Google Maps
Why is my Newcastle business not showing on Google Maps?
A business usually disappears from Google Maps for one of six reasons, and the owner can check most of them in about ten minutes.
Tell us about your business and what you need.
The short answer
Check the profile before assuming you are outranked.
If your business is not showing on Google Maps, the cause is often a suspended or unverified profile, or a category that does not match the search. Many owners assume they are being outranked and start paying for work when the profile itself is the problem.
The six reasons
The six usual reasons
- The profile is suspended
- Usually there is an email, but not always. A suspended profile stops appearing to anyone but you.
- It was never verified
- Common with profiles created years ago by someone who has since left.
- The category does not match
- Google does not think the business does what is being searched for.
- The searcher is too far away
- Map results are drawn from where the phone is, and a business fades with distance.
- There is a duplicate profile
- Two profiles for one business split the signals and can bury both.
- You are genuinely outranked
- The only reason on the list that takes ongoing work to fix.
Checking
How to check each one yourself
- Sign in and read the status
- The profile shows whether it is suspended, unverified or live. That settles the two most serious causes in a minute.
- Search for yourself in a private window
- Signed out, you see roughly what a stranger sees. Checking while signed in to your own account is misleading.
- Search from another suburb
- If you vanish two suburbs away, that is distance rather than a fault, and pages are the answer.
Best of all, ask someone at the other end of your service area to search on their own phone and tell you what they see.
The common miss
The primary category decides a lot
The primary category decides which searches your business can appear in. A business listed as a general contractor competes for general contractor searches, so someone typing a specific trade may never see it, however good the reviews are.
Choose the category that matches the one thing you most want to be found for, then add the rest as secondary categories and services. This is also the usual reason a business ranks for its own name and nothing else. Look at the primary category the three businesses above you have chosen; it is public.
Fixing it
What to do about each one
- Suspended
- Appeal through Google with documents showing the business is real and at that address. Treat this as urgent, because nothing else is visible until it is resolved.
- Unverified
- Verify it, or request access if someone else controls it.
- Wrong category
- Correct it. It is free.
- Duplicate
- Report it to Google as a duplicate rather than deleting the one with reviews, which loses them for good.
- Distance
- Pages that name the places you serve reach searches the profile cannot.
- Outranked
- The ordinary work: a complete profile, steady reviews and good pages.
Suspension often follows a change rather than an offence: a new address, a new name, a category swap, or many edits in one week on a profile that had been stable.
Around Newcastle
Why one profile cannot cover a whole region
The map is redrawn from wherever the person searching is standing, so a profile is strongest at its own address and fades with distance. Lake Macquarie is a good example: it takes the best part of an hour to drive across, so businesses in Toronto and Belmont appear in different results.
The Central Coast is similar. Gosford and Wyong were separate councils until 2016 and still return different businesses. Setting an honest service area, keeping the hours right and writing pages for the places you really go all help the profile reach further.
The short version
Five of the six causes can be checked in ten minutes and cost nothing to fix. Check them before paying anyone to improve your ranking.
From clients
What clients say about working with spareday
“Excellent in all facets of web design with particular expertise in SEO and email marketing. Online visibility has skyrocketed since working Reece which translates as flawless customer relations, new leads and new customers.”
“Huge shoutout to Reece for building my website for Hughesys Painting Services. Since it went live my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
“He created a stunning website for us that captures and nurtures leads with an automated email marketing system, which has filled a huge gap in the business and saved a lot of time (and money!).”
Official guidance
For independent background, read Google’s explanation of how local rankings work and its guidelines for representing your business.
Common questions
Questions people ask.
Why can I see my profile but customers cannot?
Signed in as the owner, you see your own profile regardless of how it ranks. Check from a private window.
How long does a suspension appeal take?
Often days. Have proof that the business operates at that address ready.
Should I delete a duplicate profile?
No. Report it as a duplicate, and keep the profile with your reviews.
I show up for my own name but nothing else. Why?
Usually the primary category. Google knows the business exists but has been told it does something other than what people search for.
How does spareday charge?
spareday quotes one price for the work your business needs, agreed in writing before anything starts. The figure depends on what the business needs, and it comes with your quote.
Who you’ll work with
Hi, I’m Reece.
spareday is my business, based here in Newcastle. You’ll deal with me from the first review of your website, and I’m the person you talk to each month about what’s working.
Find us
spareday in Newcastle.
12 Grey Street, Wickham, Newcastle NSW 2293.
Next step
Get a quote for your Google profile.
Tell us about your business and what you see when you search. We will talk through the details and send you a quote.
Get a free quoteOr call 0485 017 387.