Frustrated with Google Business for my growing electrical biz

I'm helping my brother-in-law scale up his electrical outfit and we're hitting some roadblocks with Google Business Profile, especially trying to optimize it for leads on new construction wiring jobs. We're in Ohio with a crew of 5 now after starting small a year ago, and gross is pushing 500k through October with about 120k net, mostly from major home builders but dipping into home automation and low voltage stuff like Nest installs. I got corporate management chops but no trade background, while he's all field experience with zero biz side. Google keeps flagging our reviews or some crap, and the algorithm ain't showing us right for 'electrician near me' searches even with solid pics of our Southwire runs and panel upgrades. Saw a thread on r/electricians about this, mixed advice on claiming the profile right, but it's frustrating as hell when we're forking out for ads and still losing jobs to DIY quotes. Anyone got tips on fixing the SEO without paying a ton? We've been in the Chicago area my whole career, wait no, scratch that, Ohio's our turf now and the competition's fierce with all the new builds. Also, someone in Electricians Network FB group mentioned using keywords like 'Ohio residential electrician' but it's not clicking yet.

Man, same boat here, Google Business is a pain for any service biz.

Those algo changes screw over small crews every time, especially when you're quoting panel swaps and EV charger installs.

Don't ignore the basics: verify your NAP consistency across Yelp and Angi too, it feeds into Google.

We hit 750k last year after nailing Google with weekly photo updates of jobs like 200A service upgrades.

FML, spent $2k on a 'Google expert' last quarter and still buried under Home Depot's listings.

Pissed me off too, had a big commercial bid in Cincy slip away cuz we weren't top of search.

Try adding schema markup to your site if you have one, mentions low voltage work specifically.

Haha, Google's like that one picky inspector who nitpicks every romex staple.

Sucks, but yeah, the verification loops are endless.

SharkBite for plumbing maybe, but for electrical leads? Fight me if you think paid ads are the only way.

This crap with Google verification almost cost me a whole subdivision contract last summer.

Never skip checking your category tags, wrong one and you're invisible for 'master electrician' searches.

Frustrated as hell, yeah, dealing with the same review suppression on service calls.