Quick answer
People searching for “restaurants near me” or “spa near me” often choose a place straight from Google Maps. To make your listing show up and get chosen, you need to: verify your Google Business Profile, pick the right primary category, keep opening hours accurate, post real photos, ask customers for reviews and reply to them, update your posts, and link a website with complete information. Most of this is free and you can do it yourself.
Key takeaways
- Google Maps ranking depends on relevance, distance and prominence. You can't buy an organic position.
- The name on your profile must be your real business name. Stuffing keywords into the name can get the profile suspended.
- Don't buy reviews or give gifts in exchange for 5-star reviews. Google prohibits this.
- A website with a menu, prices and opening hours that match your profile helps customers decide faster after they find you on the map.
How does Google Maps rank local businesses?
According to Google's public guidance, local results are based mainly on three factors: relevance (how well your profile matches what the person searched for), distance (how far your business is from the searcher) and prominence (how well known your business is, including the number and quality of reviews and information on the web).
You can't change distance, but you can do a lot for the other two. The seven steps below are in the order you should do them.
1. Create and verify your Google Business Profile
- Go to business.google.com and search for your business name. If someone else has already created a profile for it, request ownership instead of creating a new one.
- Complete the verification step Google offers (video, phone, email or postcard). An unverified profile has limited editing and visibility.
- Use a business email and add at least one backup manager so you don't lose access.
2. Fill in the right name, category and basic details
| Field | Do | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Exactly the name on your sign | “Seaside Restaurant – Best and Cheapest Seafood Downtown” |
| Primary category | The closest match: “Seafood restaurant”, “Skin care spa” | A generic category or one from the wrong industry |
| Secondary categories | Add a few that accurately describe what you offer | Adding categories for services you don't provide |
| Address, phone | Identical to your website, Facebook Page and sign | Writing it differently in each place |
| Description | What you offer, for whom, what makes you different | Repeated keywords, links, promotions |
3. Keep opening hours accurate
- Update regular hours, and special hours for holidays a few days in advance.
- A customer who arrives to find the place closed while Maps says it's open has a bad experience and may leave a bad review.
- If you close temporarily, use the temporarily closed status rather than deleting the profile.
4. Post real photos and update them regularly
- A photo of the storefront helps customers recognize the place when they arrive.
- Photos of the real space, food or services, taken in good light. No stock photos from the internet.
- Restaurants: add the menu or photos of dishes. Spas: photos of treatment rooms. Homestays: photos of each room.
- Add new photos from time to time, especially when you change the menu or the space.
5. Ask for reviews the right way and reply to every review
Reviews are what customers read most before choosing a place. Ask real customers for reviews using your profile's review link (found in your profile management page), for example with a QR code printed at the counter or included in a thank-you message.
- Don't buy reviews, don't ask friends to write fake ones and don't give gifts in exchange for good reviews.
- Reply to both good and bad reviews, politely and specifically. For a bad review: apologize, explain how you will fix it and invite them to contact you directly.
- Don't argue or reveal a customer's personal information in your reply.
6. Use posts and product or service listings
- Post updates: new dishes, offers this month, events, with a photo and a button linking to your website.
- Fill in the products/services section or the menu with reference prices, if your profile supports it.
- Choose attributes that are true for you: parking, wifi, card payments and so on.
7. Link a website that has complete information and matches your profile
Many customers tap the website link on a Google Maps profile to look at the menu, prices or rooms before calling. The website should answer those questions right away on a phone and have call, WhatsApp, booking or appointment buttons.
The name, address, phone number and opening hours on the website must match your Google profile. Consistent information across places helps both customers and Google trust that it is the same business.
Monthly checklist for business owners
- Are your opening hours and holiday hours correct?
- Have you replied to all new reviews?
- Did you add at least a few new photos and one post this month?
- Do the menu and prices on your profile and website match?
- Does the website link on your profile still work?
When should you ask someone to do it for you?
If you don't have time to keep it updated, Nextchain offers a Marketing & SEO service that includes optimizing your Google Business Profile, content and regular reports. If you don't have a website yet, a monthly plan from $29 gives you a page with your menu, prices and bookings to link from Google Maps. Nextchain does not promise any particular ranking, because Google decides rankings.
