How to Show Up on Google Maps: A Plain-English Guide for Hill Country Businesses

If someone in the Hill Country searches "roofer near me" or "best tacos near me," the first thing they usually see isn't a website. It's a map with three businesses pinned on it. Those three get most of the calls.

So the question I hear a lot is simple: how do I get on that map?

Here's the honest answer, in plain English.

How does Google decide who shows up on the map?

Google has said publicly that local results are based mainly on three things:

• Relevance: how well your business matches what the person searched for.
• Distance: how close you are to the person searching, or to the place they typed in.
• Prominence: how well known and trusted your business looks, online and off.

You can't do much about distance. Your shop is where it is. But relevance and prominence are mostly in your hands, and that's where most small businesses leave easy wins on the table.

Start with a complete Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is the listing that shows up on the map. If it's half filled out, Google has less to go on, and so do your customers.

Make sure you have:

• The right primary category. This is the single most important setting. "General contractor" and "Pole building contractor" are not the same search. Pick the one that matches what people actually look for, then add secondary categories for the other things you do.
• Your services listed out. Spell out what you do in the words your customers use.
• Accurate hours, including holiday hours.
• A service area, if you go to your customers.
• A plain-English description. Say what you do, who you do it for and where. Skip the slogans.

Get reviews, and keep them coming

Reviews help with prominence, and they help people pick you once they find you. The trick is not getting a pile of reviews once. It's getting a steady trickle.

The easiest way is to ask right when the job is done and the customer is happy. Send a short text with your review link. Most people will do it if you make it easy.

And answer your reviews, the good ones and the bad ones. A calm, helpful reply to a bad review often does more for you than five good ones.

Use real photos

Post photos of your actual work, your crew, your shop and your trucks. Stock photos don't help anybody trust you. A finished job, a before and after, or the team on site does.

Keep adding them over time. A profile that looks alive looks like a business that's open and busy.

Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere

Your business name, address and phone number should match everywhere they show up: your website, Google, Facebook, Yelp, the Chamber listing, all of it. When they don't match, Google gets less sure who you are.

This one is boring, but I see it trip up a lot of businesses, especially ones that moved or changed phone numbers.

Make your website back it up

Your website and your Google profile should tell the same story. If you serve Kerrville, Fredericksburg and Comfort, say so on your website. If you build barndominiums, have a page about barndominiums. It helps Google connect the dots between what you do and where you do it.

Make sure your phone number is easy to tap on a phone, too. That's where most of these searches happen.

Post updates now and then

Google Business Profile lets you post updates, offers and events. Nobody needs a post every day. But a post every week or two keeps your listing fresh and gives people one more reason to call you instead of the next guy.

What doesn't work

A few things I'd skip:

• Stuffing keywords into your business name. Google can suspend your listing for it.
• Buying reviews or trading them. It's against Google's rules and it's not worth the risk.
• Setting it up once and walking away. The businesses that win on the map are the ones that keep at it.

Want me to look at yours?

If you're not showing up where you should, I'm happy to take a look. Most of the time it's two or three fixable things. Send me a note and I'll tell you what I see.

Common questions