A one-hour checklist: post before-and-after photos with the town name on them

By Steven Von · 2026-10-24 · 4 min read

Your best marketing is on your crew's phones. This one-hour checklist turns before-and-after job photos into Google posts and site content, with towns named.

Your crew takes before and after photos on almost every job. A garage stacked to the rafters, then bare concrete. A backyard full of old fencing, then grass. Those photos sit in a group text or a camera roll and never get seen again.

They are some of the best marketing you have. A homeowner deciding between three haulers wants proof you actually show up and clear the space. Here is a checklist to get a month of that proof online in about an hour.

Before you start (5 minutes)

Grab your phone and a coffee. Open three things:

• Your Google Business Profile on the phone app.
• Your photos app, filtered to the last 30 to 60 days.
• A notes app to jot down the town for each job.

If your crew sends photos to a shared thread, scroll that instead.

Step 1: pick eight pairs (15 minutes)

Scroll and pick eight before-and-after pairs. Look for:

• Clear contrast. A full garage to an empty one beats a half-full pickup bed.
• Different job types. A garage cleanout, an estate cleanout, a shed teardown, a hot tub removal, a construction debris pile, a single couch. Variety shows range.
• No faces, no house numbers, no license plates. Crop them out or skip the photo.

Write down the town for each one in your notes app. If you do not remember, check your invoice or calendar.

Step 2: make each pair one image (10 minutes)

A side-by-side image works better than two separate photos, because people see the change in one glance. Most phones have a free collage tool, or use any simple layout app. Put "Before" on the left and "After" on the right.

Do not add your logo in giant letters or a phone number in the image. Keep it clean. The caption carries the details.

Step 3: upload to your Google profile (10 minutes)

Upload all eight images to the Photos section of your profile. Then create the first Google post with one of them.

Each post needs:

1. The job and the town. "Garage cleanout in Maple Grove. Two loads, done in three hours."
2. One useful detail. "We donated the working tools and recycled the metal shelving."
3. A clear next step. Use the "Call" or "Get quote" button.

Save the other seven as drafts or put them on your calendar, one a week. That is two months of posts done today.

The Google Business Profile guide covers which post types and photo categories matter most.

Step 4: add them to your website (10 minutes)

If your site has a gallery or a "recent jobs" page, add the same eight images with the same captions. If it has town or service area pages, put each image on the matching town page.

That is the part most haulers skip. A town page with a real job from that town is far more convincing than a page that just lists a town name. It also gives Google and AI search tools something concrete to read. The website essentials guide has the full list of what a junk removal site should show.

Step 5: send two to past customers (5 minutes)

Pick the two best results. Text them to the customers whose jobs they were.

"Hi Linda, here is your garage before and after. Thanks again for choosing us. If you have a minute, a Google review helps us a lot: [link]."

People love seeing their own before and after. It reminds them how good it felt. That is the best moment to ask for a review. For more ask scripts, see the reviews guide.

Step 6: set a weekly habit (5 minutes)

Make one rule for the crew: every job gets a before and an after photo from the same spot, sent to one shared thread with the town name. That is it.

Then put a 15-minute block on your own calendar each Friday to pick the best pair and post it. Once a week is plenty.

Why this matters in this trade

Junk removal is more competitive on Google than most home services. In our data on 5,171 junk removal listings, the median business has 44 reviews and 32.2% have 100 or more. Almost everyone has a photo on their profile: 97.8% do. So photos alone do not make you stand out. Fresh, specific photos with a town and a story do.

The website gap is real here too. Haulers with a website carry a median of 54 reviews against 10 for those without one. See where your state sits in the benchmark report.

The checklist, short form

• Pick eight before-and-after pairs from the last two months.
• Turn each into one side-by-side image. Note the town.
• Upload all eight to your Google profile. Post one now, schedule seven.
• Add them to your site, on matching town pages if you have them.
• Text two of them to the customers and ask for a review.
• Set the crew rule and a Friday posting block.

If you want help keeping posts and review asks going every week, there is a free 14-day trial of any service, no card needed. Text or call (385) 378-6189.

Steven Von, Editor
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, junk removal and hauling companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor