You have launched your business. Your website is live. Your Instagram looks good. Maybe you have even printed the business cards.

But when someone searches for what you do on Google Maps… you are nowhere to be seen.

For a local business, your Google Business Profile can be just as important as your website.

It is what can appear when someone searches for things like:

“coffee shop near me”
“plumber in Edinburgh”
“massage therapist near me”
“best cleaner in Stockbridge”

And reviews play a huge part in the decision that comes next. BrightLocal’s 2026 research found that 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, while 71% use Google to read local business reviews.

The good news is that you do not need to be an SEO expert to improve your Google Maps presence.

Here are 15 things you can start doing today.

First: understand how Google Maps rankings work

Before changing anything, it helps to understand what Google is looking for.

Google says local search results are mainly based on three things: relevance, distance and prominence.

Relevance is how well your business matches what someone is searching for.

Distance is how close your business is to the person searching, or to the location mentioned in their search.

Prominence is essentially how established and well known your business appears to be, both online and offline.

You cannot control where your potential customer is standing when they search.

But you can do a lot about the other signals.

1. Claim and verify your Google Business Profile

It sounds obvious, but start here.

A verified profile gives you control over your business information, photos, opening hours, reviews and other features. Google also recommends verification as one of the basic steps for improving local visibility.

Once verified, check Google’s Profile Strength tool. It can flag missing information such as your opening hours, contact information, description, photos and posts.

Quick action: Search your business name on Google while logged into the account that manages it and complete every relevant section you can see.

2. Choose your primary category carefully

This is one of the most important settings in your whole profile.

Do not automatically choose the broadest category.

If you are a nail salon, for example, Google recommends choosing “Nail salon” rather than simply “Salon”.

Your primary category tells Google what your business fundamentally is.

Google confirms that categories can affect local rankings, while Whitespark’s 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors research continues to identify the primary category as one of the most influential Google Maps factors.

So take five minutes and look at the categories being used by successful competitors.

Not to copy them blindly, but to check whether there is a more precise category available for what you actually do.

Quick action: Ask yourself, “If I could describe my business in just one category, which one would be the most accurate?”

3. Add relevant secondary categories

Your primary category should describe your main activity, but Google also lets you add additional categories.

These are useful when your business genuinely covers several areas.

A cleaning company might primarily be a cleaning service, for example, while also offering window cleaning or carpet cleaning.

Google recommends using only categories that genuinely describe the business rather than treating them as a list of keywords.

More categories are not automatically better.

Quick action: Add the services that represent meaningful parts of the business. Skip anything that is only vaguely related.

4. Do not stuff keywords into your business name

This is a classic Local SEO shortcut.

Your business is called:

Smith & Co

But somebody tells you to change the Google listing to:

Smith & Co Best Emergency Plumber Edinburgh 24 Hour Plumbing

Please don’t.

Keywords in a business name can influence local rankings, which is exactly why people are tempted to do it. However, Google requires your profile name to match the name your business uses in the real world, such as on signage, stationery and branding.

Breaking the rules can create bigger problems than the temporary ranking improvement is worth.

Quick action: Use your actual trading name. Put your services and keywords in the places designed for them.

5. Complete every useful field

Do not create a profile, add an address and phone number, then forget about it.

Google explicitly says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear in relevant local search results.

Check your:

business category, address, service area, phone number, website, opening hours, description, services, photos and business attributes.

Depending on your industry, you may also be able to add booking, ordering or appointment links.

The goal is simple.

Google should not have to guess what your business does.

Neither should your customer.

6. Write a useful business description

You have up to 750 characters for your Google Business Profile description. Google recommends explaining what you offer, what makes the business different and other useful information about the company rather than filling the space with promotions and sales messages.

This is a good place to naturally mention your main service and location.

For example:

“Independent Edinburgh physiotherapy clinic specialising in sports injuries, rehabilitation and massage.”

That is much more useful than:

“Welcome to our amazing company. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality service possible.”

Be specific.

Generic copy does not help customers understand why they should choose you.

Quick action: Make sure the first few sentences clearly answer three questions: What do you do? Where do you do it? Who do you help?

7. Add your individual services

This section is often forgotten.

Google Business Profile lets many businesses create individual services and add information such as a description and price.

If you are a beauty salon, do not just say “beauty treatments”.

Add the actual services.

If you are a pressure washing company, list driveway cleaning, patio cleaning, gutter cleaning and roof cleaning separately.

If you are a marketing consultant, list SEO, PPC, website design and the main services you actually provide.

It gives customers more useful information and gives Google a clearer picture of what the business offers.

8. Get your location and service area right

For a physical business, make sure your map pin is actually in the right place.

Google allows you to adjust it manually if Google cannot correctly locate your address.

For businesses that visit customers rather than serving them from a shop or office, use a service area profile instead of displaying an address customers cannot visit.

Google currently allows service area businesses to specify up to 20 areas and recommends keeping the overall service area within roughly two hours’ driving time from the business base.

Adding every city in the country will not make you rank everywhere.

Remember that distance is still part of Google’s local algorithm.

9. Keep your opening hours accurate

This is not glamorous SEO.

It is still important.

Wrong opening hours are one of the quickest ways to annoy someone who has just discovered your business.

Update your regular hours and remember to add special hours for bank holidays, Christmas, Easter or other days when your normal schedule changes. Google provides separate settings specifically for this.

It takes a few minutes.

Do it before your customers have to tell Google that your information is wrong.

10. Add good, real photos

Stock photography might look polished on a brochure.

On Google Maps, people usually want to know what the business actually looks like.

Show them.

Google recommends adding photos and videos of your location, products and services. Exterior photos can also help customers recognise the business when they arrive.

Upload your storefront, interior, team, products, completed projects and anything else that helps someone understand what to expect.

A tradesperson could add before and after photos.

A restaurant can show dishes and the atmosphere.

A salon can show the space and examples of its work.

A consultant can still add professional photos of themselves, their office, events or work.

And skip the aggressive filters. Google specifically recommends clear, well-lit images that represent reality.

11. Start collecting reviews from day one

Do not wait until you have been trading for three years before thinking about reviews.

Build them into your customer journey.

After a successful appointment, delivery, project or visit, ask.

Google lets you generate a direct review link and even a QR code from your Business Profile. You can add that link to follow-up emails, WhatsApp messages or other customer communications.

Reviews are important for visibility, but they are also important for conversion.

In BrightLocal’s 2026 research, 74% of consumers said they only care about reviews written within the previous three months.

That means 100 old reviews are not a reason to stop asking.

A steady flow is much healthier.

One important warning: do not offer discounts, freebies or other incentives in exchange for a Google review. Google specifically prohibits incentivised reviews.

12. Reply to your reviews

Good review?

Reply.

Bad review?

Reply.

Three-star review with useful criticism?

Definitely reply.

Google encourages businesses to respond to reviews because it shows customers that their feedback is valued.

Do not use exactly the same copy-and-paste response every time.

“Thank you for your review. We value your feedback.”

Again.

And again.

And again.

It feels robotic because it is.

Instead, mention something relevant to the customer’s experience when possible.

You are not only replying to the person who left the review. You are writing for every potential customer who reads it later.

13. Use Google Posts

Your profile is not completely static.

Google lets businesses publish updates, offers and events directly to their Business Profile.

Use this feature when you have something useful to say.

Launching a new service?

Post it.

Hosting an event?

Post it.

New seasonal menu?

Post it.

Special opening information?

Post it.

Do not expect Google Posts alone to suddenly put you at number one on Maps. Think of them as another way to make your profile more useful and more convincing when someone finds you.

14. Connect your profile to a good local website

Google Maps SEO does not exist in isolation.

Your website can reinforce what your Google Business Profile is telling Google.

If you are a florist in Glasgow, your website should make it reasonably obvious that you are a florist in Glasgow.

Include your real business name, contact details, location and services.

Create useful pages for important services rather than trying to rank one homepage for everything.

Local Business structured data can also give Google structured information about things such as your business details and opening hours.

Keep your information consistent.

If Google says you are at 10 High Street but your website says 14 High Street and an old directory says 7 High Street, you are creating unnecessary confusion.

15. Measure what is actually happening

Do not judge your Google Business Profile entirely by searching your own favourite keyword once a week.

Remember: location is part of local rankings.

Instead, look at your Business Profile performance data.

Google can show information such as website clicks, calls and direction requests generated through your profile.

You can also see the searches people are using to discover your business.

This is valuable.

You might think customers search for “landscape maintenance”, for example, and discover that most people actually find you using “gardener near me”.

That information can help shape your Business Profile, website content and wider Local SEO strategy.

One final tip: consistency beats the occasional SEO sprint

You do not need to spend five hours every Friday optimising Google Maps.

You need good foundations.

Choose the right category. Complete the profile. Add your services. Upload genuine photos. Keep the information accurate. Ask happy customers for reviews. Reply to them. Keep your website consistent with your Google profile.

Then keep doing the basics.

Google’s own guidance is refreshingly straightforward: local rankings are based on relevance, distance and prominence, and there is no way to simply pay Google for a better organic local ranking.

For most small businesses, that is good news.

You do not need to find a secret Google Maps trick.

You just need to make it extremely easy for Google, and for potential customers, to understand who you are, what you do, where you do it and why people trust you.

And that is a very good place to start.

Need a hand with your Local SEO?

Getting a Google Business Profile live is easy.

Turning it into a consistent source of local visibility, website traffic and enquiries takes a little more work.

At Rēkito, I help small businesses get the foundations right, from websites and SEO to Google Business Profile optimisation and wider digital marketing.

Because sometimes a few small changes are all it takes to make your business much easier to find.