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The photo of your work van says more than the one of your front door

You'll know what photos to upload and what to write in your profile's description without anything pointing to where you live.

By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

You open your listing to add photos, and your camera roll doesn't help. You've got the van parked on your street, your front door right behind it. You've got the kitchen table where you write up quotes at night. You've got the living room where you stack boxes of materials. None of it works as is.

The question isn't whether to add photos: without photos, your listing loses before it even starts, people choose before reading a single line. The question is which photos you add, and what you write next to them, so nothing gives away that behind this business is a home with a doorbell and a mailbox.

Which photo counts as work, and which counts as home

The filter is simple: a photo counts if it could have been taken on any customer's street, not on yours. Your branded van parked in front of a job site works. The same van parked in front of your house, with your address visible in the shot, doesn't.

Tools on a neutral surface, a workbench, or a tarp work. A finished job at a customer's home works, with their okay to use the photo. You, working with your back turned or in profile, work too. No room in a house works, even if you tidied it up before the photo: a kitchen reads as a home kitchen even without the fridge in frame.

Grabbing stock photos off the internet won't work either. Google wants your listing photos to show the real thing, and a generic white van from a catalog that isn't yours doesn't show your business: it tells the person looking at it nothing about you. A few real photos beat a bunch of borrowed ones.

You don't need a professional camera or a photographer either. Your phone works fine, with daylight and no flash, aimed at what you're working on, not what's around it. Ten minutes and four well-thought-out photos count for more than twenty snapped in a rush while you pack up the van at the end of the day.

The cover photo: the one you should care about most

Of all the photos you upload, the one you pick as the cover is the one you want people to see first, so it's the one that deserves the most care. Don't use your logo or a sign with text there. Use the image that best shows what you do, usually the lettered van or a finished job. Keep in mind the final call isn't yours: Google notes that picking a cover photo doesn't guarantee it'll show first, and if it's low quality, a different one may show instead, even one uploaded by a customer. You can change it anytime.

The text gives away what the photo doesn't

The business description is where most people give themselves away without meaning to. They write "serving [their town] and nearby areas" when that town is exactly where they live, or mention "fifteen years in the neighborhood" without realizing that points to a fixed address, not a service area. Phrases like "come see us" or "our shop on Main Street" give it away too: they're written for a business with a storefront, not one that comes to the customer's door.

The rule is the same one you use to pick the towns your listing covers: describe the area, never the exact spot. Say what you do and where you do it, not where you head out from in the morning.

With your photos and description clear of clues, your listing no longer gives away where you live. One last check remains: search your own phone number on Google and make sure no old directory listing or stray set of hours out there contradicts the listing you just finished setting up.

The costly mistake