I help local businesses fix their Google presence as a side thing, so I see a lot of plumber profiles. The number of guys losing jobs to competitors with worse work.
Every plumber profile I look at has some version of these problems:
Wrong or missing service area. If you haven't set your service radius in GMB, Google doesn't know which neighborhoods to show you in. Your competitor who serves the same zip codes but has his area configured properly beats you every time even if he has fewer reviews.
"Plumber" as your only category. There are sub-categories like "Emergency Plumber," "Drainage Service," and "Water Heater Repair." Each one you're missing is a search you're invisible for. Most profiles I look at have one category. The ones ranking well have four or five.
No photos of actual work. Before/afters of pipe replacements, drain jobs, water heater installs, people about to spend $800 on an emergency call want to see you've done it before. A profile with zero photos looks like a guy with a pickup and no experience.
Ignoring the Q&A section. Nobody uses it, which means Google sometimes auto-populates answers using AI. Those answers are often wrong. You can post and answer your own questions "Do you offer emergency call-outs?" "What areas do you serve?" and it feeds directly into how Google describes you in search.
Not asking for reviews at the right moment. The best time is right when you finish a job and the customer is relieved and happy. Not a week later in an email they'll ignore. A simple "would really appreciate a Google review, here's the link" on the spot converts way higher than anything automated.