Why Your Business Isn't Showing Up on Google Maps

You're sitting in the van between jobs, and out of curiosity you type "AC repair near me" into your phone. Three companies come up on the map. One of them has been in business about a year.

You've been at this for fifteen years, and you're not on the list.

It's nearly always a setup problem. Here are the seven usual causes, in the order we'd check them.

First, find out which problem you have

Open Google Maps and search your exact business name and your city. You'll see one of three things:

• Nothing. You don't have a profile, or it's been taken down. Go to causes 1 and 2.
• Your business, with a "Claim this business" link. A profile exists but nobody owns it. That's cause 1.
• Your business, looking normal. You're on the map. The trouble is where you land when someone searches your trade instead of your name. Skip to cause 3.

1. Your profile was never claimed or verified

Somebody set up the profile years ago and nobody finished the job.

Google says that when you add and verify your Business Profile, customers can find your business on Search and Maps.¹ If a profile already exists and it's unverified, you can claim it right from Google Maps.¹

Google picks how you verify, and you can't change it. It might be a phone call or text, an email, a video or a postcard in the mail.² A few things worth knowing:

• Google says its review takes up to 5 business days after you finish the steps.²
• If you get a postcard, most codes arrive within 14 days.²
• While you wait for a postcard, don't edit your name, address or category. Google says the code won't work if you do.²

2. Your profile is suspended

If you used to show up and then vanished overnight, look here.

Google says it may suspend or disable profiles that don't follow its guidelines, and when a profile is removed, the public can't get to it.³ Sign in and open Google's Business Profile appeals tool. It shows the restricted profile, the reason and a link to the policy it broke.³

The fix is an appeal. Before you send one, read the guidelines and correct whatever broke them. Google suggests backing the appeal with proof like a business license, a business registration or a utility bill, with the name and address matching your profile.³

Don't build a second profile. Google says not to create a new one for the same business while the appeal is under review.³

3. The person searching is too far away

This is the one nobody likes hearing.

Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Distance means how far each business is from the customer who's searching.⁴

So if your shop is on the north side and someone searches from a kitchen on the south side, the south-side plumbers have a head start. That's also why you look fine when you search from your own driveway. You're standing on top of yourself.

You can't move your shop. You can work on the other two.

4. Google can't tell what you do

Relevance is how well your profile matches what someone typed in.⁴ If your category says "Contractor" and the customer searched "water heater repair," that's a weak match.

Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up, and that if your info isn't accurate, your profile might not appear for relevant searches in your area.⁴

Check these tonight:

• Your main category. Pick the one that names your trade. Google says to use the fewest categories it takes to describe your core business.⁵
• Your services. List the actual jobs: drain cleaning, panel upgrades, roof repair.
• Your hours and phone number.

5. Your address or service area is set up wrong

Trades get tripped up here more than anyone, because you go to the customer.

Google's rules for a business like yours:

• If you don't serve customers at your address, hide the address and list a service area instead.⁵
• P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes aren't acceptable. A rented mailing address where you don't actually work, a "virtual office," isn't eligible for a profile at all.⁵
• You can list up to 20 service areas by city or zip code. You can't draw a radius.⁶
• The whole area shouldn't stretch more than about 2 hours of driving from where you're based.⁶

One caution. Adding a town tells customers you'll drive there. Google doesn't say it will make you show up there, and distance still counts.

6. There are two of you

An old profile from your last address. One an office manager set up in 2019 under her own email.

Google says there should be only one profile per business, because more than one can cause problems with how your information shows on Maps and Search.⁵ Search your name, your phone number and your old addresses, and deal with any extra one you find.

7. You're there, just not near the top

If you got "looking normal" on the first test and you've checked everything above, what's left is prominence, which is Google's word for how well known you are. Google says it's based on things like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help.⁴

This is slow work, and nobody can promise you a spot, including anyone who offers to sell you one. Google itself says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.⁴ What you can do:

• Ask every happy customer for a review. Here's how to get more Google reviews without being pushy.
• Keep the profile alive with real job photos. See what to post on your Google Business Profile.
• Have a website that says what you do and where. We covered why in do I need a website if I get all my work from word of mouth?

The bottom line

When a business isn't on the map, it's usually an unclaimed profile, a wrong category, a bad address or a competitor who's simply closer.

Search your name and city tonight and work down the list. The first two causes take minutes to spot, and they're the ones that keep you off the map completely.