For a local business, the Google Business Profile is often worth more than the website. It's the listing with your reviews, hours and phone number that appears on Maps and in the box of three businesses at the top of a local search.
So when it disappears, or never appears in the first place, it matters. Here's how to work out why.
Step one: search for your exact business name
Search Google for your business name and town, exactly as it appears on the profile.
- Your profile shows up: the profile is live. Your problem is ranking for other searches, like your trade plus your town. Skip to "It's live but nobody finds it".
- Nothing shows up: the profile is unverified, suspended, or has a problem with its details. Read on.
If it doesn't show even for your own name
It isn't verified
An unverified profile doesn't appear publicly. Sign in at business.google.com and check for a prompt to verify. Google may ask for a video, a phone call, an email or a postcard, and the options it offers vary by business.
It's been suspended
Google suspends profiles it thinks break its guidelines. You'll usually see a notice when you sign in. The common causes:
- Keywords in the business name. "Smith & Co Plumbers Leicester Best Prices" when the sign over the door says "Smith & Co". Use your real name and nothing else.
- A virtual office or PO box as the address. Profiles with a physical address need to be somewhere customers or staff actually are.
- Listing an address you shouldn't. If you visit customers rather than them visiting you, you should be a service-area business with the address hidden.
- Several profiles for one location.
Fix the cause first, then request reinstatement through the support link Google gives you. Requesting it without fixing the problem rarely works.
It's waiting for a review
New profiles and recently edited ones can sit in review for anything from a few days to a few weeks. Repeatedly editing a profile can restart this, so make your changes in one go.
It's live, but nobody finds it
This is the common case. The profile exists; it just isn't one of the three in the map pack for the searches that matter. Google decides that on three things: relevance, distance and prominence.
Relevance: are the categories right? Your primary category is the strongest signal you control. Choose the most specific one that describes what you do. Add secondary categories and the services you actually offer, and nothing you don't.
Distance: you can't move. But you can make sure Google knows exactly where you are and which areas you serve. If you visit customers, set your service areas properly.
Prominence: do people vouch for you? Reviews (how many, how recent, and what they say), links from other local sites, and how well your website ranks all count here.
The website's part in it
Your Business Profile and your website should agree on everything: the business name, address, phone number and opening hours, in the same format. When they don't, Google is less sure they're the same business.
The website also provides much of the relevance. A profile for a kitchen fitter, linking to a site with a properly written page about kitchen fitting in your town, is a much stronger signal than a profile linking to a homepage that says "Welcome".
If the website is the weak link, we've written about why a website might not be showing on Google, and that covers the checks worth doing.
A short checklist
- Search your exact business name. Is the profile there?
- Sign in and look for verification prompts or a suspension notice.
- Make sure the business name is your real name, with no keywords added.
- Check the primary category is the most specific one available.
- Make sure the name, address, phone and hours match your website exactly.
- Ask every customer for a review, and reply to every one.
Local search is a big part of what we do for clients in both of our cities. There's more on SEO in Leicester and SEO in Huddersfield, or get in touch and we'll take a look at your profile alongside your site.
