Key takeaways
- Start with the profile: the category, the name on the truck door, hidden address and honest hours decide most repair calls.
- Build one page per line of work (springs, openers, off-track, new doors), because each is a different search from a different customer.
- Tie every call to a source and a booked job in your field software, or you cannot tell which fix worked.
- Do the hours and after-hours check before the first freeze, and the new-door check before spring projects start.
This local SEO checklist for a garage door company has 15 items in four groups: Google profile, website, reviews and tracking. Every item is written for spring, opener and new-door work, and most take under an hour. Work through it in order. The profile items move repair calls fastest, and the tracking items tell you whether the rest paid off.
The checklist
- Profile: start from Garage door supplier. Make it the primary category, then add a repair or installation category only if it appears in Google's list and matches work you do every week (Google's category help).
- Profile: use the name on the truck door. The profile name should match your vans, invoices and license exactly. "24/7 Garage Door Repair" added to the end is a keyword, not a name, and in this category it invites a suspension (Google's guidelines).
- Profile: hide the street address and list your areas. You go to the door, so you are a service-area business. List the towns or ZIP codes your vans reach in a reasonable drive. If you also run a staffed showroom where buyers pick door styles, Google's hybrid setup may fit (service-area rules).
- Profile: make the hours tell the truth. Show after-hours or weekend coverage only if a person answers those calls. A homeowner with a door stuck open at 9 p.m. who reaches voicemail calls the next listing.
- Profile: list every service. Spring replacement, cable and roller replacement, off-track repair, opener repair, opener installation, new door installation, and commercial doors if you do them.
- Profile: add photos from this month. A lettered van in a driveway, a tech at the torsion bar, a finished insulated door with new trim. Real work, not catalog shots.
- Website: one page per line of work. Springs, openers, off-track and cables, new doors. A single "Services" page cannot rank for all of those searches.
- Website: a tap-to-call button that stays with the visitor on every page. On a phone, the number should be the first thing a stranded homeowner can press, and it should match the profile.
- Website: area pages for towns you actually reach. Pull the list from your job history, not a map radius. Each page needs real detail from work you have done there.
- Website: explain how a repair visit works. What a spring job includes, whether you inspect cables and rollers, whether there is a trip charge, and how options are presented. Customers who have read about bait-and-switch spring jobs look for this.
- Website: a new-door gallery with real installs. Upgrade buyers compare styles, colors and windows before they ask for an estimate. Show the doors you have hung, not the brochure.
- Reviews: one request after every closed job. Send it by text from your field software while the tech is still on site, to every customer, not only the ones who seemed pleased (Google's review tips).
- Reviews: reply to every review within a few days, including the one star about price. The next caller reads your reply.
- Listings: match Bing, Apple and the main directories. Same name, phone and service area everywhere, with old numbers and old business names removed.
- Tracking: tag each call with its source and outcome. Use a tracking number on the profile and mark each call booked or not booked in Housecall Pro, Jobber or ServiceTitan.
The local SEO checklist at a glance
Google profile
- Primary category matches your main service
- Service area set, address hidden
- Services and photos filled in
Website
- A page for each main service
- Tappable phone number on every page
- Fast on a phone
Reviews
- Requested from every customer
- Every review answered
Listings
- Same name and phone everywhere
- Duplicates removed
What to fix first
Fix whatever is costing you calls right now, which is usually the profile before the website.
| If this is true | Fix first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Keywords in the profile name, or two profiles for one shop | Items 2 and 3 | Garage door listings get extra scrutiny, and a suspension stops every Maps call at once |
| After-hours calls go to voicemail | Item 4, and the phone behind it | A broken spring does not wait for morning, and the caller does not leave a message |
| You show up near the shop and nowhere else | Items 3, 5 and 9 | Relevance has to be proved for each town you want work from |
| Nobody can say where last month's calls came from | Item 15 | Without it you cannot tell which fix paid off |
Spread the profile items over the week rather than doing them in one sitting. A listing whose name, category and hours all change in an hour looks like a takeover, and in this category that can send it back to Google for review. If you want a fuller picture before you start, the SEO audit guide walks through a one-hour self-check.
How often to review
Tie the review rhythm to the two seasons that bring most of your calls.
Every week : Add a few job photos, answer new reviews, and check that the profile phone still rings your dispatcher.
Every month : Search your main services from three or four towns you serve, and note whether you appear. Check the profile for edits made by Google or the public.
Before the first freeze : Confirm holiday and after-hours settings, who covers the phone overnight, and that the spring repair page loads fast on a phone.
Before spring home-improvement season : Refresh the new-door gallery, add any new styles you carry, and put financing details on the page if you offer them.
Every quarter : Run the whole list again, and add an area page for any town where your job history shows steady work.
Categories deserve a closer look than most owners give them. The best categories guide covers which ones fit a door company.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We can work through this checklist for you as a dated project. That covers the profile fixes and the service and area pages, plus the review routine and tracking set up in your field software. Every account stays in your name, and we report booked service calls rather than rankings. Book a growth consultation and we will run the list against your business and tell you which five items to fix first.
Sources
- Manage your business category, Google Business Profile Help
- Manage your service areas for service-area & hybrid businesses, Google Business Profile Help
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help
- Tips to get more reviews, Google Business Profile Help