How to rank higher on Google Maps, step by step

When someone types “plumber near me” or “auto repair in Mesa”, Google shows a map with a handful of businesses first, and many people call straight from the map without opening a website. How to rank higher on Google Maps comes down to two things: a complete, accurate Google Business Profile, and enough signals for Google to trust it over the businesses around you.

Below are the steps in order: getting on the map, verifying, filling in the profile so it matches what people search, and what moves you into the top results. You can do all of it yourself, and the last sections cover the mistakes that keep businesses off the map without them noticing.

What a Google Business Profile is and why you need one

Your business shows up on Google Maps through a listing Google calls a Business Profile. It's what people see when they find you on the map or search your name: address, hours, phone, photos, reviews and the call, directions and website buttons. It's free, and you manage it from Google Search or the Google Maps app.

Is it the same as Google My Business?

Yes. Google My Business is the old name. Google renamed it Google Business Profile and moved management into Search and Maps, but many people and guides still use the old name.

Step 1: set up your profile

1. Sign in with a Google account the business will keep for years, ideally a business account, never an employee's personal one.
2. Enter your business name exactly as it appears on your sign, without adding cities or services.
3. Choose the primary category: start typing what you do and pick the most specific option offered.
4. Say whether customers visit you. If they do, add the exact address. If you go to them, list the areas you serve and hide the address.
5. Add your phone number and website.
6. Choose how to verify the business.

Step 2: verify that the business is yours

Google needs to confirm the business exists and that you run it. Depending on the business, it may offer a video recording showing your location and signage, a phone call, a text, an email or a postcard. Until you're verified, your edits may not show and the listing can't compete properly.

If Google asks for a video, it wants one continuous recording, made live from your phone, that shows where you are (street signs, building numbers, nearby businesses), your sign with the same name as the profile and proof that you run the place, like opening the register or the storage room (Google's video verification guide).

Step 3: fill in the profile so it matches real searches

Step 4: what moves you up the map

Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching or the location in the search) and prominence (how well known the business is, including reviews and links). You can't move your shop closer, so work on the other two:

• Reviews, recent and answered. Ask every customer after a job well done, with a direct link to leave the review, and reply to all of them, good and bad.
• A website that says the same thing. If your site has one “Services” page with two lines each, Google has little to connect to each search. A page for each service and each area you serve backs up what the profile says. That's what we do in local SEO: work on the profile and the site together so they reinforce each other.
• Consistent details everywhere. Name, address and phone written the same way on your site, the profile and the directories where you appear.
• Fresh activity. New photos, updated services and posts show the business is active.

Consistent details across directories (NAP)

NAP stands for name, address and phone. Write them exactly the same way on your website, your profile and the directories where you already appear (Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, your industry's directories). Pick one format for the address and the phone number and use it everywhere. Old addresses and numbers on forgotten listings are worth correcting: they confuse Google and send customers to the wrong place.

Local links and mentions

Prominence includes how often other sites mention and link to you. For a local business, the useful links are local: your chamber of commerce, a supplier's “where to buy” page, a team or event you sponsor, a local news story. A handful of real ones beats hundreds from directories nobody visits, and Google's spam policies treat bought links as spam.

LocalBusiness structured data on your website

Structured data is a block of code that tells Google your business type, address, hours and phone in a format it reads directly. Google documents it in its LocalBusiness structured data guide. It doesn't replace the profile, but it backs it up with the same details from your own site.

Mistakes that keep businesses off the map

• Adding keywords or cities to the business name. It breaks Google's guidelines and can get the listing suspended.
• Using a virtual office or a PO box as the address.
• Having two listings for the same business.
• A profile created by someone who no longer works with you, that nobody can edit.
• A website link that goes to a slow page or one that doesn't mention the service.

Can you pay to rank higher on Google Maps?

There's no paid shortcut for the regular map order. What does exist is Google Maps ads, shown with a “Sponsored” label, which are useful if you need calls while the profile earns its place.

If you'd like us to look at it, request the free audit. We search for your services from your area, show you where your profile ranks and what the top ones have that yours doesn't, and we send you what we'd change first and a fixed quote. If you also want to show up in searches without the map, it's all on SEO services. There are more guides for local businesses on the blog.