Where you show up on Maps starts with your Google profile.

Your Google profile

Your Google profile is the listing Google shows on Maps and beside search results, with your hours, photos, reviews and a button to call you. Most of what decides whether you appear there is on that profile.

Google calls it a Google Business Profile. Anyone can claim one for free. What decides where it ranks is what it says and how often it changes.

8/10

of the top Google Maps ranking factors come from your Google profile

What Google looks at

The ten things that matter most, in order.

Whitespark surveys local search specialists on what moves a business up in the map results. This is the 2026 top ten, in plain words. Two of them you cannot change, because they are about where you are. The rest are on your profile or in your reviews.

From your Google profile From your reviews

1. 01 From your Google profile: Your main category The one category Google files you under, like “Italian restaurant” or “dentist”.
2. 02 From your Google profile: How close you are to the person searching The distance from your address to where the search is made. You cannot change this one.
3. 03 From your Google profile: The words in your business name Your name as it appears on the profile.
4. 04 From your Google profile: An address in the city they searched Being in the city someone names in their search. You cannot change this one.
5. 05 From your Google profile: Being open when they search Your opening hours need to be right, holidays included.
6. 06 From your reviews: A high star rating A high average on Google, 4 or 5 stars.
7. 07 From your Google profile: Showing your address A street address on the profile, rather than only an area you serve.
8. 08 From your Google profile: Your extra categories The other categories that describe what you also do.
9. 09 From your reviews: How many Google reviews you have The number of reviews left on Google itself, with written comments.
10. 10 From your Google profile: Your pin in the right place The map marker sitting on your actual door.

Source: Whitespark Local Search Ranking Factors 2026 (Nov 2025), the local pack and Maps factors, reworded. Whitespark groups 8 of the 10 as profile signals and 2 as review signals. How reviews count.

What we do Every plan

Your Google Maps presence, managed for you.

Why it works so well: Maps is where the call and the direction request happen. A profile that changes every week looks like a business that is open and busy.

• 8 posts a month With your photos, offers and events. You see every post before its day and can change it. A post you have not approved still goes up on its day, so the profile never goes quiet.
• Review replies within 24 hours Under settings we agree with you at the start. Every 1 and 2-star review gets a draft for your approval before anything goes out.
• The profile kept correct Categories, hours, services and photos checked and corrected, so the parts Google ranks on say the right thing.
• Local SEO So you rank for searches near you, with a map that shows where you rank around each location.

What you see each month

What your profile brought in, counted.

Your monthly report, ready by the 8th, counts what people did on your Google profile, next to your search numbers and how you compare with competitors.

• Views How often your profile was seen on Maps and in search
• Calls Taps on the call button on your profile
• Direction requests People asking Google for the way to you
• Website clicks Visits to your website from the profile
• Bookings Bookings made through your profile

Maps is one of the places customers look. ChatGPT, Copilot and Apple Maps each read different sources, so a business can rank well on Maps and still not be named when someone asks AI.

What it costs, and what happens next

What it costs

From A$990 / location / month

Foundation, the first of three plans. A fixed monthly fee for each location, with a six-month minimum.

If you get in touch

On the call we go through your Google profile, your website and what AI tools say about you, then tell you which plan fits.