Why Isn't My Business Showing on Google Maps?

If you go to your customers, hide your address and show a service area instead. Google's own example is a plumber who runs the business from home, who should clear the address from the profile (Google Business Profile Help: guidelines for representing your business).

Google's rules for this:

• One profile for your business, with a service area.
• The whole area should not go further than about 2 hours' drive from where you are based, though Google says larger areas may suit some businesses.
• A virtual office does not count unless it is staffed during business hours.

Google says local results depend on three things (Google Business Profile Help: tips to improve your local ranking on Google): relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching), and prominence (how well-known your business is). So check these first:

• Is your profile verified?
• Is your category right, and are your services filled in?
• Are you searching from far away? Your position changes with where the searcher is, so showing first from your own driveway does not mean you show first across town.
• Do you have reviews and a website?

Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

Google says creating a Business Profile is free (Google: Business Profile).

1. 1

   Go to business.google.com/add

   This is Google's page for adding a business.

2. 2

   Click Add your business to Google

   Enter your business details.

3. 3

   Verify it

   Choose a verification option and complete it.

If your business is already listed, search for it in Google Maps and select Claim this business, then Manage now. Google Business Profile Help: add or claim your profile has the full steps.

Go back to your profile and see which other options Google offers you. Google chooses which methods you can use, and you cannot change them. They include a code by phone or text, an email, a live video call, a video recording, or a postcard mailed to your address. Google says it can take up to five business days to review a verification, and occasionally longer (Google Business Profile Help: verify your business on Google).

Search for site: followed by your domain, like site:yourbusiness.com.au. If pages come up, Google knows your website, and the work is about ranking. If nothing comes up, your website may be new, since Google says it can take a few weeks to notice a new site (Google Search Central: get on Google). Then add it to Google Search Console, Google's free tool for website owners.

A Google listing can bring calls, and it is free, so every local business should have one. It runs on Google's terms, it cannot hold a page for each service and suburb you work in, and it cannot give you an email address on your business name. A website does those jobs, and your listing gets somewhere to send people. If your phone is full from Maps, a listing may be enough for now. Is a website worth it? goes through that choice.