Say a water heater in a Katy garage has left a damp ring on the floor. It isn't an emergency yet. The homeowner gives it a day, searches "water heater replacement Katy" on her phone and opens two or three companies.
Yours is one of them, or it isn't. This check is for a plumbing company that wants planned jobs like that: water heater replacement, repiping, sewer or main line work, whole-bathroom plumbing.
Emergency calls are a different job, so I've left them out. If you want paid calls and messages, Google lists plumbers among its Local Services Ads categories,[1] and our post on them explains how they work.
Where does a homeowner look before choosing a plumber for a big job?
On more sites than just Google, at least for reviews:
97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, using about six review sites on average; the share using Google for reviews fell from 83% (2025) to 71% (2026).
Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey · (opens in a new tab) · n=1,002 US adults
For a plumbing company, online visibility means being found and then chosen. I can't tell you which sites your buyers use, so ask your last ten big-job customers where they looked first. Our local SEO checklist for home service companies covers what decides who gets found.
How do you check your online visibility the way a buyer sees it?
Search the way she does: six phrases for planned jobs, each with your town on the end, in Google Maps and Search.
Use your phone, signed out or in a private tab. Google says distance counts, measured from the person searching.[2] So run two of the phrases again from the far side of town, or ask a friend there to.
For each phrase, note the first three businesses in Maps that aren't marked Sponsored, who is on page one of Search and whether you're in either. List Sponsored results on their own line.
A recording sheet for a plumbing company in Katy, Texas
- Phrases: water heater replacement Katy, tankless water heater installation Katy, repipe Katy, sewer line replacement Katy, main water line replacement Katy, bathroom remodel plumber Katy.
- One row each for you and the three that keep appearing. Columns: primary category, towns in the service area, services listed, recent job photos, review count, newest review date, owner replies, a website page for each of the six jobs, license shown in plain words, same name, address and phone on three listing sites.
- One rule: fill each cell from the profile or page itself. A blank beats a guess.
Illustrative example
What should you look for in the top three profiles?
Open the Google profile of each top company, then yours, and compare four things.
- Primary category. Compare the category each profile shows. Google says to pick categories as specific as possible, use as few as you can, and not add one for every service.[3][4] Changing yours might ask you to verify again,[4] so do it once, on purpose.
- Service area. Check which towns each profile lists. Google allows up to 20 and names plumbers as an example of a service-area business.[5] Setting your service area has the steps.
- Services. If a profile has a Services tab in the Maps app, open it to see the list.[6] Google's suggestions for plumbers might include "Install faucet" and "Repair toilet," and you can add your own.[6] If your big jobs are missing, add them.
- Photos. Look for recent shots of real jobs.
Mark each column where all three beat you. The 20-minute profile check covers your own name, hours and phone.
What should your website say about each big job?
That you do the job, where you do it and who stands behind it, in plain words on a page of its own.
On your phone, look for the six jobs on your site. Note which have a page and which hide as a line in a list. How to write a service page has the order I'd use.
Name your towns in one plain sentence, not a long list.
If your state or city licenses plumbers, show your license number where a buyer sees it. The FTC says advertisers need evidence for their claims,[8] so say you're insured only if you can send the certificate.
Do listings and links on other sites matter?
A few, yes: free listings you claim yourself, and links that exist for a real reason.
Plumbing citations are listings of your name, address and phone number on other sites. Google says profile information comes from several kinds of sources, including crawled web content and licensed third-party data.[9] Its page doesn't name the sites.
So write down any listing where the name, phone or hours disagree. Which listings matter says which to claim first.
Plumbing backlinks are links from other sites to yours. Google says prominence, how well-known a business is, draws on info like how many websites link to it.[2]
The honest ones come from people who'd mention you anyway, like a supplier or a builder who sends you work. Check whether the maker of the heaters you install lists you. Getting backlinks without buying them has the plan.
Which reviews help, and what rules apply?
I'd look for recent reviews that name the job and get a reply from the owner. In the trades, reviews carry extra weight:
For trades and home services, star ratings and review counts carry more weight than in any other industry, and 36% of trade customers weigh clear pricing or deals (vs 30% overall).
Source: BrightLocal consumer search behavior study · (opens in a new tab)
Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.[2] How to ask for Google reviews has scripts and the rules for asking.
The FTC's reviews rule, in effect since October 21, 2024, covers writing or selling fake reviews.[10] Agencies and reputation management companies can be liable under it too.[10]
On your sheet, count how many of each company's latest ten reviews name a job like yours.
What goes first on the fix list?
What's broken goes first, then what's missing. This order is mine, not Google's.
- What's broken. A wrong phone number or hours, a home address showing on a service-area profile, a second profile, or extras in the business name. Google's guidelines say to hide that address, keep one profile and leave extras out of the name.[3]
- What's missing. A profile service and a website page for each big job where the top three have one and you don't.
- What's slow. Reviews. Ask every customer after every job and reply to every review. It builds over months, so start today.
- What's mismatched. Listings with wrong details, biggest sites first.
- What's optional. Links, only from people who already work with you.
I'd pay for help when the sheet shows gaps nearly everywhere, or when you'd rather spend evenings on estimates than listings. Our local SEO audit checks your profile, listings, reviews and service pages.
The Free AI visibility check is a review by hand of your website and Google profile, with your first fixes, usually within two business days. The Expert Action Plan is $149: the Complete Visibility Report plus a 30-minute consultation.
What isn't worth paying for?
Anything that promises a ranking or buys links or reviews for you.
- A promised Maps spot. Google says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.[2]
- Reviews written or bought for you. The FTC's rule covers writing or selling fake ones, and it says a business that buys reviews it knew or should have known were false could be liable.[10]
- A citation package sold as a ranking boost. It can list your details on other sites, but Google says third parties can't promise or directly influence your ranking through any special means.[11] If you hide your home address, ask whether it will publish that address.
- A backlink package. Google's spam policies list buying links for ranking purposes as link spam.[7] Ask for the list of sites before you pay.
What won't this check show you?
Why a competitor is ahead. Google says it tries to keep ranking details confidential, and its page doesn't say how much reviews or links count.[2] I'd be wary of anyone who says they know.
It also can't show what ChatGPT or Google's AI answers say about your company. That's a separate check: run an AI search audit yourself.
And it shows today only, so date the sheet and run the same six phrases in a quarter. If the three above you have years of reviews and you have a handful, no fix this week closes that gap.
Every Google and FTC page cited here was checked on October 15, 2026. If a screen doesn't match, trust Google's page over mine.