How do I show up higher on Google Maps?

Relevance: how well your profile matches what someone typed. Your category, services and description do most of this work.

Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or from the town they named. You can't change it, which is why two people searching the same words see different results.

Prominence: how well known you are, judged by reviews, listings across the web, links and your website. This is where steady work pays off.

Choose the primary category that matches your main service; look at what the top three businesses in the map use. Add every service, your service area, accurate hours and real photos of your work. Never add keywords or towns to your business name: it breaks Google's rules and can get the profile suspended.

Your name, address and phone should read exactly the same on Google, Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook, the BBB, Nextdoor and the directories for your trade. Mismatches make Google less sure the listings are all you.

Ask every happy customer, right when the job is done, with a direct link. Reply to every review, good or bad. Never buy reviews, offer anything in return for one, or only ask the customers you expect to be happy: it breaks Google's policies and the FTC's 2024 rule on fake reviews.

A page for each main service, with titles like "Pool cleaning in Destin, FL". Your name, address and phone matching your profile. LocalBusiness structured data, so search engines and AI assistants read your details correctly. And a site that loads fast on a phone.

Map results often move within one to three months once the basics are right; website rankings usually take longer. Be wary of anyone who guarantees a #1 spot: nobody controls Google's results, and distance alone changes them from street to street.

Local SEO setup is $349 for Essentials, $649 for Growth and $1,149 for Complete, all one-time. Keeping it fresh is an optional $129 a month, month to month. No ranking guarantees: the work, done properly, and an honest before-and-after report.