You’ve typed what you do and your town into Google, looked at the little map with three businesses in it — and you’re not there. It’s one of the most common things people ask me about, and nearly always it comes down to one of three things.
Here’s how to tell which, and what to do about it.
1. Your categories are wrong
Google’s biggest clue about what you do is the category on your Google Business Profile. Get it wrong — or leave it vague — and you’re invisible for the searches that matter.
I see this constantly: a business set up under “Establishment” or a category that half-fits, missing the one that actually describes what people search for. A mobile mechanic listed as “Car repair” but not “Auto repair shop”. A takeaway with a cuisine category missing.
The fix: open your profile, look at your primary category, and ask honestly — is this the exact thing my customers type? Add relevant secondary categories too, but don’t stuff in ones that don’t apply. The primary one does most of the work.
2. You haven’t set your service areas
If you go to customers rather than them coming to you — trades, cleaners, mobile services — Google needs to know where you work. No service areas set, and it has no reason to show you to someone two towns over, even if you happily cover them.
The fix: in your profile, set your business as a service-area business and list the actual towns and areas you cover. Be realistic — listing half the North West when you only serve three towns can dilute you rather than help.
3. Your profile looks abandoned
Google favours businesses that look open and active. A profile with three photos from 2019, no posts, and an unanswered question from months ago reads as “not really trading” — so it quietly shows the place down the road instead.
The fix: add recent, real photos. Post something occasionally — an offer, an update, a job you’re proud of. Answer any questions. It doesn’t need to be daily; it needs to not look dead.
The honest bit
These three fixes will get a lot of businesses back into the running. But local ranking is competitive, and sometimes the reason you’re not showing is simply that a rival has done all of this and built up a wall of genuine reviews over years.
There’s no magic switch — just doing the fundamentals properly and consistently. If you’d rather someone did that for you, that’s exactly what I do.