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Why your business isn't showing up on Google Maps

By the Cornerlens team ·

You search Google Maps for your business and it isn't there. Or it is there when you search from the shop, and gone when a customer searches from across town. These look like one problem, but they are several, and each one has a different fix. The first job is to work out which one you have.

First, find out which problem you have

Google's own help suggests searching Maps for the business's name and city. Do that signed out, in a private window, so you see what a customer sees. Then search for what the business does, such as "plumber" or "dentist", from more than one place. What you find sorts the problem into one of three kinds.

The profile isn't verified yet

Verifying a profile tells Google you are allowed to represent the business, and Google's help page is direct about what happens without it: only verified businesses can show their business info on Maps and Search. Google decides which ways to verify it offers each business. Our guide to Google Business Profile verification goes through them.

Verification is not always the end of the wait. Google says rankings for a new business can take up to a month to appear in search results, and an edit to a profile can take up to 3 days to show. Mike Blumenthal of Near Media wrote about a message some owners see in their profile, that the business "is not visible to customers". Google uses it in several situations to do with verification and trust, he writes, without saying which one applies. On a newly verified listing it usually goes after 10 to 14 days. Sometimes Google asks for a second verification by another method, such as a video after a postcard, and the message stays until that one is done too.

The profile is suspended or disabled

A profile that breaks Google's guidelines becomes disabled or suspended, Google's help says, and won't show to other users on Google until the problem is resolved. The owner gets a notification in the Google account that manages the profile. The way back is an appeal through Google's appeals tool, where the owner can add evidence to support it. Our guide to suspended Google Business Profiles goes through it step by step.

Before appealing, read the profile against the rules that most often catch real businesses. The name should be the business's real-world name, as used on its storefront, website and stationery. A rented mailing address where the business doesn't operate, a virtual office, isn't eligible. P.O. boxes aren't acceptable. And there should be only one profile per business.

A similar listing nearby is hiding it

Sometimes nothing is wrong with the profile and Google is choosing not to show it beside a similar one. Miriam Ellis, Moz's local SEO expert, writes that businesses at the same address, or even in the same neighborhood, that share a category and compete for the same searches often find one of them missing from the map while the other ranks well. Google is trying to show a variety of businesses, she explains, and filters out ones it judges too similar when they are close together. Local SEOs call this the Possum filter, after an update Moz dates to September 1, 2016.

There is a quick test. Moz's guide to the filter suggests searching the usual keyword, such as "dentist San Diego", and then zooming in on the map. If the listing reappears at a closer zoom, the filter is the likely cause: the business is on Google, and the problem is the neighbor.

A duplicate can cause trouble too. Google's guidelines say there should be one profile per business, because more than one can cause problems with how the information displays on Maps and Search. Search the business's address and phone number on Google and look for a second listing.

It shows by name, but not for what it does

When the business appears for its name but not for "roofer" or "dentist", and no similar listing is hiding it, Google is choosing not to rank it for that search. Relevance comes first in Google's explanation: how well a profile matches what someone is searching for. Google's advice is to give complete and detailed business information, and it names the full address, the hours, the kind of business it is, which is its category, and details such as parking. The third factor, which Google explains as how well known a business is, is based partly on how many websites link to it and how many reviews it has, and Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help. Our guide to ranking higher on Google Maps takes these one at a time.

One thing will not help: Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

It shows near the business, but not across town

This one is not a fault. Google's help page names distance as one of the three things local results mainly depend on: how far each business is from the person searching, or, when they don't share where they are, what Google knows about their location. A business at #1 outside its own door can be out of the top results a couple of miles away, where other businesses are closer to the person searching. Our guide to why your Google Maps ranking changes from street to street shows what that looks like on a map.

A search from one spot can't show where the business stops appearing, because it describes one street. To see that, the same search has to be made from many points across the area the business serves, which is what a rank grid does.

A checklist

  1. Search the business's name and city on Google Maps, signed out, in a private window.
  2. If it's missing, sign in to the Google account that manages the profile and read any message there. Not verified, suspended and disabled each say so.
  3. If it was verified or edited recently, give it time: up to a month for a new business's rankings and up to 3 days for an edit, by Google's own figures.
  4. If it's suspended, read the profile against the guidelines, fix what breaks them, then appeal.
  5. Search the main keyword and zoom in on the map. A listing that appears only when zoomed in is likely being filtered beside a similar one.
  6. Look for a duplicate profile at the same address or phone number.
  7. If it appears for its name only, work on what makes it relevant to the search, and on reviews.
  8. If it appears near the business only, measure from several points across the area before deciding anything is wrong.

The short version

A business missing from Google Maps is usually one of five things: not verified yet, suspended, filtered beside a similar listing, not relevant enough to the search, or too far from the person searching. Searching its name, then what it does, from more than one place, tells you which, and each one has its own fix.

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