Local SEO: be the business Google Maps shows nearby

How Google ranks local results

Google explains its local ranking with three factors. Relevance is how well a profile matches what someone searches. Distance is how far the business is from the person searching (or from the place named in the search). Prominence is how well known the business is, informed among other things by links to its website and the number of reviews. Google also states plainly: "There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking."

You cannot move your shop closer to every customer, so the work goes into relevance (complete, accurate information, the right categories, clear services) and prominence (a real reputation, a website that supports the profile). Google's own tips point the same way: verify the business, keep information complete and current, add photos, and respond to reviews.

What we do, step by step

1. Audit. We read your profile field by field and list what is missing, wrong or inconsistent with your website.
2. Compare. We look at the businesses Google shows for your main searches and note what they have that you lack: categories, photos, services listed, review count and replies.
3. Map. We measure your position for a given search at a grid of points around your address. It shows where you are visible and where you disappear, which a single position never shows.
4. Fix. We prepare the changes and apply them with you: categories, description, services, hours (including holidays), attributes, photos.
5. Align the website. Same name, address and phone as the profile, a clear page for each service, and LocalBusiness structured data that matches the page.
6. Repeat. We re-run the grid and the comparison, and track calls, direction requests and website clicks from the profile.

Google's rules for profiles, which we follow to the letter

A suspended profile costs far more than a weak one, so we stay inside Google's guidelines for representing your business:

• The business name must be the real-world name used on your storefront and website — no keywords, slogans, town names or phone numbers added to it.
• The address must be precise; P.O. boxes or mailboxes at remote locations are not accepted.
• Businesses that serve customers at their location should hide their address and show a service area.
• One profile per location: no duplicates in the same account or across accounts.
• Reviews: no paid or rewarded reviews, no reviews posted by the business, and no selectively asking only happy customers — Google's policy names all three as fake engagement.

What we need from you

• Manager access to your Google Business Profile (it stays yours; we never become the owner)
• Your real opening hours, services, service area and the photos you are happy to show
• A few minutes when Google asks for verification, which only you can complete
• Your agreement on how to ask customers for reviews

What we have done in this area

We have the tools for profile audits, local competitor comparisons and local ranking grids, and we have delivered a Google Maps and Meta Ads audit for a jeweller in India. We do not publish client results, and we do not promise a place in the map pack: distance alone means that no one can.

Mistakes we avoid