Google Maps
“Why don’t I show up on Google Maps?”
Google says it ranks local results on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. You can't move your shop closer to every customer, but most contractors who are invisible on the map are losing on the other two, and both are fixable.
Relevance: does Google know what you do?
Relevance is how well your profile matches what someone searched. If your primary category is “General contractor” and they searched “roof repair,” you start behind the roofer next door whose category is “Roofing contractor.”
- Pick the primary category for the work you most want, then add secondary ones for the rest.
- List the services you actually do, in the words customers use.
- Set a service area that matches where you really work, not the whole state.
- Link the profile to a website that says the same things, town by town where you actually work.
Distance: the part nobody controls
Google weighs how far your business is from the person searching, or from the town they typed. That is why you show up at your kitchen table and not twenty miles away. No one can change that, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. What you can do is make sure you win where you are close, and let reviews and a strong website carry you further out.
Prominence: how well known you are
Prominence is Google’s word for reputation: how many reviews you have and how good they are, and how often your business shows up across the web. This is where most good contractors fall short, because reviews only come from asking.
When Your Vision Roofing started asking every customer automatically, about one in three of those requests became a five-star review, and every one of those reviews got a reply. How the asking works.
A 10-minute self-check
Search for your own trade and town on your phone, then check:
- Is your profile verified, and are the name, phone and hours right?
- Is the primary category the work you most want?
- Do you have more recent reviews than the three businesses above you, and have you replied to them?
- Are there photos of real jobs from this year?
- Does your website load on a phone, show the same phone number, and name the towns you serve?
What we don’t do
We don’t guarantee rankings, buy reviews, stuff your business name with keywords, or create fake locations. Those are the things that get profiles suspended. We fix the profile, work it every month, and ask every customer for a review.
Questions owners ask
Can you guarantee I’ll rank in the top three?
No, and nobody honestly can. Google’s own help page says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Google decides it, and distance from the searcher is part of it, which nobody controls. What we can do is fix everything on your side of the ledger and keep it worked every month.
I work out of my house. Do I have to show my address?
No. A service-area business can hide its street address and list the towns it serves instead. Google’s own guidelines say to do exactly that if customers don’t come to you.
How long does it take to show up more?
Fixing categories, service areas and a broken or unverified profile takes effect once Google re-reads the profile. Prominence, which comes from reviews and how well known you are, builds over months. Be suspicious of anyone who promises results in days.
Does posting on my Google profile help?
Posts and photos of real jobs keep the profile current and give customers something to look at. We draft posts from the jobs you actually finished, and nothing publishes without your approval.
I have a profile but it says unverified or suspended. Now what?
That is the first thing to fix, before anything else. Verification is done with Google directly, and a suspension goes through Google’s reinstatement form. We walk owners through both.
Where to go from here
Related
Talk to the person who builds it.
Call or text (984) 646-5210, or send the form. Fifteen minutes, no pitch deck.
Where these numbers come from
- Ranking factors: Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google” (support.google.com/business/answer/7091), which names relevance, distance and prominence and says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. Address: Google's “Guidelines for representing your business on Google” (support.google.com/business/answer/3038177): a service-area business should hide its address.