Your Google Business Profile isn’t showing up because it’s weak. You created it, maybe verified it, and left it, so there are no photos, no posts, no reviews and the hours are missing. Google has nothing to work with, so it shows someone else instead. This is what I check first and how to fix it.
Start with mine
In August my own profile got 40 views and zero clicks. Forty views, and I do this for a living.
My main category was set to a general business category instead of website designer, which is the work I actually do. When I changed it, Google rejected the change. I appealed with my business registration and my insurance documents and it was approved the next day. My service area was also spread across eight towns from Guelph to Mississauga, so my pin sat in the middle of nowhere and ranked nowhere. So I’m trimming it back to the towns I actually work in, around Georgetown and Halton Hills.
I’m telling you this because the profiles I get called about look the same as mine did, so they’re neglected but fixable.
What do you usually find when you open a profile?
When an owner tells me “I set up my Google profile but nobody can find it,” the profile exists and it might even be verified. And then I look closer, and there are no photos, or one blurry logo, and no posts. Two reviews from 2023 with no replies. The hours are missing, and the website link goes to an old site, or nowhere.
Google ranks profiles it trusts, and it trusts profiles that look like a business that’s open this week.
The last one I rebuilt
The most recent one I rebuilt didn’t have a verified profile, the business name on it was wrong, and there were no hours, no reviews and no photos, so of course it wasn’t showing up.
We verified it, fixed the name, added the hours and the services, loaded real photos of their work and started asking happy customers for reviews. It’s early, and Google is slow to trust a new profile, so I’d rather tell you that than promise a number.
Is it even verified?
This is the first box I check, because an unverified profile can sit on Google for years and never rank for anything, and verifying is free. If your profile says “Verification required” or “Get verified” anywhere, that’s your whole weekend.
Claim it and forget it
Most owners think you claim the listing and you’re done, but a profile needs the same upkeep as your truck. The businesses that show up are adding photos, posting, and replying to reviews every week, and they reply to the bad ones too.
The basics have to stay true as well. Wrong hours, a dead website link, or an old phone number tells Google and your customers the same thing, which is that nobody’s home.
What to do this weekend
If you’re skimming, this is the part to read.
- Verify the profile. If it’s already verified, fill in every field Google gives you, like hours, services, description and website.
- Add real photos of your work from your phone, like the job site, the finished result, you and your truck, and skip the stock photos.
- Ask for reviews from past customers and current ones, every time and politely, and then reply to each one when it lands.
Why shouldn’t I fix it all in one night?
Don’t make every change at once.
A profile that’s been dead for two years and suddenly gets a new name, new categories, ten towns, thirty photos and five reviews in one weekend looks like spam to Google. Profiles get flagged for that, and some get suspended. Then you’re worse off than when you started.
A rebuild done properly takes about 90 days, with one or two changes a week. By the end of three months the profile is complete and Google has watched it grow the way a real business grows. That’s when the result holds.
The one that went sideways
The hardest verification I’ve done was a business with no storefront. They work from home and drive to the customer, which is most of the trades around here. Google wanted a video. I went to the owner’s house and filmed the walkthrough I thought Google wanted, with the vehicle, the tools and the paperwork, and it was rejected anyway.
I was sure that meant weeks of back and forth. Google let us book a live video call instead. We showed the registration documents and a vehicle registered to the business, answered a few questions, and the profile was verified before we hung up. If your video gets rejected, ask for the live call.
We’re still cleaning up one thing from that job. The old unclaimed listing had a slightly different business name, so the verified profile came up as a brand-new one and the old listing is still floating around. Google has the removal request, and I don’t know yet how long that takes. Before you verify, check what name Google already has for you, and make sure the truck, the cards and the profile all say the same thing.
When should I stop doing it myself?
Do the three weekend things yourself, because they’re free.
After that, take a real look at your time. Most owners I meet don’t have an hour a week to add photos, write a post, reply to reviews, and check for changes Google made without asking. You should be on the job. And because you don’t do this every day, the temptation is to fix everything in one sitting, which is exactly what gets profiles flagged. Someone who does this every week does it steadily, and steady is what Google rewards. That’s the arrangement I have with the businesses I work with, so they run the business and I run the profile.
What to do next
Start with verification and photos this weekend. If you want to know where your profile actually stands before you touch it, I’ll look it up the way a stranger would and walk you through it on a free call. It’s called the Free Online Audit, and I’ll tell you what to fix first. And if you’d rather hand the whole thing off, this is how I do Google Business Profile management in Halton Hills.