My business does not show on Google Maps: why
It is almost always one of five: the profile is not verified, the primary category is wrong, the address does not match letter for letter across your site and directories, the service area is set up wrong, or the business is too new to have signals yet. Check them in that order: the first two explain most cases.
1. The profile is not verified
Without verification the profile exists but barely competes. Verification comes by postcard, phone or video depending on the trade and country, and can take weeks.
If someone verified it years ago and no longer works with you, recovering access is a separate process worth starting today, because it is the slowest part of all.
2. The primary category is wrong
It's the factor that counts most and the one most often ignored. Google shows you mostly for the primary category, not the secondary ones and not the words in your description.
A general contractor listed as "construction company" doesn't show up for "kitchen remodeling" searches. Pick the category by what people type when they search for what you do, not by what your invoice says.
3. The details do not match
Your name, address and phone must be identical on the profile, on your site, and in the directories you appear in. Genuinely identical: "Suite 4" and "Ste. 4" are different to an automated system.
It is tedious and there is no shortcut: you open them one at a time. The minimum that matters is your own site (the footer and the contact page), Google, Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, your trade association directory if you are in one, and the quotes and invoices you send out. Write the one valid version of the name, address and phone in a file, and from then on copy and paste that one every time.
4. The service area is set up wrong
If you work at customers’ locations and have no storefront, the profile should be a service-area business with the address hidden. If you set it as a storefront, Google expects a place customers walk into.
And do not inflate the area. Declaring half the county does not make you appear across half the county: it dilutes your relevance in the center, which is where you can actually win.
5. It is too new
A new profile competes against others with years of history, and that cannot be bought. The only thing that shortens the gap is loading real signals, and they do not all carry the same weight. In order: complete the primary category and the service list, upload photos of this week’s work — yours, not catalog stock —, answer the questions people leave yourself, and let the first reviews arrive gradually rather than ten on the same day. Profile posts come last: they make the profile look alive, they do not move it up. And if the competition already has hundreds, do not fight on volume: change the currency of proof.
And in the meantime, stop poking at it. Changing the name, the category or the address sends the profile back for review, and on a new profile that costs more than the experiment gives back. Choose well once, then leave it alone.
How to check without fooling yourself
Do not search for your business from your phone while standing in your shop: Google knows where you are and who you are, and will show you. Use an incognito window and, better still, Google’s ad preview tool, which lets you simulate the search from another location.
Frequent questions
How long before a new profile appears?
Two weeks to three months to start appearing for brand searches, and considerably longer for generic searches in your trade. If after three months you do not appear even searching your own name, it is a verification or data problem, not a time problem.
Do keywords in the business name help?
Google explicitly forbids it and it is grounds for suspension. It works until someone reports it, and in this field someone always reports it. Not worth risking the whole profile.
Do I need a website to show on the map?
Not required, but it counts. A profile with its own site carries more real-business signals, and the site is where you can explain what does not fit in the profile. It is also yours: the profile belongs to Google.
I show up when I search from my own neighborhood but not from the next town, why?
Because the distance between the searcher and your address is one of the heaviest factors on the map, and nothing compensates for it. The further away they are, the harder it is to appear, even with a better profile than the local one. Worth knowing before you invest: in your immediate area you compete evenly, and twenty minutes out you will also need reviews from that area, content that names it, and often paid ads.