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Why isn’t my business showing up on Google Maps?
Search for a plumber, a dentist or a lawyer in Oakville, and the first thing you see isn’t a website. It’s a map with three businesses under it, each with a star rating and a phone number. If your business isn’t in that list, a lot of the people looking for exactly what you do will never scroll down to find you.
There’s usually a specific reason, and most of them can be fixed. Before you change anything, though, make sure the problem is what you think it is.
Step one
First, check properly
Search for your business name. If your profile appears when you type the exact name, Google knows you exist. The real problem is ranking for the service, and that’s a different fix from a missing listing.
Search for the service you offer, such as “accountant Oakville” or “roof repair near me”. This is the search that matters, and its results depend heavily on where the searcher is standing.
Check from somewhere else. Google personalises local results by location. You’ll get a different map in your shop on Lakeshore Road than a customer gets in Glen Abbey, and different again in Burlington. Use a private browser window, and if you can, ask someone in another part of town to search too.
Which causes to start with
If you don’t show up even for your exact name, start with causes 1 and 2 below. If you show for your name but not for your service, the rest of the list is where to look.
The ranking factors
How Google decides who appears
Google states that local results are mainly based on three things:
How well your profile matches what was searched.
How far you are from the searcher.
How well known the business is, which includes reviews and links from other websites.
Google is also clear that you can’t pay for a better local ranking. Every cause below comes back to one of those three factors.
Diagnosis
The nine usual causes
The profile isn’t verified
Google says verified businesses are more likely to show in results. If you created a profile and never finished verification, or someone else created one years ago, sign in to Google Business Profile and check its status.
FixA surprising number of businesses have never claimed their listing, and claiming one costs nothing.
The profile is suspended or under review
Google can hold back or suspend profiles that break its guidelines. Common problems include adding keywords to the business name (“Smith Plumbing Oakville Best Plumber”) and listing an address that isn’t a real place of business. Edits can also send a profile back for review.
FixIf your listing disappeared after a change, look for a notice in your dashboard. Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your signage and paperwork.
The primary category is wrong or too broad
Your primary category does more than any other field to tell Google which searches you’re relevant for. “Lawyer” and “Real estate attorney” are different categories, and so are “Contractor” and “Roofing contractor”.
FixChoose the primary category that matches the service you most want to be found for, and use secondary categories for the rest.
The profile is incomplete
Google says complete, accurate profiles are more likely to show. An empty services list leaves Google guessing.
FixFill in hours (including holiday hours), services, a plain description of what you do, attributes and photos.
The searcher is too far away
This one is often misread. A business near Bronte will rarely appear on the map for someone searching from downtown Burlington or Milton, however good the profile is, because closer businesses win on distance.
FixYou can’t fix distance on the map. You can win those searches in the regular results, with a properly written page for each town you serve.
The service area is set up wrong
If customers don’t come to you, Google expects you to hide your address and list the areas you serve. That setting tells customers where you work. It doesn’t make Google rank you as if you were based in every town on the list.
FixSet it accurately, and don’t expect it to beat distance.
Not enough reviews, or only old ones
Google names reviews as part of prominence and encourages owners to reply to them. A business with a handful of reviews from several years ago is up against competitors collecting new ones every month.
FixThe fix isn’t complicated. Ask every happy customer, make it easy with a direct review link, and reply to what comes in, good or bad.
Your details don’t match across the web
If your name, address or phone number differ between your website, your profile and the directories that list you, Google has less reason to trust any of them. A previous address, an old phone number or a duplicate listing from a past move all count.
FixSearch for your old details, correct what you can, and ask Google to remove duplicate profiles.
Your website doesn’t back up the profile
Prominence also comes from what other sites say about you and link to. Your own site matters too. If your website is a single page that mentions your services in one line, Google has little to connect to your profile.
FixA clear page for each service, with your name, address and phone number matching your profile exactly, gives Google that connection.
Two rankings
Map pack and regular results are two different races
The map and the regular results below it are ranked differently. Many businesses work on one and ignore the other.
The map
Leans heavily on your profile, your reviews and how close you are.
The regular results
Lean on your pages, your content and links.
This matters most when you serve several towns. An Oakville business can realistically compete on the map in Oakville. For Burlington, Milton or Mississauga, the regular results are usually the more realistic target, through pages written for each of those places.
Serving more than one town?
Win the map close to home, and win the next town over with a properly written page for it.
Quick self-check
What you can do yourself today
Claim and verify the profile if you haven’t already.
Make sure the business name is exactly your real name.
Check that the primary category matches your main service.
Fill in hours, services, a description and photos.
Send a review link to your last ten happy customers.
Make sure your website’s footer shows the same name, address and phone number as your profile.
None of this costs anything except an afternoon.
Next step
When it’s worth getting help
If you’ve done all of that and you still don’t appear for the searches that matter, the problem is usually a mix of the slower factors: reviews, links, and a website without the pages to back up the profile. Those take steady monthly work.
Realistic timelines
On local SEO accounts, I tell clients to expect measurable movement in 60 to 90 days and meaningful traffic growth in four to six months. Anyone promising the top of the map in a fortnight is guessing.
I’ll look at your Google Business Profile and your website myself and email you back the two or three things holding you back, within one business day. Some of what I find is usually something you can fix yourself, and I’ll tell you which parts. If you’d rather hand the whole job over, here’s how local SEO in Oakville works.
Keep reading
Related services and guides
Send me your URL for a free audit
I’ll look at your Google Business Profile and your website myself and email you back the two or three things holding you back, within one business day.