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Have you been wondering why your business is not visible on Google Maps?
Here are the possible causes.
There is one distinctive reason that keeps your business from showing on Google Maps. It is that the GMB listing of your business lacks location authority. In simpler words, your business will only show up in Google Maps if you are either exactly at the business location or near it.
What can you do to avoid this? Also, is this the only reason for your business to be invisible?
Our experts at Top SEO Vancouver have all the answers.
Allow us to walk you through 7 reasons why your business does not show up on Google Maps.
- Unverified GMB
- Lack of location authority
- Suspended GMB
- Relocation of business
- Absence of an embedded Google map
- Lack of consistent posting in Google Maps listing
- No Google reviews
Is location authority the only reason why your business refuses to be found on Google Maps? Well, it is possibly the most common reason, but it isn’t the only one.
How can we break down other reasons that cause this issue?
Now you can read more about these 7 other noteworthy reasons why your business location won’t show on Google Maps. You will learn that there could be a variety of reasons other than the absence of location authority.
Maybe you are having trouble getting your business to show up even if you have a Google My Business listing already. This is probably when these other factors play into deciding your place on Google Maps.
Let’s jump right in!
Why Is Google Maps Not Showing My Business?
The internet has become the go-to option for finding products and services. Everybody is so eager to integrate their business with search engines like Google and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa.
“But why isn’t my business showing up on Google Maps?”
Are you a frustrated business owner who can’t figure out the answer to this question?
Don’t worry, we got you.
With a little background knowledge and a basic understanding about Google Maps, local SEO, and GMB listings, you can finally achieve your business goals. In no time, people will notice your business on their Google Maps.
This is a complete guide filled with written tips, videos and images that will help you bring your business up on Google Maps.
If you are worried about relevance, don’t be. We have updated this guide to be applicable after the latest Google algorithm. After studying the patterns of Google Maps and how My Business Listings have functioned over the years, we were able to come up with some solid reasons.
So here’s why your business has not been able to show up on Google Maps yet!
1. UNVERIFIED GMB (GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING)
Let’s start from the basics.
Type in the name of your business on Google along with the city it is located in. Google will show you the business listing towards the right in the search engine results page.
This is what it looks like:
Move your eyes to the link that says “Suggest an edit”. If the link stands alone, which means you can’t see a link that says “Own this business?” next to it, you have a verified GMB listing.
If the “Own this business?” link is visible, your GMB listing is still not verified.
Having your business listed on Google is not the same as having a “verified” GMB listing. Look at this image right here. If your business listing includes both these links, that means your business, even though it is listed, remains unverified.
How To Differentiate Between Verified And Unverified Gmb Listings?
It’s not that hard to spot the differences between the two.
Like we said, if your business has the “Own this business?” link, it is not verified yet.
Most business owners will not notice the impact of this difference because the GMB listing will still allow the business to appear in the listings of Google Maps. However, a GMB listing alone can’t bring your business up on Google Maps. Without the verification, your business will remain hidden on Google Maps.
Only a verified GMB listing will make it to Google Maps.
As markets are getting cut-throat competitive day by day, unverified GMB listings stand little to no chance. This is especially applicable if you are involved in mainstream businesses related to healthcare, legal services, home services and automobile services. The worst-case scenario is that an unverified business will not even secure a place on the Business listing.
The biggest question remains:
“How do I get my business listing verified?”
What better way than to take Google’s advice? Here is a proven results for Google map optimization.
To make things easier for you, let me tell you a common and easy way to verify your listing. First, you create a GMB listing. Next, you make a request for a postcard. The postcard will then be sent straight to your business location, which is the official proof that you have a verified listing on Google.
The GMB Postcard
GMB postcards tend to get lost in the way. Wondering why?
The verification postcards are often misunderstood as spam by business employees. To avoid this issue, give the person handling your business mail a heads-up to receive and hand over the postcard securely to you.
Wondering What The Google My Business Verification Postcard Is Like?
Here’s a picture:
Upon getting the postcard, what you have to do is simple. There is a code on the postcard that you have to input into the GMB listing verification box. Simply enter it, and voilà, your business is officially verified on GMB!
Wondering What The Google My Business Verification Postcard Is Like?
After entering your code into the verification box, most of the job is done. If you have difficulty finding the verification box, it’s right there in the dashboard of your business listing. Here’s what it looks like.
The code must be entered into the rectangular box right next to the word “PIN”. Once you submit, that’s all there is to do!
But my business is not showing up on Google Maps, even after I verify my code!
Okay, so you completed the verification of your GMB listing using the code. Everything is cleared up and verified.
Wait, why isn’t the business still not showing on Google Maps?
This is when you feel like throwing a few punches at the computer screen. And we don’t blame you.
There could be a few reasons for your business to still not show. These are issues you can work around, we promise.
2. LACKING LOCATION AUTHORITY
The verification of your GMB listing could be the initial requirement for getting your business to appear on Google Maps, but it is not the ONLY requirement!
If you can get your business to land on the first search engine results page once you verify the code, good for you! As tempting as this may sound, this is not the case most of the time.
Competitive businesses are always at war to rank higher. The business verification on Google will possibly help your page secure a spot in 2nd- 5th results pages, depending on the keyword.
This is obviously not enough.
How can we then get a higher ranking on Google Maps?
The magic formula is: Location Authority. Location authority actually does two amazing things.
- Increasing the rank of your business on Google Maps
- Helping users find your business easier on local search
Not having location authority can result in the invisibility of your business. In other words, users will not be able to find your business unless they are physically at or around where your business is located.
When you have location authority, this situation changes for the better. Your business will gain more visibility, and the radius within which it will be found on Google Maps will increase dramatically.
What does this really mean?
It means that having good location authority can help users find your business at 2-10 mile radius. The more the authority, the higher the radius.
Better location authority is corresponding to increased proximity radius.
Therefore, Top SEO Vancouver has found a great method to help any business rank high on local results and Google Maps, no matter how ultra-competitive the market is.
That is;
Location Authority
What exactly does Location Authority mean?
Let us now briefly go over what the term means, and how it helps your business.
Location Authority has so much ranking power. It is a boost for your GMB listing, as it helps rank businesses higher in both Google Maps and local SERPs.
Local Authority is a very important factor in local SEO. Functioning well in a local context is a necessity if you want to expand your business further. That is exactly what the Local Authority does.
Cornerstones of Location Authority
Solid Location Authority needs to be accurate and stable
- Accuracy
- Stability
If you are eager to be a competitive candidate in the market, location authority needs to be achieved right. Strong location authority can help you outrun other competitors and rise to the top in terms of location-based ranking.
Making this happen is not difficult if you know how to maintain the accuracy and constancy of the details and specifics you have published about your business.
What are these details and specifics?
- Name of business (this should match the name on the Google My Business listing)
- Accurate street address (suite/ building number, P.O. Box)
- Zip code (City/ State)
- Contact number(s)
- Web address (URL)
We at Top SEO Vancouver call this information “Business Citations”. It is crucial to make sure that the citations on the web do not contradict the details you have entered on the GMB listing.
Basically, the information you enter about your business anywhere on the internet, should be a perfect match to the details on the Google My Business listing.
Still curious? Learn more about citations here.
Refer to the image below to get a clear understanding of what Google Maps citations are. The GMB listing shown in the image includes different elements of a business citation, which we have identified separately.
Take the business citation of Top SEO Vancouver for example.
These are the details that appear in all our web content and in our GMB listing, consistently and accurately.
This is the Google Maps citation for Top SEO Vancouver:
Top SEO Vancouver
422 Richards St Suite 170
Vancouver, Canada
236 863-712
By looking at this, you will be able to grasp what a citation distribution network looks like. Local SEO practices are enhanced by the use of consistent and error-free business citations.
An accurate visual representation of the local citation network is presented by Moz, which is given below.
The Impact Of Google Maps Citation On Location Authority
Every time your business citation is published somewhere on the web, it causes your Google Maps rankings to rise. This is akin to how backlinks can increase traffic to your website, and how they can aid to secure a higher spot on search engine results pages.
This is not to say that leaving your business citation haphazardly all over the internet is the way to gain good location authority. No.
Choose the sites in which you will build citations carefully. It is important to pick sites that are related to your business, both industry and proximity-wise.
If you ask us, we can suggest some websites that we believe would be great to publish your citations in.
- 1. Facebook
- 2. Bing Places
- 3. Foursquare
- 4. Industry Canada
- 5. YellowPages
- 6. Yelp
- 7. iBegin
- 8. Brownbook
- 9. MapQuest
- 10. CanPages
- 11. WebLocal
- 12. 411
- 13. AboutUs.com
- 14. ShowMeLocal
- 15. Goldbook
- 16. Profile Canada
- 17. n49
- 18. Found Locally
- 19. Cylex
- 20. YLM
- 21. HotFrog
- 22. (BONUS) Better Business Bureau
These are some of the more general sites that any business owner, regardless of the industry, can use. In addition to these general sites, publish your business citation on sector-specific sites too. This will help bring more potential customers who are on the search for similar services.
Take this resource list we maintain that includes lawyers and law firms in Canada as an example.
Similarly, our list of dentist services is another example for sector-specific business citations. They can be utilized successfully in creating effective location authority.
As a whole, business citations must be created with care and caution. No matter which sites you decide to add a citation into, there’s got to be a purpose behind it. Relevant and decisive business citations are the key to driving and increasing location authority.
To sum it up, we can safely say that your rank on Google local search will skyrocket if you increase the Google Maps location authority strategically. Users will be directed to your business without much difficulty. This means that the number of messages, calls, and requests your business receives will also increase.
That’s definitely good news, isn’t it?
3. SUSPENDED GMB
Speaking of good news;
You KNOW for a fact that “suspended” is the opposite of “good news.
What if you suddenly log in to Google one day and discover that your business is no longer appearing on Google Maps? If you have experienced this, you probably already know the feeling.
We have had enough clients come and ask us in fits of terror and confusion:
“What on earth happened to my business listing!?”
Clients are doubly anxious if their business used to rank on top of the local result page, but is now evaporated into thin air. I mean, in all fairness, it’s worse to have had and lost, isn’t it?
We have encountered several such cases where a business listing which used to rank on top positions is now not showing up anymore. The issue usually looks like this:
Suspended in red. This can’t be good.
There is a multitude of possible reasons why your Google My Business listing got suspended. Typically, Google identifies the issue and points it out to you. As annoying as you may think this is, it actually helps you figure out the issue and start troubleshooting accordingly.
Why Do Google My Business Listings Get Suspended?
- 1. When your business details are updated by you but are still not verified by Google
- 2. When Google still needs proof to verify your listing. The system is waiting to verify the location of your office. An image of the front office, to be specific.
- 3. Excessive use of keywords in your Google My Business title
- 4. When the URL you have entered in your business listing is a forwarding URL
- 5. Maybe your office is virtual (P.O. Box/ UPS Store box)
- 6. Your business is virtual, but you mistakenly entered the street address to Google Maps
- 7. Whatever the reason is, you got your Google My Business listing suspended. Now what?
The first and easiest remedy we recommend is to call Google Local help because they will guide you through the possible solutions.
Previously, calling Google Local support was just a matter of one click. Because the call button was right up there on the GMB dashboard.
Sadly, not anymore.
Now, you have to follow a couple of additional steps. First, call Google Adwords support. From there, you can choose the Google My Business support service.
Even though most of you might think that this is a lot of trouble to take, we highly recommend going through it in order to recover your listing. There’s no one better suited to help troubleshoot Google than Google itself.
4. RELOCATION OF BUSINESS
Did you recently relocate your business? Are you trying to figure out some problems about the new address?
Losing your place on Google Maps once your business is relocated is not uncalled for.
Although this is a common issue, it is easily avoidable. Most business owners are either too busy or simply forget to edit the address after relocation. If you do that right away, that sends the signal that your GMB is up to date with the changes that are happening in your business, location-wise.
If business owners are not keeping their GMB updated and active, that means the relocation happened without any updates to the listing. Google will not trust businesses like that.
It is highly likely that Google decides to suspend your listing on the grounds that a move has happened without any proof or updates. There is no data to prove that you moved from Location A to Location B. This gap will cause a suspension.
A suspended listing will no longer appear on the search results or Google Maps, as you can guess.
This issue is pretty easy to sidestep. The one thing you MUST do is to be actively engaged with your GMB listing and updating it the very instant you move your business to a new location.
In the process of updating a new address, Google will most probably ask for a verification. This is when the postcard verification process we discussed before in this article has to be repeated. Request a postcard and confirm the code, the same exact way we showed you earlier.
There are other ways to verify a relocation. Sometimes, Google uses an email or phone verification to verify relocated business addresses. If that is the case, things are easier.
Gmb Relocation Verification: Various Methods
Like I said, Google typically offers many verification options to confirm business address changes.
As far as our experience goes, these three options are presented in the relocation of an address, not on the first time verification.
Follow either one of these methods and verify your move to a new address, and ta-da! Your business will return to Google Maps in a flash!
The Connection Between Brand Capital And Location Authority
Brand capital has the power to increase the location authority, it is as simple as that.
With brand capital, you can get your business to pop up often on the local search results. Why? Because brand capital has the potential to help your website rank higher while connecting it with many search phrases that are related.
Brand capital is also able to help increase location authority, which basically impacts the productivity of your ranking. There are various productivity metrics that apply in this:
- Direction requests
- Submission of forms
- Calls
- Requests for Q&A from the Google My Business listing
- Reviews (On platforms like Google, Yelp, Amazon, Facebook)
In the simplest terms, when your brand capital rises, the location authority rises with it. When the location authority rises, your business will be more visible to local searchers.
Ways Of Increasing Brand Capital
The ideal way of doing this is by integrating citation, blog and social media distribution.
To elaborate, accurate and relevant distribution of citations and the distribution of blogs through social media help build brand capital. Your efficacy in doing this will result in higher location authority.
My GMB Listing Disappeared Suddenly. Why?
We already went through multiple reasons for the sudden disappearance of a business listing. However, we noticed some irregularities on Google’s part as well. These issues affect organic listings most of the time.
Sometimes, certain niche keyword phrases do not display Google Map listings.
For example, when we searched “autism counselling New Westminster”, these were the results that came up.
No GMB listings at all.
As Google keeps updating its information, this issue may or may not occur when we recheck next week or next month. The point is, we have occasionally seen this happen multiple times. The point is sometimes, Google Maps listings do not appear at all.
With the fluctuations of rankings, you will land in different places of the search engine results pages. Like we said, this may be Google’s doing, which you have no control over.
We Believe That This Issue Can Be Explained In Relation To Google’s Platform Politics
Google Maps tries to be as sophisticated as it can when presenting local search results. In the process, niche search terms get clouded over by the broader categories they belong to.
For instance, keyword phrases like “autism counselling New Westminster” will get eclipsed by more common phrases like “counselling New Westminster”.
Along these lines, we can think of a way of using this pattern of Google for your advantage.
You can actually create an optimization method out of this irregularity!
That is by adding service menus to your GMB listing. Think of the example we just studied. If you own a counselling service, optimize it under several subcategories such as “autism counselling”. Internal optimization within GMB listings can widen your chance of appearing on the search results under multiple keyword phrases.
5. ABSENCE OF AN EMBEDDED GOOGLE MAP
This is a mistake done by several business owners.
The solution is simple.
Embed A Google Map To Your Website
As simple as this step is, most business owners either forget or ignore it. Embedding a Google Map on your website, no matter how simple it sounds, can do wonders. Maybe you have seen this done on the contact pages of websites. That’s exactly what you can do, too.
Remember; keep the address unchanged and constant between the GMB listing and the website. When you embed the Google Map, make sure that the address is accurate. By doing this, Google will know that there are no contradictions between the business address and the address on the listing.
How To Embed A Google Map?
- Manually enter the name of your business on Google Maps and press “search
- Choose the “share” option from the GMB listing and select “Embed a map”
- Copy the link to your clipboard and paste on the contact page of your business website
6. LACK OF CONSISTENT POSTING IN GOOGLE MAPS LISTING
In order to be a trusted business owner on Google Maps, you need to post consistently. Posting on the GMB listing is no different than posting on Facebook. Frequent posts are a sign of active engagement with your listing.
Users are always keen to know information in the most convenient way possible. Posting on Google is a straightforward and appealing way of getting your potential customers to notice your business. Plus, constant posting takes away the risk of getting your GMB listing suspended due to inactivity.
7. NO GOOGLE REVIEWS
Google has become increasingly user-oriented over the years. It must baffle no one that Google is all about what people love. If your business has amazing reviews from customers, Google will favour you over other businesses that don’t get as many good reviews. It’s simple platform politics.
But you can’t constantly pester customers asking for reviews, can you?
There are a few things you can do.
A GMB listing will enable reviews without you having to press any buttons. But how often will people bother to stop and write a review for you?
What can you do on your part to get those reviews coming?
Here are some things you can do.
- Be an active business owner and create good relationships with your customers. You can make friendly requests for them to leave reviews on Google.
- Engage with the reviews you get. Respond to them and let the reviewers know you appreciate their support.
- Respond to negative reviews. Try your best to address and fix the issues your customers have raised.
- Check your reviews daily. Be quick to respond so that your customers will not get frustrated.
- A couple of bad reviews don’t mean the end of the world. Be as polite and considerate as you can when you respond to them.
Your Business Is Not Showing Up On Google Maps
If the problem persists after following all these steps, chances are that there is an issue that needs to be checked by a professional. We at Top SEO Vancouver can gladly share our expertise on the matter to get your business to show on Google Maps.
With the rise of smartphones, the importance of showing up on Google Maps has heightened.
This is why Google Maps Business listings appear right on top (just below paid ads) of the results pages when you search for a service. Try typing “best restaurants in Vancouver” into Google. This is what it looks like:
It is common knowledge that most people ignore paid ads. In this case, your business is at a huge advantage if you are able to bring it up on the GMB listings for local searches.
How Can I Find Out If I Have A Google My Business Account?
Method 1:
- Visit business.google.com Sign in and see if you can find your dashboard.
- Do you have a dashboard that has business listings? If so, you do have a GMB account.
Method 2:
- Go to business.google.com/add
- Manually search the name and address of your business. Click continue when it appears
- If you are indicated as the owner of the listing, you have a GMB account for the specific location you entered
- If it shows someone else as the owner, you will have to verify your ownership. To do this, follow the verification request procedure we discussed under section (1). (Unverified GMB)
How To Get My Listing To Pop Up On Google
Out of the methods we discussed, these two are the major and basic ways of getting a business to rank on Google.
-Verifying the location
-Indexing and crawling your site on Google
Try This Method For The Verification Of Your Business Location:
- Visit https://www.google.com/business/
- Search for your business and address on the search bar
- Select your business if you see it (Add it if you don’t)
- Follow the steps to verify the business (as shown in “1. Unverified GMB” in this article)
- Use the code on the postcard to verify your business
This will assist your business to show up on Google Maps.
Ensuring You Have Crawled And Indexed Your Website On Google
- Conduct a site query (search the URL of your website on Google)
- Do you see the web pages from your website on the results? If you do, the website is indexed on Google
- If you don’t see the pages on the results, visit Google Search Console
- Enter your website to the console and verify
- By submitting, you are requesting manual indexing for your URL
How Quickly Can Google Verify My Business?
Verification postcards usually arrive any time in the span of 14 days. If you are following the “via-mail” method of verification, ensure that your address is compliant with the guidelines of entering addresses. Simply avoid editing any details like the name, address and category of your business during the waiting time. Also, DO NOT request a second code if you already applied and are waiting for one.
It is highly possible that you will get your postcard via mail within 7 days. We repeat: keep your staff informed that a postcard from Google is on the way. This will keep them from throwing it away unknowingly.
Refer to Google Support for more info.
Can I Verify My Gmb Without A Postcard?
Out of the 5 ways of verifying your Google My Business, only 1 involves the postcard.
What are the other ways you can take?
- Verification through phone
- Verification through email
- Instant verification of the business listing
- Multiple/ Bulk verification (Where you verify 10 businesses or more)
However, not every business is qualified to verify their listing without a postcard. If the business has a considerable quantity of location authority, non-mail verifications will probably be allowed. The postcard method, though a little slow, is the most common and fool-proof way of verifying a business.
How To Confirm That Your Business Is Finally Verified Successfully On Google?
What are the two easy ways to know that your business is verified now?
- When you enter the name of your business into Google, check whether you get a knowledge panel or a Google Maps listing towards the right. If the “Own this business?” link is no longer visible, the verification has been successful.
- Once you access the GMB dashboard, check if the location of your business is listed. If it is, your business is verified. If you can’t find the listing, your business could still actually be verified by Google but could be not under your ownership.
Need more help sorting out the issue that caused your business to not show up on Google Maps?
Feel free to call us!
