How to show up on Google Maps: a guide for local businesses

To appear on Google Maps, you need to create and verify a free Google Business Profile (formerly «Google My Business») and keep it complete and active. It's free, takes an hour or two, and you can start today.

Appearing is the first step. Ranking near the top depends on other factors, which we'll cover below. Let's go step by step.

Before you start: check if you already have a listing

Many businesses already have a listing without knowing it: Google generates one from public data, or a former partner, supplier or previous agency created it. If you create a new one, you'll end up with duplicates and verification problems.

1. Search Google for your business name and city, from your phone and in incognito mode.
2. If your listing appears, tap «Are you the owner of this business?» or «Claim this business».
3. If nothing appears, go to business.google.com and create one from scratch.

Step 1: create the listing with accurate details

Sign in with a Google account that you control, not an employee's or a supplier's. If that person leaves one day, you would lose access.

Name, address and phone number

Use your business's real name, as it appears on your signage and invoices. Adding keywords ("Marta's Hair Salon – the best hair salon in Valencia") goes against Google's guidelines and can lead to a suspended listing.

The address and phone number must match those on your website, your social media and other directories. That consistency helps Google trust your details.

Storefront or service-area business

If you serve customers at a location (restaurant, clinic, shop), show your address. If you go to the customer's home (plumber, electrician, repair technician), you can hide your address and set the areas where you provide services.

Step 2: verify your business

Without verification, your listing won't be shown normally. Depending on your case, Google will offer you one of these methods:

• Code by postcard.
• Code by text message or phone call.
• Code by email.
• Video call or recorded video showing the premises, the signage and your work tools.

If you choose the postcard, be patient and don't request a new code every day, as this can invalidate the previous one. If you opt for video, record it continuously: the entrance of the premises, the interior and something that shows your activity.

Step 3: choose the primary category carefully

The primary category is one of the most important parts of the listing. Tell Google what you are, not everything you do. An Italian restaurant should choose «Italian restaurant», not just «Restaurant». A dental clinic, «Dentist» or «Dental clinic», depending on the case.

Then add secondary categories that describe real services: «Orthodontist», «Implantologist», «Teeth whitening service». Only the ones you actually offer.

Step 4: complete all the fields

An incomplete listing looks careless, both to Google and to customers. Check this list:

• Opening hours, including public holidays and special summer or Christmas hours.
• Website, with a link to a page that loads well on mobile.
• Description: explain in a few lines what you do, for whom and in which area. Write for people, not for robots.
• Services or products, with a description and price if possible. A barbershop can list haircut, shave and beard trim.
• Attributes: accessibility, Wi-Fi, parking, accepts bookings, card payment, etc.
• Booking or ordering link, if you have one.

Step 5: upload real photos

Photos matter a lot on a local listing. A customer searching for «gym near me» wants to see the machines, the rooms and the atmosphere before deciding.

• Exterior (so people recognise you when they arrive) and entrance.
• Interior, with good lighting and a tidy space.
• Your team.
• Finished products or work: dishes, haircuts, repairs, shop window.

Avoid stock photos. With your phone, on a day with good light, you have plenty. Add new photos regularly.

How Google decides who ranks first

Google explains that local ranking is based on three things: relevance (how well your listing matches what the user is searching for), distance (how close you are to the person or the area searched) and prominence (how well known and well reviewed your business is).

You can't control distance. You can act on relevance and prominence.

Relevance: make your listing say what your customers are searching for

Use the words your customers use in your description, services and website. A physiotherapy clinic in Zaragoza should mention «sports physiotherapy», «back pain» or «rehabilitation» if it offers those services, just as it would say them to a patient.

Prominence: reviews, website and mentions

Reviews are the most visible factor. They count quantity, quality, consistency and whether you respond. If you want a practical method, see how to get more reviews on Google for your business.

Your website also counts, as do being listed in reliable local directories and being mentioned by local media or associations.

Step 6: keep the listing active

A listing that is published and then abandoned loses strength. Spend 15 minutes a week on these tasks:

1. Reply to all reviews, including negative ones, calmly and without arguing. Offer a solution and continue the conversation outside the listing.
2. Post updates: an offer, a dish of the day, a new service, a change in hours.
3. Check questions and answers and reply yourself before a stranger does.
4. Update your hours as soon as they change. A customer who arrives at a closed shop that Google showed as open leaves a bad review.
5. Check the statistics on your listing: how many people find you, what they search for, and how many call or ask for directions.

Mistakes that could cost you your listing

• Adding keywords or promotional phrases to the name.
• Using a fake address or a mailbox/coworking space where you don't operate.
• Creating several listings for the same location.
• Buying reviews or asking friends and family who have never been customers to leave them.
• Changing lots of details all at once right after verification.

Google can suspend a listing for these practices, and getting it back is usually slow and frustrating. It's worth doing it right from the start.

What to expect

Your listing appears once it's verified, but climbing in the rankings takes weeks or months of consistent effort, and depends on your competitors and your area. At Nexasmus we help local businesses sort this out, but you can do the basics yourself with this guide.

A good starting point: open Google Maps on your phone, search for your business's main service along with your city or neighbourhood, and look at what the top three results do. Compare their photos, reviews, description and services with yours. Those differences are your to-do list.

Check your presence on Google for free

If you're not sure where to start or want to know how your listing compares with the competition, request a free online review of your business and we'll tell you what to improve first.

Frequently asked questions