Start with the boring checks
Before anyone sells you a package, work through these. Most profiles that never appear are failing one of them.
- Your address is not verified. An unverified profile is not eligible for the map pack at all.
- Your category is wrong. "Builder" and "Building contractor" are different categories and they rank for different searches.
- Your opening hours are blank. Google treats a profile with no hours as one it cannot vouch for.
- You have no photos. Profiles with photos get materially more calls than ones without.
Then look at where you actually rank
The map pack is distance-weighted. Searching from your own desk, in your own shop, will always flatter you. Search from a postcode a mile away and you will see what a customer sees.
If you only measure from where you are standing, you will always think you are winning.
What we would change first
Category, then hours, then photos. In that order, because that is the order Google weights them for a small local business.
Written by Marcus Reid
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