I’ve audited many Google Maps listings over the past decade. The pattern never changes.
Business owners come to me frustrated. They’ve been told they’re “doing SEO.” They’ve paid someone to build a website. They might even have a Google Maps listing.
Then I open their Google Business Profile and find it’s 30% complete. At best.
The categories are wrong. The services section is empty. The business description says nothing about what they actually do or where they do it. They have five reviews collected over ten years.
If the information doesn’t exist, Google can’t find it.
This guide walks you through the exact process I use with clients to transform their Google Maps presence from invisible to dominant in their local area.
Why Google Maps Matters More Than Your Website
Here’s what most businesses don’t realise: 76% of local searches with local intent result in an in-person visit within 24 hours.
When someone searches “electrician Caulfield” or “tree removal Wollongong,” they’re not browsing for next month. They need help now.
Google Maps is where that decision gets made.
I tell every client the same thing: you’re better off having Google Maps with reviews and no website than having a poor website with no Google Maps presence.
The numbers back this up. 42% of users click on results from the Google 3-pack. That’s the box showing the top three local businesses on page one.
If you’re not in that box, you’re invisible to nearly half of potential customers searching for what you do.
The Invisible Fields That Determine Your Visible Rankings
Most business owners think Google Maps is just their address and phone number.
They’re missing the fields that actually determine whether Google shows them to customers.
Categories: The Foundation of Everything
As of November 2024, there are 4,098 Google Business Profile categories. Five new categories were added in the last 90 days alone.
Your primary category carries the most weight in Google’s ranking algorithm. It directly impacts which searches you appear in.
I use online tools to find every possible category that applies to my clients’ businesses. Most business owners have one or two categories selected. They’re eligible for eight or ten.
A competitor with two focused categories will outrank you if you’re using ten diluted categories. Google doesn’t know what you’re best at.
The strategy: be specific with your primary category, then add every relevant secondary category that accurately describes your services.
Services: What Google Now Reads for Rankings
Until recently, most SEO experts thought the services section didn’t matter much for rankings.
Testing by Joy Hawkins at Sterling Sky proved that wrong.
Services now impact your Google Business Profile ranking. Each service has a 300-character description field.
Those descriptions aren’t just customer-facing copy. They’re ranking signals.
When I audit a business, the services section is almost always empty. Business owners don’t know it exists or don’t realise it matters.
For a business offering multiple services across multiple locations, filling every service field with unique, detailed descriptions becomes a competitive advantage most competitors won’t build.
Attributes: The Hidden Specificity Layer
Attributes describe specific aspects of your business. When someone searches for “wheelchair accessible café near me,” Google prioritises businesses that have selected that attribute.
Most businesses leave these fields blank.
During my interview process with clients, I ask questions that uncover which attributes apply to them. Then we select all of them.
It’s another invisible ranking factor that surfaces your business for specific searches.
The Two-Tier Visibility System
Think of Google Maps optimisation in two tiers.
Tier one: telling Google everything you do. This happens through your categories, services, business description, and location settings.
If you don’t mention a service, you won’t appear in searches for that service. Even if you have a million five-star reviews.
You have to be in the running first.
Tier two: what customers say about you. Reviews are the second most influential factor in ranking in the top Google Map spots, according to a study of 3,269 local businesses.
But here’s what matters: 73% of consumers only trust reviews from the last 30 days.
Review recency matters more than volume.
When customers mention specific services and locations in their reviews, Google uses that information to match you to relevant searches. You’ll see snippets of customer reviews on page one that highlight the keywords matching what people searched for.
Anything you say about yourself is valuable. Anything a customer says about you is ten times more valuable.
The Review System That Actually Works
I’ve helped clients go from five reviews in ten years to 50 reviews in three months.
The system is simple. Most businesses just don’t have one.
The Business Card
When you arrive at a job, hand the customer your business card. On the back, there’s a QR code.
You say: “Here’s my card with my details. On the back is a QR code. If you want to leave us a review after we’re done, you can scan that with your phone.”
That plants the idea of a review in their mind before you even start work.
The SMS or Review Request Page
When you finish the job and the customer thanks you, you say: “No worries, mate. I’ll send you my Google review link. If you want to thank us, that’s the best thing you can do—leave us a five-star review with as much detail as possible.”
The SMS includes:
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A thank you message
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Suggestions for what they can mention in the review
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A heads-up that clicking the link might ask them to log into Google first
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The direct link to your Google review page
When they click the link, the review box pops up. Stars ready to click. Text field ready to type.
You’ve removed every friction point.
The Results
Fridges R Us Sydney had zero reviews at the end of 2023. By the end of 2024, they had 740 reviews.
In November alone, they got 230 contacts from Google Maps. 56 calls. 76 website clicks.
Over six months, 1,000 people either clicked their Google Maps listing or called them directly from it.
The cost per lead? A fraction of what they were paying for Google Ads before we set up their Google Business Profile properly.
The Content That Makes It All Work
Everything I’ve described depends on one thing: having the right content.
The gap between what’s in your head and what’s on your website is where most businesses lose.
You explain your business brilliantly in person. You know exactly how you help customers. You know what can go wrong and how you prevent those problems.
None of that is written down anywhere.
I start every client relationship with an interview. I ask questions from angles you haven’t considered:
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What do you do that makes a difference for customers?
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How do you avoid the common problems in your industry?
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What should customers know before they hire someone in your field?
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Where exactly do you serve, and how does that impact your service quality?
The conversation pulls out details you take for granted. Those details become the content that fills your Google Maps listing, your website, and your location pages.
Anyone can say they’re the best. Details prove it.
Location Pages: How to Rank Across Multiple Suburbs
If you serve 50, 100, or 200 suburbs, you need location pages.
A location page is a dedicated page for each combination of service and location. “Electrician Caulfield.” “Electrician South Yarra.”
The challenge: Google penalises duplicate content. If all your location pages say the same thing except for the suburb name, Google won’t index them.
I use a proprietary method to create unique content for each page. The content talks about the service, yes, but it also includes real details about the location. We link to council websites and local resources to show Google we’re genuinely focused on that area.
The result: Apps Tree Removal started our location pages programme and got 45 leads in one month with no paid ads.
He went from ranking in Google Maps for southwestern Melbourne only to appearing across most of western Melbourne.
When Google sees you have a page dedicated to exactly what someone searched for, and that page ranks at the top of regular search results, Google often puts you in the Maps box automatically.
The Ongoing Work: Posts and Photos
Setting up your Google Business Profile properly is the foundation. Maintaining it is what keeps you ahead of competitors.
Posts: Your Google Business Profile has a mini blog. You can post updates about jobs you’ve completed, services you offer, tips for customers.
Posting three times per week or daily keeps your profile active. Google favours active profiles.
Photos: When you’re on a job, take photos. Open your Google Maps app and upload them directly to your profile.
Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they find a complete profile. Photos are part of that completeness.
What Happens If You Don’t Do This
AI search is accelerating. Google’s AI is calling businesses. Agentic checkout is completing purchases.
ChatGPT gets used as much as Google Search in my household now.
The information has to exist for AI engines to index it, just like it has to exist for Google to index it.
If you haven’t documented what you do and where you do it, AI won’t find you. Google won’t find you.
When someone in your area searches for the services you provide, they’ll be told about your competitor instead.
Competence without communication is invisible.
The Economics of This Work
Paid ads turn off the moment you stop paying. The tap switches off.
Content appreciates. The longer it exists, the more backlinks it gathers, the higher it ranks. More traffic comes to it. More leads come through it.
One client paid us to build his website, Google Maps, and location pages in year one. Based on what he paid us and the 600 leads he got, his cost per lead was roughly $16.66.
In year two, he only paid our hosting and ongoing optimisation fee of $300 per month. His cost per lead dropped to $6.
That’s the difference between renting attention and owning assets that appreciate.
What to Do Next
Open your Google Business Profile. Look at what’s actually filled in.
Check your categories. Are they specific and complete?
Check your services section. Is it empty?
Check your attributes. Have you selected all the relevant ones?
Check your reviews. Are you systematically asking every customer for a review?
Check your posts and photos. When was the last time you added anything?
Most businesses are 30% complete. Your competitors probably are too.
The ones who fill in the invisible fields are the ones who dominate the visible rankings.
You don’t have to outrun the tiger. You just have to outrun your mate.
