How to rank higher on Google Maps

Google Maps SEO: how Google ranks businesses

Google's help page for business owners says local results are mainly based on three factors:

• Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone searched for. Complete, detailed information helps Google match you to more searches.
• Distance: how far your business is from the person searching. If they don't share their location, Google uses what it knows about it.
• Prominence: how well known your business is. Your reviews and ratings count, and so do links from other websites.

There's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.

On a Google search with a map, the first three businesses form the map pack, also called the local pack. Google Maps itself shows a longer list, but the first results get the most attention. That is why PinRipple counts the spots where you are in the top 3.

Measure where you rank first

Because distance counts, your position changes from street to street. Searching from your own phone shows one spot, shaped by your own search history, so it can make things look better or worse than they are.

Searched 300 m from the clinic

1. 1Garden Dentist4.3★
2. 2Bright Smile Dental you4.4★
3. 3Square Dentist4.0★
4. 4Crown Dentist3.9★

Searched 2 km north

1. 1Northside Dentist3.8★
2. 2Station Dentist3.9★
3. 3Crown Dentist3.9★

10 more businesses

14. 14Bright Smile Dental you4.4★

Before you change anything, check your ranking from a grid of spots for the 3 to 5 search terms your customers use most. Write down three numbers: your average position, the number of spots where you are in the top 3, and your position at your own door. That is your starting point.

The changes that move rankings, in order

Start at the top. The first changes are quick and fix the most common problems; the later ones take longer and keep you ahead.

1. Verify your profile and check your pin

   Only a verified profile can be edited and can reply to reviews, and Google lists verification first in its advice. While you are there, check that the pin on the map sits on your real entrance: Edit profile, then Location.

2. Choose the most precise main category

   Your main category tells Google what you are. Pick the most precise one that fits, such as “Dentist” rather than “Health”, then add only the extra categories that describe what you really do. Google's guidelines ask you to “use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business”.

   Look at the categories of the businesses that rank above you across your grid. If theirs describes your business better, switch; if not, keep yours.

3. Fill in every field

   Google says complete, accurate information helps it match you to searches. Add your opening hours (and special hours before holidays), a phone number that reaches this location, your website, your services or products, and the attributes that apply, such as wheelchair access or parking. Write a description of up to 750 characters that says what you do, for whom and where, in plain sentences.

   Our Google Business Profile checklist goes through each field.

4. Get reviews steadily, and reply to every one

   Reviews and ratings count towards prominence, and customers read them before they choose. Ask every customer soon after their visit, with your review link, the same way each time, and reply to every review, good or bad.

   Google doesn't allow paying for reviews, offering discounts or gifts for them, or asking only the customers you expect to be happy.

5. Add real photos and videos

   Show the outside, so people recognise you when they arrive, then the inside, your team and your work. Add a few new ones every month, and skip stock images.

6. Make your website agree with your profile

   Use the same name, address and phone number on your website as on Google. Give each main service its own page, link your profile to the most relevant one, and add LocalBusiness structured data so search engines can read your details.

7. Get listed where customers and AI assistants look

   List your business, with exactly the same name, address and phone, on Apple Business Connect, Bing Places, the directories of your trade and your local business association. These listings help people find you and give search engines more to go on. Directories and review sites are also among the pages AI assistants such as ChatGPT can cite when they recommend a local business; PinRipple's AI answers check shows which sites they cite for your town.

8. Keep your profile current

   Update your hours before holidays, and add posts when you have news, offers or events. Google doesn't say that posts lift your ranking, but an accurate, active profile helps the customers who find it.

9. Check again every week

   Run the same grid with the same search terms every week, and note what you changed and when. Profile fixes such as a better category or missing hours can show within days or weeks; reviews and links build over months.

What not to do

These shortcuts break Google's rules. Google can change your information or suspend your profile, which costs far more than any gain.

• Adding keywords or a town to your business name. Google's guidelines say your name should reflect your real-world name, and that unnecessary information in it “could result in the suspension of your Business Profile”.
• Buying reviews, rewarding them, or asking only happy customers. Google's content policy bans reviews “paid for, directly or in kind”, incentives “such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services”, and selectively asking for positive reviews.
• Using a virtual office or a P.O. box as your address. Neither is accepted. A business that visits its customers sets a service area instead.
• Creating several profiles for one location. Google's guidelines say: “Do not create more than one page for each location of your business.”
• Paying for a promised first place. Google says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. Ads appear separately, marked as sponsored.

How long it takes

There is no fixed timetable, and nobody can guarantee a position. Fixes to the profile itself, such as the category, missing hours or verification, are usually the quickest to show in your scans. Reviews, links and listings build prominence slowly, over months.

Distance never goes away. For a busy search like “dentist” in a big city, expect to be strongest near your door, and judge progress by the number of spots where you are in the top 3, not by first place everywhere.

Checklist

Questions

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Maps User Generated Content Policy: Prohibited and restricted content