is met and displays on the Local Services Ads profile.
Leads: Leads arrive as phone calls and messages through the ad, and Google says you pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer.
Health care: Google says booking leads and pre-badge ads are not available for health care verticals.

Where the facts come from

Three sources, each named on the guide that uses it.

Google's own documentation

The Business Profile Help Center, the Business Profile developer documentation, and the Local Services Ads Help Center, read directly and quoted where the wording matters. Each page lists every Google page it relies on.

The audit's own benchmarks

The free audit scores a profile against thresholds set for its own trade, not one standard for every business on Google. Each guide publishes the review thresholds and the typical photo range the audit uses for that trade.

What audited profiles show

Where the free audit has scored enough profiles in a trade, the guide reports how those profiles scored, with the number of profiles and the dates they were audited.

Want to see where a profile stands before reading further? Run a free GBP audit on any profile, no signup required, or read the audit checklist for every check it scores.

Frequently asked questions about Google Business Profile by industry

Straight answers on which rules change by trade, who counts as a practitioner or a service-area business, which trades get booking, menu, and product features, Local Services Ads, and the review benchmarks.

Does Google Business Profile have different rules for different industries?

Google publishes one set of guidelines for representing a business, with additional guidelines for chains and brands, departments, and individual practitioners such as doctors, lawyers, and real estate agents. On top of that, Google's category page says special features may be available based on the business category: hotels can show class ratings and list amenities, restaurants can add links for online orders, reservations, and menus, and health and beauty businesses can add a booking button. Service-area businesses follow their own address rules, and products or services subject to local regulation have their own content restrictions. Each guide in this collection sets out which of those rules reach one trade.

Which businesses count as individual practitioners on Google Business Profile?

Google defines an individual practitioner as a public-facing professional, typically with their own customer base, and names doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents as individual practitioners. A practitioner should create their own dedicated Business Profile if they operate in a public-facing role and can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours, and the profile may include a title or degree certification such as Dr., MD, JD, Esq., or CFA. Support staff should not create their own profiles, and Google says sales associates or lead generation agents for corporations are not individual practitioners and are not eligible for a Business Profile.

Which businesses are service-area businesses on Google?

Google defines a service-area business as one that visits or delivers to customers directly but does not serve customers at its business address, and gives cleaning services and plumbers as examples. A service-area business should hide its address, can set up to 20 service areas by city, postal code, or another type of area, and can only have one profile for the whole area it serves. A business that serves customers at its address and also visits them is a hybrid business, which can show its address and set a service area. Businesses whose products or services require a minimum customer age, such as alcohol, cannabis, or weapons, are not permitted as service-area businesses without a storefront.

Which industries can add a booking button on Google Business Profile?

Google's category page names health and beauty businesses as the ones that can add a booking button to their profiles and update their list of services. A business signs up with a provider through Reserve with Google or adds its own booking link, and Google's business link policies require the link to lead to a dedicated landing page for the business, and for a business with several locations to a page for the specific location. Google publishes no list of every category that receives the button beyond that page, so the guides for health and beauty trades cover it and the guides for other trades do not claim it.

Which industries get menu, reservation, and ordering links?

Restaurants. Google's category page says restaurants can add links for online orders, reservations, and menus, and can also add menu items directly. The same page says hotels can show class ratings and list the amenities they offer. Google's local business links page adds that a profile can carry a link to a menu and links to book an appointment, make a reservation, or place a food or shopping order, and that these links are not available through the Business Profile API or a spreadsheet upload.

Which industries have restricted content rules on Google Business Profile?

Google's prohibited and restricted content policy applies extra rules to products and services subject to local regulation, and its list includes, but is not limited to, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, guns, health and medical devices, regulated pharmaceuticals, adult services, and financial services. For those, uploaded content may not feature calls to action or offers for sale, links to a page where they can be bought, contact details for buying them, or promotional deals, coupons, or pricing. Google's posts page says a business in a regulated industry can still use posts but must not include content about the products, and Google's hotel posts policy says hotels cannot create offer posts or any post that mentions or links to deals, promotions, special offers, or discounts.

Which industries can run Local Services Ads?

Google says Local Services Ads are available only for certain service categories, and its getting-started page for the United States lists them. The list carries, among many others, Dentist, Orthodontist, Primary care physician, Chiropractor, Physical therapist, Veterinarian, Plumbers, Roofers, Electricians, HVAC, Lawyers, Financial planning services, Tax services, Real estate services, Hair Salon, Barber Shop, Auto Repair Shop, and restaurant categories such as Pizza Restaurant, with Insurance agency available in California and Florida only. Every Local Services advertiser must have a public, verified Google Business Profile, and Google says screening varies by category and region and may include license, insurance, and background checks.

Do Google review benchmarks differ by industry?

Google publishes no review count target for any industry; its ranking page says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking, and its category page says the categories you select affect local ranking. The GBPcentral audit sets its own thresholds per industry group rather than one standard for every business: it recognizes 20 named groups, from dental practices to hotels, each with the review count that begins its average, good, and excellent bands. The table on this page lists every group and its thresholds, read from the scoring code.

How many reviews does a business in my industry need?

Google publishes no target. In the GBPcentral audit, a profile scores review volume against the thresholds for its industry group: no reviews scores 0 of 100, below the group's first threshold is poor and scores 20, from there to the second is average and scores 50, from the second to the third is good and scores 75, and at or above the third is excellent and scores 100. The same thresholds gate the certificates: Gold requires an audit score of 90 or higher, a rating of 4.5 or higher, and at least the review count that begins the group's good band, and Platinum requires 95 or higher, 4.7 or higher, and at least the count that begins the excellent band. The table on this page gives the numbers for every group.

Which businesses can show in-store products on Google Business Profile?

Retail businesses. Google's local ranking page says showing in-store products on a profile is available only for retail businesses in eligible countries or regions, and that when a retail store does so, its in-store products might show in local search results so customers can find out what is in stock. Google's performance report counts product views only for products sold at the profile's location, not those sold online.

Which businesses are eligible for a Google Business Profile?

Google says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, with named exceptions: ATMs, video-rental kiosks, and express mail drop boxes are permitted with contact information for help, seasonal businesses such as an ice-skating rink open only in winter are eligible if they display permanent signage year-round, and delivery-only food services are permitted with conditions. Google lists rental or for-sale properties, an ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location you do not own or represent, lead generation agents or companies, brands and other online-only businesses, and any business whose address is a P.O. box or mailbox in a remote location as not eligible.

How does the GBPcentral audit decide which industry benchmark applies to a profile?

The audit reads the primary type Google assigns to the listing and scores it against the industry group that type belongs to, so a dentist or dental clinic is measured against the dental practice thresholds and a plumber, electrician, or roofer against the home services thresholds. A listing whose Google type belongs to no named group is scored against the General Business thresholds, average from 10 reviews, good from 50, and excellent from 150, and the report says so beside the review volume score. The audit does not read the categories a business typed into its profile; it reads the type Google publishes for the listing.

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