My Business Isn't Showing Up on Google: Six Questions, in Order

A customer calls to say they searched for your business on Google and couldn’t find it. You grab your phone and type the name. The site does show up in the list of links. The box with the map, the phone number, and the reviews doesn’t. The one for the competitor across the street does.

That box comes from your Google Business Profile, which many people still call by its old name, Google My Business. The searches related to this phrase, measured in Brazil, where we are based, tell the same story. Almost all of them are about the map, about Maps, or about the old name. ¹

Google’s help documents several reasons a business can be missing from the map. Here they become six questions, each with a test you run yourself, for free. And the order matters. Changing the photo on a suspended profile won’t bring it back, because the profile stays off Google until the issue is resolved. ²

Think of the electrician called to a house with no power. Before opening a wall, he checks the breaker panel. Then he checks the meter outside. The wiring comes last. This page follows the same order.

First, tell the site apart from the business

In a search for the name, two things share the screen. One is the list of links, which leads to pages on websites. The other is the Business Profile, which appears on Maps, Search, and other Google platforms. ²

If what’s missing is the site in the list, the diagnosis is a different one, with Search Console in the middle. It is in the piece on a site that isn’t showing up on Google. If you don’t know yet which of the two is missing, the piece on why people can’t find your site sorts the cases. From here down, the subject is the profile.

The name-and-city test

Google’s own help shows how to find the profile. On Google Search, you search for the business’s name and city, or type “my business.” On Google Maps, you search for the name and city. ² Do it two ways and write down both results.

1. As the owner. Sign in to the Google Account that manages the profile. The help warns that you must be signed in to that account to find the profile. ²
2. As a customer. Repeat the search on someone else’s phone, or in an incognito window, signed out. That suggestion is mine, and it lets you see what the customer sees.

With both results on the sheet, choose where to start.

• It showed up in neither: question 1.
• It showed up for you with the “Get verified” button: question 2.
• It showed up for you and is missing for the customer: question 3.
• It shows up by name but disappears in a search for the service: question 4.
• It shows up without a pin on the map: question 5.
• Two listings show up, or the wrong one: question 6.

1. Does the profile exist?

It sounds like a silly question. Even so, the diagnosis starts there. The profile may never have been created. It may also exist without anyone from the business having claimed it.

On Google Maps, on a computer, search for the business’s name and city. If the listing shows the “Claim this business” option, it exists and nobody has verified it. Whoever claims it picks a verification option and follows the on-screen instructions. ³

If the listing shows as verified and nobody at the business has access, someone else took over the profile earlier. It could be the old agency, a former employee, or the relative who helped when the business opened. The help says to request access from the current owner, who has three days to respond. Without a response, the option to claim may show up. Google itself warns that it isn’t always available. ⁴

If nothing shows up anywhere, the profile doesn’t exist. Creating one costs nothing. ³ Before you do, check whether the business qualifies. Google only accepts businesses that make in-person contact with customers during their stated hours. Online-only businesses are left out. ⁵

A newly created profile calls for a patience that Google itself admits to. According to the help, rankings for new businesses can take up to a month to appear in search results. ²

2. Is the profile verified?

Picture an office space with the lease signed and the keys not yet handed over. On paper, the space is yours. Until the keys arrive, nobody opens the door for customers. On a Business Profile, the key has a name. This is called verification.

Google’s help is blunt about it. Only verified businesses can show their business info on Maps and Search. ² Verification is also what makes you the owner of the profile, with the right to edit its name and hours. ⁶

The test is to look at the profile while signed in. If the “Get verified” button appears again, Google couldn’t completely verify the business. The help says to try again and, when there is more than one option, to try another method. ⁶

Three rules from the same page apply while you wait:

1. Google picks the available methods, and they can’t be changed. They depend on the business type, public info, region, and business hours. ⁶
2. After you complete the steps, the review can take up to five business days. On rare occasions, it takes longer. ⁶
3. While you wait for a code by mail, do not edit the name, address, or category. If you do, the code that was sent won’t work. ⁶

Video verification asks for different proof for each way of serving customers. That list is in the piece on local businesses, linked in question 5.

3. Was the profile suspended or disabled?

This is where the most confusing symptom lives. The owner sees the profile, and the customer doesn’t. The help explains how that works. A profile that violates the guidelines becomes disabled or suspended and won’t show to other users on Google until the issue is resolved. ²

The test has two places. The first is the account. When a business is suspended, a notification goes to the Google Account that manages the profile. ² The second is the Business Profile appeals tool. It shows the restricted profile, the reason for the action, and a link to the violated policy. ⁷ Read the reason before you touch anything.

These are the reasons Google’s policy spells out in so many words:

1. A P.O. box as the address. A merchant who sets the business address at a P.O. box has the profile suspended. ⁵
2. A business that doesn’t exist at the stated location. In that case, Google disables the profile. It decides with information from different sources, such as user reports and licensed content. ⁵
3. A restricted account. A merchant who shows a pattern of violations can have the account restricted. Then every profile tied to that account is suspended. ⁵
4. An account from another Google product. If the profile was created through an account tied to another Google product, a restriction on that account can suspend the profile. ⁵

Breaking the guidelines for representing your business also leads to suspension or disabling, according to the help. ² One example is putting the city and the service inside the business name. That case is in the piece on becoming the go-to business in your town.

The pages I read don’t define the difference between suspending and disabling. They only show that each reason leads to one of the two words.

In an appeal, the evidence has to show a business name and address that match the profile. And one rule calls for patience: do not create another profile for the same business while the appeal is under review. ⁷ The new profile would fall straight into question 6.

4. Did they search for the name or for the service?

Someone who types your business name already knows who they are looking for. Someone who types “locksmith” or “dentist” is choosing among several.

In a search for the name and city, a profile that exists, is verified, and has no restriction has every reason to show up. It is the path Google’s own help teaches for finding a profile. ² That conclusion is my own reading. If the profile is missing even there, the answer is in questions 1, 2, 3, and 6.

The contest starts with the search for the service. According to the help, local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity. Further down, the same page explains popularity under the heading Prominence. ⁸

The help includes a warning that works as a test. If your business info isn’t accurate, your profile might not show up for relevant searches in your area. ⁸ And it closes the door on shortcuts: there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. ⁸

Open the profile and compare every detail with what customers find at your door. Address, hours, phone number, and the type of business. Anything wrong or half done is the first fix. Why a competitor farther away shows up first is in the article on the three factors. The diagnosis ends here. Climbing in that race is the work of the local SEO section.

5. Is the address hidden?

Think of the locksmith who works out of a van. He doesn’t receive anyone at home, and his address means nothing to the customer. What matters is whether he comes to your neighborhood. On the profile, the list of those neighborhoods and cities has a name. This is called a service area.

Google’s rule is direct. If you don’t serve customers at your business address, remove the address from your profile and use the service area. ⁹ With the address hidden, the profile shows only the service area. If no area was entered, a local area is chosen for you. ¹⁰

Among the searches related to this phrase, there are complaints about the pin and the address disappearing on Maps. ¹ In my reading, some of those complaints start here. A profile without a visible address shows the area, and the owner goes looking for the pin he removed himself.

To check, open the profile’s location settings while signed in. See whether the “Show business address to customers” option is turned off and which areas are listed. ¹⁰ The service area takes up to 20 cities, postal codes, or other areas, with no radius around the business. An approved edit can take up to 48 hours to show. ⁹

The opposite causes trouble too. The help says to hide the address only when the business is a service-area business. ¹⁰ A store that receives customers and hides its address is in the wrong model. To find your model, storefront, service-area, or hybrid, read the piece on SEO for local businesses.

One gap needs to be on the record. The pages I read don’t say where Google measures distance from when the address is hidden. Anyone who claims to know for sure is going beyond the documentation.

6. Is there another profile for the same business?

Remember the old phone book with two listings for the same store. One had the new number, the other the old one. The customer calls the wrong number and gives up.

Google handles this more strictly than the phone book did. Each business can have only one Business Profile. A profile considered a duplicate won’t show on Google Search or Maps. ⁴

The help lists three reasons for the duplicate flag. A verified profile already exists for the same business. Several profiles have the same address. Or the same business has separate profiles for different services. ⁴

The help pages describe four shortcuts that produce a duplicate:

1. Creating a new profile instead of requesting access to the old one, which someone else holds. ⁴
2. Creating a new profile while appealing a suspension. ⁷
3. Creating one profile per service. The help says to list the services on the single profile. ⁴
4. Creating a profile at the new address after a move. The general rule is to update the address on the same profile. ⁴ Restaurants, lodging, and entertainment venues follow the opposite rule, covered in the piece on local businesses. ⁵

To find the copy, search Maps for the name with the city, then for the variations customers use. Write down every listing that shows up with your address.

The way out depends on who created the copy. A duplicate you created by mistake can be removed without affecting the verified profile. Removing it deletes that profile’s content and managers, so check which one you are deleting. ⁴ Two listings for the same business on Maps can become one through a merge suggestion, subject to review. The reviews are combined, and the replies to them may be lost. ⁴

Two different businesses at the same address can each have a profile. The condition is different names and clearly visible differences in signage. ⁴

The diagnosis sheet

From today on, when someone says the business isn’t showing up on Google, your first question changes. Not showing up where, in the list of sites or on the map? By name or by service? For whom, for you or for the customer?

Take a sheet of paper and number it from 1 to 6. Run the name-and-city test as the owner and as a customer. Answer the six questions in order, yes or no, and stop at the first one that lights up. The work starts there, and only there.

Run both searches today, before you close for the day, and write the result on the first line.