Google Maps is coming to the Netherlands: is your business ready?

Wat is Ask Maps precies

Imagine: a homeowner in Tilburg types into Google Maps “who can refurbish my wooden window frames without me having to replace the entire window”. Until recently, you would get a list of companies sorted by distance and reviews. That is now fundamentally changing.

On 12 March 2026, Google launched the biggest update to Maps in more than ten years. It's called Ask Maps, and it does exactly what it says on the tin: you ask Google Maps a question, in plain English, and the AI gives you a personalised answer. Not a list of ten results. A recommendation. Sometimes just one or two businesses that the AI deems best suited to what you're looking for.

The technology behind Ask Maps is Gemini, Google's latest AI model. The same technology you might know from AI Overviews in regular search results. But now it's also in Maps. And that makes it a whole different story for local businesses. Because Maps is the place people search when they want something Let it be. Not when they want information, but when they make a decision.

At present, Ask Maps is live in the United States and India. There is no official launch date for the Netherlands yet, but Google typically rolls out features like this to Western Europe within a few months. Therefore, the question isn't whether Ask Maps will come to the Netherlands, but whether your business will be ready when it does.

AI search works in Google Maps by using artificial intelligence to understand your search queries more effectively and provide more relevant results.

The difference with the old Maps search is not subtle. It's a completely different way Google decides which businesses become visible. Previously, someone would type “painter Oisterwijk” and get three results in the Local Pack, sorted by a mix of distance, reviews, and profile quality. Reasonably predictable, reasonably fairly distributed.

With Ask Maps, that predictability disappears. The AI understands context. If someone asks, “Who can paint my facade, it's a 1930s house with a lot of woodwork and I want sustainable paint?” Gemini doesn't just search for the word “painter”. It looks for companies that mention woodwork in their services, that have reviews where customers talk about facades and sustainable paint, and that have photos of similar projects.

That might sound logical, but the consequences are enormous. Because it means the AI must be able to read what your company does. And the only thing the AI can read is your Google Business Profile. The text in your services. The words in your reviews. The descriptions of your photos. If that information isn't there, or is vague, or incomplete, then your company simply doesn't exist for Ask Maps.

According to research from Whitespark in 2026, eight out of the ten most important local search ranking factors come directly from the Google Business Profile. This was already the case for Ask Maps. But now that AI is going to determine who is shown, and the number of visible positions is decreasing, a complete and strategically completed profile is no longer a luxury. It is a requirement.

Why all this is changing for local businesses

Let's be honest: most local business owners filled in their Google Business Profile once when they started, and then never touched it again. Perhaps they updated the opening hours once. Perhaps they posted a photo of the new van. But thinking strategically about what information is included? Few people do that.

And until now, that wasn't such a bad thing. If you had decent reviews and were nearby, you'd end up somewhere in the results. But Ask Maps is changing those rules. The AI doesn't just look at whether you exist, but at whether you are relevant to the specific question someone is asking. And it measures relevance by the details you've entered.

Take an example. Two plumbers on the same street. Both five stars, both twenty reviews. But plumber A has only put “plumber” down as their service. Plumber B has “leak detection”, “boiler maintenance”, “bathroom renovation”, “drain unblocking”, and “out-of-hours emergency service” listed as separate services. If someone types into Ask Maps, “my boiler is making a strange noise, who can look at it today”, then you know who the AI will recommend. It's not the plumber with the better reviews. It's the plumber who has given the AI enough information to make a match.

This applies to every industry. Landscapers who list “garden maintenance” versus those who list “hedge trimming”, “lawn scarifying” and “patio laying” separately. The painter who lists “exterior painting” versus the one who specifically names “wood rot repair”, “window frame replacement” and “facade painting for 1930s houses”. The more specific, the better the AI can match you with the right customer.

How to make your Business Profile Google Maps proof

The good news is that you don't need any technical knowledge for this. The bad news is that it takes work. Real work. Not five minutes, but an hour spent properly thinking about how your customers search. Below are the most important points you need to tackle.

Start with your services. Go to your Google Business Profile and click “Edit services”. Most entrepreneurs have one or two general terms here. That is not enough. Write out every service you offer. Be specific. Not “painting” but “exterior painting”, “interior painting”, “rot repair”, “window frame varnishing”, “wallpapering”, “latex spraying”. Not “garden maintenance” but “hedge trimming”, “lawn mowing”, “weed removal”, “planting advice”, “patio cleaning”.

The reason is simple: the AI matches on specific terms. If someone asks for “someone who can stain my fence” and you only have “painter” listed, the AI misses that connection. But if you have “fence staining” as a service, bingo.

Next, your company description. This should be a maximum of 750 characters, and most entrepreneurs might fill in two sentences. Use that space. Mention your specialisations, your area of work, your experience, what sets you apart. But write it for people, not for a search engine. AI understands natural language better than a list of keywords.

Also check your attributes. These are the extra characteristics that Google lets you fill in: “free quote”, “works on weekends”, “female owner”, “accepts card payments”. Every attribute you enable gives the AI more information to work with. And every attribute you miss is a missed opportunity for a match.

Finally: keep your opening hours up to date. This might sound obvious, but Google's AI takes into account whether you are open at the time someone searches. If your hours are incorrect, the AI might skip you in favour of a competitor that is shown as “open now”.

Reviews: the new currency

Reviews have always been important for local search. But with Ask Maps, what's important about reviews is changing. It's no longer just about the star rating. It's about what's *in* the reviews.

AI reads your reviews. Literally. Gemini analyses the text in reviews to understand what your company excels at. A review that says “five stars, would recommend!” is virtually worthless to AI. But a review that says “renovated our entire bathroom in three days, worked tidily, cleaned everything up and the tiling is perfect” tells AI exactly what you can do.

This means you need to adapt your review strategy. Instead of asking customers to “leave a review”, ask them to describe what you've done for them. After a project, send a message like: “In your review, would you be able to mention the work we carried out? That helps other customers see what they can expect.” Many customers are happy to do this, they just don't realise it makes a difference.

The sentiment of reviews also counts for more. The AI doesn't just look at the average score but at patterns. If multiple reviews mention “neat,” “on time,” and “good communication,” the AI understands that these are your strong points. If someone is looking for a “reliable contractor who sticks to agreements,” the AI knows that you are a match.

Incidentally, negative reviews are not necessarily harmful, provided you respond to them well. A professional response to a complaint shows the AI (and the customer) that you take problems seriously. Not responding to a negative review is much more damaging than the review itself.

Photos and content that convince the AI

Most business owners underestimate how important photos are for their Google Business Profile. And with Ask Maps, that becomes even more important. Google's AI can analyse photos. It recognises activities, materials and results. But it also reads the descriptions that you can add to photos.

Upload work photos regularly. Not just once a year, but at least a few new photos every month. Show what you do. Before and after photos of projects. Close-ups of craftsmanship. The team at work. The result that makes the client happy.

And this is where it gets crucial: add descriptions to your photos. Most entrepreneurs skip this. But these descriptions are worth their weight in gold for AI. Instead of a photo with no text, write what can be seen: “Complete facade renovation of a 1930s house in Oisterwijk. All woodwork stripped, wood rot treated, and repainted with Sigma durable exterior paint.” This gives the AI an incredible amount of context to work with.

Google is also working on showing AI-generated summaries for businesses in Maps. These summaries are built from all available information: reviews, services, photo descriptions, and your business description. The richer that information, the stronger your summary. And that summary will soon be the first thing potential customers see when the AI recommends your business.

What exactly should you do now

Ask Maps isn't live in the Netherlands yet. But everything you do on your Business Profile now will also work for the current version of Google Maps. So you won't lose anything by starting now; you can only gain. And when Ask Maps launches here, you'll already be at the front of the queue.

Here is your action list for this week. It will take you one to two hours, and it could make the difference between being visible or disappearing when AI takes over.

First, optimise your services. Log into your Google Business Profile and fill in each service specifically. Think about how your customers search and use those words. Add at least eight to ten specific services. The more, the better.

Next, your reviews. This week, send three to five clients a message asking them to leave a detailed review. Specifically ask them to mention the work you've done. And respond to all existing reviews you haven't responded to yet.

Then upload at least five work photos with descriptions. Choose projects that are representative of your work. For each photo, write a sentence or two about what can be seen, what material you have used and in which location it was.

Check your attributes. Go through all available attributes and switch on everything that applies. Free quote? Weekend available? Rush possible? Every extra piece of information counts.

And finally: make it a habit. Not a one-off spruce-up and then forget about it. Schedule half an hour every month to update your profile. New photos, new services if you're offering something new, responding to reviews. Companies that actively maintain their profiles consistently perform better. This was already the case, and with Ask Maps, that difference will only grow.

If this feels overwhelming, or if you simply don't have the time to do it all yourself, then that's exactly what we're here for. At TheSEO We help local entrepreneurs get their online visibility in order. Not with vague promises, but with concrete steps that deliver results.