Several things cause this and they need different work. Find yours first, then buy the right thing.
Palm Beach Gardens, and across Palm Beach County, Broward County and the Treasure Coast. Anywhere by video.
Your Google Business Profile is the listing that puts you on Google Maps and in near me results. It is a separate system from your website. A business can rank on the map with no website at all, and can have a good website that never appears on the map. But being absent from Maps has at least a dozen causes, and setting up a profile only fixes some of them. This page names all of them and sends each one to the right place, including the ones that are not mine to fix and the one that is not fixable at all. Formerly called Google My Business, and plenty of people still search for it that way.
Not every one of these is fixed by setting up a profile. Here is where each one actually goes, so you are not paying for the wrong thing.
| What is actually wrong | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| No profile exists | The setup below |
| Google made one and nobody ever claimed it | The setup below |
| It exists but is incomplete or wrong | The setup below |
| The categories are wrong for what you sell | The setup below |
| The address, service area type or map pin is wrong | The setup below |
| You need help getting through verification | The setup below |
| Somebody else owns your profile | Recovery and complex changes |
| Duplicate profiles exist | Recovery and complex changes |
| It is suspended or disabled | Recovery and complex changes |
| You moved, rebranded or changed owner | Recovery and complex changes |
| It is verified and complete and still does not rank | Google Maps visibility audit |
| The searcher is simply too far away | Explained in the audit. Not sold as fixable |
| Competitors have far more reviews | Google reviews |
| Your details are wrong across other sites | Business listings and directories |
| Your website has no page for that service or area | SEO and local Google Search |
| Nobody links to you or mentions you | SEO, or a wider local project |
| You want grid measurements or monthly reporting | The audit, or monthly management |
| You want Apple Maps, Bing or Waze | Maps beyond Google |
If it turns out to be several of these, say so and I will quote the whole thing as one piece of work, with one price and one order of operations, rather than sending you off to buy four services.
Work down these. Most take a couple of minutes and cost nothing, and they will tell you which row of the table above you are on.
Not a fixed price. What it actually costs depends on the list on the right, and you get that number in writing after a short call, before anything begins.
One eligible business, one location, one uncomplicated profile created, claimed or completed. You as primary owner. Eligibility precheck, a public search for existing and duplicate profiles, classification, address decision, map pin, categories, core information, description, attributes, up to ten services, up to ten photos you supply, three opening posts, preparation and guidance for one verification submission, before and after documentation, a written handover and one handover call.
Google decides three things here and I decide none of them: whether you are eligible, how you get verified, and whether you rank.
Google says you can create a profile "if your business either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are." A rented mailing address you do not work from is not eligible. If that is you, the honest answer is website search and possibly ads, and you will be told that before you pay for anything.
Google picks the method, not you and not me. Their wording is that "verification methods are automatically determined by Google and can't be changed." It may be a phone code, an email, a postcard, or a live video call where you have to be at the premises and show the place, the equipment and that you run the business. You get prepared and guided through one submission. Approval is never promised.
Google says local results come down to relevance, distance and prominence. Completing a profile can improve relevance. It cannot move your building closer to the person searching, and it cannot manufacture prominence, which Google describes as based on links to your business and the reviews you have.
Verification is the part clients are least prepared for, so here is what it can ask of you before you commit.
What is included here is one submission, prepared properly and guided. If Google rejects it and wants a different method or more evidence, repeat attempts are quoted separately, because the amount of work is entirely Google's decision and not something anyone can price in advance.
Duplicates are the one part of this that gets deliberately split, and you should know why before you buy.
Searching for and documenting obvious duplicate or conflicting profiles, so you know what exists and what it is doing to you.
Claiming, merging, removing or resolving them. That can need account access, evidence, and a decision from Google, which cannot sit safely inside a fixed price.
More on how working together works.
The profile is yours. Created in your name, on your email, with you as the primary owner. I am added as a manager and you can remove me whenever the approved work ends. You should never be in a position where leaving me costs you your listing, which is exactly the situation several people arrive here already in.
Verification timing belongs to Google. The work being complete and the profile being live are two different milestones, and you will be told which one we are at.
Yes. Google renamed it to Google Business Profile, and a lot of people still search for the old name. Same thing.
No. A profile can rank on the map with no website at all. They are separate systems. Having both is better, and a bad website can undermine a good profile, but the profile does not depend on it.
No. Google picks the verification method and makes the decision. Their own wording is that "verification methods are automatically determined by Google and can't be changed." One prepared submission is included. If Google rejects it and wants something different, that is quoted separately.
No, and nobody can. Google says local results come down to relevance, distance and prominence. Profile work improves relevance. It cannot move your premises closer to the searcher.
You get told before you pay. Google requires a physical location customers can visit, or that you travel to customers. Online only businesses generally do not qualify, and a mailing address you do not work from is not eligible. If that is you, the money is better spent on website search or ads.
Often, but not always, and not at a fixed price. It is recovery and complex changes, quoted after a call. Google controls both the decision and the timing.
Finding and documenting them is. Merging or removing them is not, because it can need account access, evidence and a decision from Google. That is quoted separately.
Then a setup will not help you and you should not buy one. That is the Maps visibility audit, which finds whether the cause is the profile, the website, reviews, listings or simply distance.
Yes, in your name, on your email, with you as primary owner. I am added as a manager and you remove me when the work ends. Several people arrive here because the last person did the opposite.
The build is quick. Verification is not, and it is not ours to control. Google says a review can take up to five business days, and a video call has to be scheduled during your opening hours. Your proposal will carry the realistic window.
Not as part of this. Ongoing posts, monitoring and reporting are separate, and honestly they are not worth paying for until the profile itself is right.
Different systems, different sign-up, different verification. Apple Business Connect controls Apple Maps and Siri, and Bing Places controls Bing Maps. Both are on maps beyond Google.
Yes, by video. Verification may need you physically at your own premises, but never me. In person covers Palm Beach County, Broward County and the Treasure Coast.
Fill this in and I will tell you which of those causes it looks like, whether this service is even the right one, and what it will cost, before any work starts.
I will look you up before I reply, so the first call is about your situation and not about basics.
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In person across Palm Beach County, Broward County and the Treasure Coast. Anywhere by video.
Free, and there is no call attached to it.
I will run the searches and send you what comes back, with the dates on them. If anything looks urgent I will say so.
Four lines. I read every one myself.
I will look you up before I reply, so the first call is about your situation and not about basics.