Optimising Google Maps for small businesses: 7 steps that actually work
You optimise Google Maps by filling in your business profile completely, choosing the right category, uploading photos regularly, actively collecting reviews, posting weekly, answering the questions yourself, and building consistent local citations. For a local business, a well filled-in profile is one of the few places where you can set the facts exactly the way you want them. In our experience, businesses that work on their profile structurally see a difference in the number of callers within a few months.
Why Google Maps is not a business card
Google Maps is not a static business card, but a living platform that continuously assesses how active, complete and relevant your business profile is. For local businesses, from hairdressers and plumbers to physiotherapists, bakeries and handymen, it is one of the most powerful marketing channels there is.
Two figures often quoted here have deliberately been left out: the 46 per cent local intent figure comes from a 2018 presentation by a Google employee and was never published by Google, and the 76 per cent who visit a business within a day is from Think with Google in 2016, ten years old and never repeated. What does hold true: if you are not in that top three, those customers go to your competitor. You can carry out most of the seven steps below yourself. You can find more practical guidance on local visibility in our knowledge base.
Step 1: fill in your profile completely
Allow 30 to 60 minutes, one-off. A complete profile consistently scores higher in local search results than a half filled-in profile. Go through these parts:
Business name
use your official name without extra keywords. A name like "Plumber Amsterdam Jan de Vries" might seem clever, but it can get your profile suspended.Address
enter the complete address with house number and postcode. If you work on location at customers' premises, set a service area instead.Opening hours
state them exactly, including on public holidays. Nothing is more frustrating for a customer than driving to a business that looks open but turns out to be closed.Contact details
a phone number with the correct dialling code and a working link to your website.Description
you have a maximum of 750 characters. Describe what you do, for whom, and why customers choose you. Work in keywords, but write for people.After that, check that the name, address and phone number on your profile exactly match your website and other platforms. Even small discrepancies lower your authority.
Step 2: choose the right category
This takes 10 to 20 minutes and is one of the heaviest choices on your profile. Google does not publish weightings, but in the annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey by Whitespark, the primary category comes out as the heaviest factor. The rule: specificity always beats generality.
If you are a beauty salon that mainly does eyebrows, choose "eyebrow salon" instead of "beauty salon"
A law firm specialising in employment law chooses "employment law solicitor" instead of "law firm". You can also add up to nine secondary categories. A plumber, for example, adds "boiler installer", "bathroom installer" and "emergency plumber". Secondary categories are an addition, not a replacement.
Note: it happens that a category shows differently after a change to the platform than the way you set it
Google does not describe that anywhere as policy, but check every month for that reason that your category is still correct, especially after major changes such as the May 2026 core update and what local trades can and cannot do about it.
Step 3: upload photos regularly
Set aside 15 minutes a month for this. The pair of figures that turns up everywhere, 42% more requests for directions and 35% more referrals to your website, does not appear in Google's help page on photos and videos and has been removed. Photos tell a story before anyone has read a single word about you. Make sure you have at least:
- A profile photo: your logo or a clear photo of yourself
- A cover photo of your premises or location
- Interior photos
- Photos of products or completed projects
- Short videos of 30 to 90 seconds
Stock photos do not work here
Authenticity is the key word, and customers see straight through it when images are too polished or too generic. Upload at least two new photos a month. Not because Google names activity as a ranking factor, because it does not name that anywhere, but because a visitor who opens your profile then sees that you are working. Use descriptive file names such as "plumber-bathroom-amsterdam.jpg" or "hairdresser-womens-treatment-rotterdam.jpg". Also check regularly what customers upload and report unwanted or misleading images through the reporting option.
Step 4: actively collect reviews
Five minutes per completed job, no more than that. Google itself says that more reviews and better ratings can improve your local position. Google does not publish a ranking of factors, so nobody can say with certainty exactly how heavily they weigh. Worth noting: in the BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 97 per cent of respondents say they read reviews about local businesses, and 49 per cent trust those reviews as much as the opinion of someone they know. BrightLocal surveyed 1,002 American consumers for this, so read it as a general direction rather than an exact benchmark for your own market. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
Here is how you collect them systematically: after every completed job, send a short message via WhatsApp, text or email with a direct link to your review page
Put that link in your email signature too, and place a QR code at your till or reception desk.
Small business owners most often go wrong with negative reviews
Always reply calmly, professionally and with a solution in mind, never emotionally or defensively. That reply is not just for that one customer: hundreds of people who look at your profile later will read that exchange too. Thank positive reviewers briefly and personally, by name, and avoid generic stock replies. Write something specific that responds to what the customer described.
Step 5: use Google Posts as a marketing channel
Ten minutes per post, once a week. Google Posts, also known as Google Updates, are one of the most under-used features of the platform. Most small business owners do not even know they exist, while your posts are directly visible in the search results, at exactly the moment someone is actively searching for your business.
You can make announcements, share offers, promote events and highlight products or services, with call-to-action buttons such as "Book now", "Learn more", "Call us" or "Order online". Regular posts stay visible for around seven days, event posts until after the end date.
Alternate between informative posts on frequently asked questions, offers, project updates and seasonal tips
A plumber writes about when to have your boiler serviced, a physiotherapist shares exercises for back pain, a hairdresser promotes a seasonal offer. Avoid generic posts: "Welcome to our profile!" is wasted effort. Write your posts for the reader. Google does not name posts anywhere as a relevance signal, so stuffing them with keywords achieves nothing. What does count is that someone who opens your profile sees that you are active.
Step 6: put your customers' questions where they actually get read
A one-off 20 minutes. The advice you still read everywhere is that you should fill in the questions-and-answers section of your Business Profile yourself. That section no longer exists: Google shut down the Q&A API on 3 November 2025 and removed the public threads afterwards. So that advice cost you time on something that no longer exists.
The questions themselves are still worth their weight in gold, they just belong somewhere else now
Come up with the ten questions customers ask you most often and answer them on your own site, in the services list on your profile and in your posts. Think of questions such as:
- Do you also work in the neighbouring town?
- What does a first appointment cost?
- Do you offer an emergency service?
- Is there parking available?
- Which insurers do you accept?
That is where Gemini, Ask Maps and the regular search results get their answer from
One source, then, and three places where it turns up. Add a short, concrete answer to each question with your town name in it, and link to that page from your profile.
Step 7: build up local citations
Allow 1 to 2 hours one-off, plus periodic upkeep. A local citation is any mention of your business name, address and phone number on an external website: business directories, trade associations, local directories, Yelp or Trustpilot. Google uses those mentions as confirmation of your business presence. The more trustworthy sources mention your details, and the more consistent those details are, the more authority Google assigns to your profile.
Consistency is the key word
If your address appears as "Hoofdstraat 14" in one place and as "Hoofdstraat 14A" somewhere else, Google sees that as two different businesses. So make a list of all your online mentions, check that the details match exactly, and correct every discrepancy.
Start with Gouden Gids, Yelp and, where relevant, Tripadvisor, supplemented with sector-specific platforms: healthcare platforms for a physiotherapist, hospitality review sites for a restaurant, trade platforms for a contractor. Ten relevant citations on trustworthy platforms are worth more than fifty mentions on obscure directories. Do not forget your own website either: a separate page on "physiotherapist Den Bosch" or "plumber Rotterdam Kralingen" helps Google make the connection between your site and your Maps profile.
The rules that get a profile suspended
The seven steps above are about building. This part is about not falling over, and it is the only part of this page where a single mistake costs you everything you built up in the other six steps. A suspended profile disappears from Maps and from the local results, and getting it back in practice takes longer than it took to build up. Google sets out the rules in the guidelines for representing your business on Google, checked on 25 August 2026. Three of them are broken most often, usually with the best of intentions.
The name is your real name
Your business name on the profile should be the name on your shopfront, your van and your invoices. No keywords, place names or slogans may be added that do not genuinely belong there. This is exactly the temptation step 1 already mentioned, and the reason it is there is that it works until someone reports it.The address is a place where you can be reached
A PO box or an address where nobody is present during your opening hours should not be there. If you work at customers' homes, set a service area and hide the address instead. That is not a second-rate workaround but the solution meant for your type of business.One profile per location
Two profiles for the same address, or a second profile for a second service at that same address, is a duplicate listing. They compete with each other, split your reviews, and sooner or later get merged or removed. If you accidentally have two, clean them up yourself before the platform does it for you.There is a fourth rule that is less well known: whoever manages a profile for a business that no longer exists or has moved should report that. An address that is no longer correct does not just cost you visitors who end up at a closed door, it also costs you trust with a platform that pays attention to consistency. That connects directly to step 7 on citations: the same everywhere, right down to how the street name is spelled.
The fields almost nobody fills in
Most profiles we open are only about half filled in. The name, address, phone number and opening hours are there, and that is where it stops. The rest of the profile sits empty, even though those are exactly the fields that decide what a visitor reads before they call. Together they take an hour, and they are free.
Services
You can list your services individually, with a short description for each. This is the place where you can write in plain words what you do without stretching your category. A plumber lists leak detection, boiler replacement and drain unblocking here, each with two lines of explanation.Products
For anyone selling something, this is a second shop window in Maps, with a photo, a price indication and a link. It also works for packages and subscriptions.Attributes
Wheelchair accessible, own parking, card payments accepted, free wifi, appointment needed. Small details, but they are exactly the things that make someone drop off if they are missing.Special opening hours
Public holidays, the summer shutdown, Christmas week. A profile that looks open on Boxing Day and is actually closed earns the one review you do not want.The link to bookings or quotes
If you have a booking calendar or a quote form, that link belongs here. Every click fewer between the profile and the enquiry counts.There is one field we deliberately did not put in this list, and that is the opening date. It is useful, but it is also irreversibly visible: a business that started last month looks different to a visitor than one that has been around for ten years. Fill it in honestly, and realise this is the one field on your profile that can work against you without you being able to do anything about it.
Do not fill in these fields on all your locations at once if you have more than one
Do one, watch for two weeks how your profile looks in the search results, and only then roll it out. That way you know which text you are eventually putting everywhere.
How to measure whether it works, without fooling yourself
The most common measurement mistake with Google Maps is someone searching for their own service on their own phone and concluding they are at the top. That says nothing. Distance is one of the factors Google itself names, and you happen to be standing next to your own business. Someone doing the same search three kilometres away sees a different order. The map is not a league table but an answer to a question that differs from person to person.
What does measure something: the performance overview in your own business profile
It shows how many people saw your profile, which search terms brought them in, how many called, how many requested directions and how many clicked through to your website. Those are actions by real people, not a position that changes from street to street.
Our approach to this is simple, and it takes four weeks:
- Week 0. Note down the four figures that actually matter: calls, direction requests, website clicks and messages. Write them down with the date. Do this before you change anything.
- Weeks 1 to 4. Carry out the seven steps. Do not change three things on the same day, because then you will not know afterwards what worked.
- Week 4. Note down the same four figures again and put them side by side. Also look at the search terms: if new ones have appeared that you did not have before, your category or your services list is doing its job.
Two warnings about that list
The first: season. A roofer in November and a roofer in March are not comparable, so alongside the previous month, also add the same month last year if you have it. The second: do not expect a straight line. Local visibility moves around, even without you doing anything, and one bad week is not proof of anything. What you are looking for is a direction over two or three months, not a jump in seven days. Anyone who would rather start with an independent baseline measurement can use the free local visibility check NL and put that result next to their own figures.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take before I see results?
Quick changes such as your category or basic information take effect within a few days. Reviews and citations work more slowly, think weeks to months. On average you see noticeable improvement within 4 to 12 weeks. Consistency is the key word: businesses that work on their profile structurally keep growing.
Does this also work without a physical location?
Yes. Service businesses such as plumbers, electricians, cleaners and home care providers set a service area instead of a physical address. In that case, pay extra attention to reviews, photos of your work and Google Posts.
What do I do about fake negative reviews?
Report the review to Google as a policy violation. Also reply publicly: state that you do not recognise this person as a customer and invite them to get in touch. That reply is just as valuable for onlookers as the removal itself.
What influence does AI have on Google Maps?
In 2026, Google is integrating AI-generated overviews into the search results, including for local searches. Those overviews draw on all the available information about your business. So a complete, active and well written profile is exactly the type of content AI picks up on. Write as if you are answering a customer's question. Also read what changed for adverts and local visibility during Google Marketing Live 2026.
How often should I update my profile?
Weekly: publish a new post, reply to reviews, check the questions and add a photo. Monthly: check your basic information, from opening hours and phone number to address and category. An active profile consistently scores better than a dormant profile, even if the basic information on that dormant profile is entirely correct.
Take the quick test now
Open an incognito window in your browser and search for your service plus your town, for example "hairdresser Amsterdam Centrum" or "plumber Utrecht emergency service". Are you in the top three results? If not, the seven steps in this article will have a direct, measurable impact.
Would rather have help
We analyse your Google Business Profile for free and tell you exactly where the opportunities are to score higher in your region. No obligations, just concrete insights. See how we improve your SEO or dive further into the knowledge base for more articles on local visibility.
If you stay stuck below four points, it is not a profile problem
The scorecard above tells you two things at once. If you score eight or higher, your profile is in order and your difference with the competition lies in reputation: reviews, citations and mentions off your own site. That is the slow side, and you build it with step 5 and step 7. If you stay stuck below four, something fundamental is probably wrong, and that is almost never the category. Usually it is a duplicate listing, an address that does not match the rest of the internet, or a profile sitting on someone's old private email address that nobody can access any more.
You do not fix that kind of thing by uploading another photo. First go through DOC.K.09, because that is where the three rules this gets stuck on are set out. If you cannot get to the bottom of it, put it to us. Send us the name of your business and your town, and we will look at your profile with you and tell you what we would tackle first. That is not a quote and it costs nothing. If you want to outsource it afterwards, this work falls under improving your SEO, and the rates are on pricing NL.