Guide for businesses
How to appear on Google Maps with your business
By Alex MG Studio · · 6 min read
Quick answer
To appear on Google Maps you need to create a Google Business Profile (free, at business.google.com), verify it and complete it as fully as possible: the right category, area or address, opening hours, photos, services and a link to your website. After that, what will help you climb the most is customer reviews and steady activity.
Step by step to create your profile
- Go to business.google.com with a Google account (preferably a business account rather than your personal one).
- Enter your business’s real name. The same one that appears on your premises and your website; adding keywords to the name is against Google’s rules.
- Choose the most precise main category you can: “Hair salon”, “Car repair shop”, “Dentist”… It’s one of the things that matters most.
- Enter your location: if you receive customers at your premises, add the address. If you go to the customer’s home (plumbers, renovations…), set it up as a service-area business with your working area and without showing the address.
- Add your phone number and website.
- Verify the profile. Google will ask you to verify it (by video, phone call, text message, email or post, depending on the case). If it isn’t verified, the profile doesn’t appear.
How to optimise your profile to rank higher
- Fill in everything: opening hours (including public holidays), services, description, attributes and payment methods.
- Upload real photos of your premises, your team and your work, and keep adding new ones every month.
- Get reviews: ask satisfied customers for them with a direct link. Never buy them or make them up.
- Reply to every review, including negative ones, politely.
- Post updates from time to time: offers, jobs, events.
- Consistency (NAP): the same name, address and phone number on your website, on Maps and in directories.
What decides who comes first on Maps
Google explains that its local ranking is based on three factors:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person is looking for.
- Distance: how close you are to the person searching or to the area they mention.
- Prominence: how well known your business is (reviews, mentions, links and your website).
You can’t change distance, but you can change relevance and prominence: a complete profile, good reviews and a fast, optimised website make the difference.
Why your website helps your Maps listing
Linking your profile to a website of your own, with your services, your town and the same contact details, gives Google more information and more trust. That’s why Alex MG Studio’s Business Plan includes local SEO and Google Maps optimisation.
And at Alex MG Studio? I work with three fixed-price plans for businesses all over Spain:
- Basic Plan, €149 + VAT: a one-page, mobile-friendly website with WhatsApp and call buttons, published on your domain.
- Business Plan, €290 + VAT: all of the above plus persuasive copy, local SEO and set-up in Google Search Console.
- Pro Plan, €490 + VAT: everything above with several pages, bookings or a calendar and custom animations.
- Optional maintenance, €19 + VAT a month: monthly changes, checks and backups, with no minimum term.
Payment: 25% when we start and 75% before delivery. The domain and hosting are registered in your business’s name, so the website is 100% yours.
See what each plan includes or request a no-obligation quote.