Local SEO checklist: show up on Google Maps

The short answer

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and prominence. You can't change how far a searcher is from you. You can make your profile as relevant as possible (complete, accurate, in the right categories), and you can build prominence over time with reviews, links and a website that confirms everything your profile says. Google also states plainly that there's no way to pay for a better local ranking.

So the work comes down to four things: a complete and verified Google Business Profile, a steady flow of genuine reviews, a website with clear pages for your services and locations, and consistent details everywhere else your business is listed.

1. Google Business Profile

For most local businesses this is the single most important step. It takes an afternoon to do properly.

Claim and verify the profile. Search for your business on Google Maps; if a profile exists, claim it, otherwise create one at google.com/business. Verification is by video, phone, email or post, depending on the business. Google notes that verified businesses are more likely to show up in results.
Use your real business name. Exactly as it appears on your signage and documents. Adding keywords or a city (“Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Leeds”) breaks Google's guidelines and can get the profile suspended.
Pick the right primary category. It's one of the strongest relevance signals. Choose the most specific one that describes your main business (“Orthodontist”, not just “Dentist”, if that's what you mainly do), then add a few secondary categories for other real services.
Address or service area. If customers come to you, show your address. If you go to them (plumbers, cleaners, contractors), set a service area and hide the address. A virtual office or a mailbox address isn't eligible.
Hours, including special hours. Keep regular hours correct and add holiday hours in advance. Nothing loses a customer faster than a closed door during “open” hours.
Services and products. List them with short descriptions in the words customers use. It helps Google match you to searches and helps people decide.
Photos. Real photos of your premises, team and work. Stock photos don't help anyone choose you.
Website link. Link to the most relevant page. For a business with several locations, link each profile to that location's page, not the homepage.
Phone number and attributes. A number someone answers, and attributes that apply, such as wheelchair access, parking or online appointments.

Setting up the Business Profile together with Analytics, Search Console and inquiry tracking is part of the starter pack we offer at launch, because a new website without it is invisible in exactly the searches local customers make.

2. Reviews

Reviews influence both your ranking and whether people pick you once they see you. Google ties prominence partly to review count and rating, and its help page notes that positive reviews and helpful replies can make a business stand out.

Ask every satisfied customer, every time. The best moment is right after the job is done. Business Profile gives you a short link to share by email, message or a QR code on the invoice.
Make it easy. One link, one sentence: “Would you mind sharing how it went? It helps other customers find us.”
Reply to every review, positive or negative, briefly and in a human voice. A calm reply to a bad review often convinces readers more than ten five-star ones.
Don't buy reviews, offer discounts for them or ask only the happy customers. Google's policies prohibit incentivised and fake reviews, and they get removed, sometimes together with all the others.

A steady trickle beats a burst. Ten reviews in one week after two years of silence looks odd to readers and to Google.

3. Your website

The profile gets you into the map; the website convinces people and confirms to Google what the profile claims.

Name, address and phone number as text on the contact page and in the footer, identical to the profile. Not only inside an image or an embedded map.
A page for each main service, saying where you offer it. A single “Services” page that lists everything gives Google nothing specific to match.
Location pages only where you're really present. If you have offices in three cities, give each its own page with its address, team, hours and directions. Fifty near-identical pages with only the city name swapped are what Google calls doorway pages, and they can hurt the whole site.
LocalBusiness structured data with your name, address, phone, hours and geo-coordinates. Visitors don't see it, but it removes any doubt for search engines.
Click-to-call and directions on mobile. Local searches happen on phones, often on the way somewhere.
Prices and practical details: parking, how to book, how quickly you can come. These are the questions local customers ask.

4. Consistent listings elsewhere

Search engines compare what they find about you in different places. Make sure your name, address, phone number and website are the same everywhere you're listed:

Apple Business Connect (Apple Maps and Siri) and Bing Places. Both are free, and many people use Apple Maps by default on their iPhone.
The main business directories and review sites in your country and industry.
Your chamber of commerce, trade associations and supplier or partner websites.
Your social profiles.

When you move or change your phone number, update all of them. Old details in a forgotten directory keep sending customers to the wrong place for years.

5. Measure what it brings

Business Profile Performance shows calls, website clicks, direction requests and the searches that found you.
Add a tracking parameter to the website link in your profile (for example ?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp) so visits from the profile show up separately in Google Analytics.
Search Console shows which local searches bring people to your website and at what position.
Ask new customers how they found you. It's old-fashioned and still the most reliable signal.

Mistakes that cost local visibility

Keywords in the business name, which risks suspension.
Two profiles for the same business, often one created by a former employee or agency. Merge or remove the duplicate.
A profile linked to a website that shows a different address or phone number.
Hours that are wrong on public holidays.
Bought or incentivised reviews.
Dozens of city pages with copied text.

Not sure how your business looks in local search? Send us your website and business name through our free website check. We look at your Business Profile, your website and how they match, and send you a short list of what to fix first. Free, done by a person, no obligation. If your site doesn't appear in normal results either, start with why isn't my website showing up on Google.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to show up on Google Maps?

A new, verified Business Profile can appear within days, but ranking in the top three for competitive searches usually takes months of complete information, reviews and a website that supports the profile. Changes to an existing profile often show within a few days.

Can I rank in a city where I don't have an office?

In the map results it's difficult, because distance is one of the three main factors. Service-area businesses can set the areas they cover. On your website you can describe the areas you serve, but avoid creating many near-identical city pages.

Do I still need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?

Yes. The profile gets you seen in local results, but the website is where people check your services, prices and work before they call, and it supports the profile's relevance in Google's eyes. Many searches also lead straight to websites rather than the map.