You type in what you do and the name of your town, and Google shows a map with three businesses on it. None of them are you. For a lot of customers, that little map is the whole search. They tap one of those three and call. If you're not there, you never get the chance.
How Google decides who shows up
Google says it looks at three things:
- Relevance: how well your Google listing matches what someone searched for.
- Distance: how far your business is from the person searching.
- Prominence: how well known your business is, which includes your reviews and how much is said about you around the web.
One more thing Google is very clear about: there's no way to pay for a better spot on the map. So if you get a call promising to put you at the top of Google Maps for a monthly fee, be careful. Google itself says that can't be bought.
The most common reasons you're missing
- There's no listing, or nobody controls it. Sometimes the listing was never set up. Other times it was made years ago by a previous owner or an old web company, and nobody can get into it. We recently met a venue owner whose listing had been set up by the people who ran the place before. It showed no hours and sent customers to an old Facebook page, and nobody could change it.
- The wrong category. If Google thinks you're a “contractor” when people search “roofer,” you won't come up for roofer.
- Half-finished details. No hours, no website, no photos, no description. Google says businesses with complete, accurate information are more likely to show up.
- Few or no reviews. Google says more reviews and good ratings can help. They also help the customer decide once they find you.
- Your details don't match. A different phone number on your website than on Google, or an old address on Facebook, makes it harder for Google to trust which one is right.
Distance matters too, and that part nobody can change. A customer across town may simply see someone closer first. That's normal, and it's why the other four are worth getting right.
Not sure where you stand?
Our free website check looks at your Google stars and whether the phone number on your website matches the one on Google, and tells you in plain words what it finds.
What fixing it looks like
It starts with getting control of the listing and getting it verified. Then it's the right categories, every detail Google asks for, and real photos, all matching what your website says. After that, it's making it easy for happy customers to leave a review.
For most businesses that's a few hours of careful work, not a big project. The careful part matters: Google reviews changes to a listing, and rushing the wrong ones, like the business name or category, can send it back through verification. Better to do it once and do it right.