Answers to Every Question About Google Maps & Local SEO

A Google Business Profile is your free business listing on Google Search and Maps. If you have any customers in the UK who find local businesses on Google — yes, you need one.

Yes. Service-area businesses (plumbers, mobile mechanics) can hide their address and show service areas instead. You'll still appear in local searches across those areas.

Postcard verification takes 5–14 days. Video verification is usually approved within 72 hours. Some established businesses get instant verification.

Don't panic and don't keep editing — that makes things worse. We've helped reinstate dozens of suspended profiles. Start with our free audit so we can see what triggered the suspension.

Only if you have genuinely separate physical locations. Duplicate listings for the same address get suspended.

GBP is the back-end profile you manage. Google Maps and Search are where customers see it. They're two views of the same data.

Google ranks on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Longevity doesn't help directly — what helps is a fully optimised profile, more reviews, and stronger local signals.

Yes — both volume and recency. Businesses with steady review growth typically outrank those with more reviews collected years ago.

Minimal direct ranking impact, but they do affect click-through and engagement. Worth posting weekly if you can.

The 3-pack is the top three local results shown above organic search. Getting in requires the right primary category, strong reviews, full profile completion, and consistent NAP citations.

Quick wins (wrong category fixes, missing services) can show within 2–4 weeks. Competitive Map Pack positions in major cities typically take 3–6 months of consistent work.

Yes — and you should. Just don't incentivise (no discounts for reviews) and don't gate by rating (don't only ask happy customers). Both violate Google's policy.

Report it through Google's review removal process. We help clients dispute fake reviews — success rate depends on the specifics, but legitimate fakes (no service relationship, hate speech, spam) usually come down.

Yes — every single one. Response rate is a trust signal to customers and engagement signal to Google.

Indirectly — it increases engagement and signals an active, well-managed profile. Direct ranking effect is small but real.

Only if it violates Google's content policies (hate speech, off-topic, fake, conflict of interest). You can't remove a genuine negative review — only respond to it well.

GBP completeness, category accuracy, review health, photo gaps, NAP consistency across major UK directories, local keyword alignment, competitor benchmark, and your top 3 priority fixes. Delivered within 24–48 hours.

No — and you should be cautious of any agency that does. Google's algorithm is outside any agency's control. What we guarantee is the work, the checklist, and clear monthly reporting on what moves.

UK bank transfer. Invoice issued on agreement, payable within 7 days. No card on file, no surprise charges.

Yes. Monthly retainers cancel with 30 days' notice. No long contracts.

First changes go live within 3–5 days for Starter packages. Visible Map Pack movement usually within 4–12 weeks depending on competition.

Yes. We work with chains and franchises up to ~50 UK locations. Get in touch for multi-location pricing.

Yes. Google reads your website to verify relevance — services, locations, NAP consistency, schema markup all feed into Map Pack rankings.

A page on your website built to rank for a specific local query (e.g. 'plumber in Twickenham'). Should include the service, the location, real local content and contact info.

Yes — if those areas are competitive and you want to rank in each. Generic 'we cover all of London' rarely outranks dedicated /plumber-twickenham, /plumber-richmond pages.

Name, Address, Phone — identical everywhere online. Inconsistencies confuse Google's confidence in your business and hurt Map Pack rankings.

Typical one-off optimisation runs £150–£800 depending on scope. Ongoing local SEO management is £200–£800/month for most small UK businesses. Our packages start at £197.

For any business that gets customers locally — yes. One additional customer per month usually pays for the work. The compound effect over 12 months is what makes it transformational.

See the question above in 'Working with RankMyLocal' — full breakdown there. No card required, no obligation.

Full agencies bundle everything for £1k–£3k+/month. We specialise in local SEO only and start at £197. See our full comparison at /compare/rankmylocal-vs-big-agency.