Clínica Vida Dental had been running on word of mouth for years. When a new patient searched for “dentist” in the area, the clinic didn’t appear.
I’m Nico, a freelance digital marketing consultant in Seville. That case is mine, from my Local SEO and Google Business service, and I’ll tell you about it further down. First, what Google asks for to show up on the map, in order and with the timescales its own help pages give.
What do you need to show up on Google Maps?
A verified Google Business Profile, which used to be called Google My Business. It’s free. Google’s help pages are clear on this: you can’t pay for a better local ranking.
The profile is for businesses that serve customers in person. According to Google’s guidelines, it works if you have premises that customers visit or if you go to them. Customers must be able to reach someone at the verified location during the hours you publish.
Three cases Google excludes or restricts:
- Virtual offices and PO boxes don’t count as an address.
- A coworking space only counts with clear signage and someone there during opening hours.
- If you go to customers’ homes (plumbing, renovations, physiotherapy), the address is hidden and you set a service area instead. That area shouldn’t extend beyond a two-hour drive from your base.
The steps, with their timescales
- Check whether your profile already exists (five minutes). Type your business name into Google Maps. If someone created it before, you claim it. If it doesn’t exist, you create it. Do it with a Google account that belongs to the business. An employee’s account leaves with them.
- Name and category (the same day). The name: the real one, the one on your sign and your website. Google prohibits adding slogans, services or the city to the name. The category: the most specific one there is. “Dental clinic” beats “Doctor”.
- Verification (from minutes to about three weeks). Google offers you the method that applies to your business: phone, email, video call, video or letter. By letter, most codes arrive within 14 days and expire after 30. Don’t request another one while you wait, because it cancels the first. After that, Google takes up to 5 working days to review. It can be instant if your website is already verified in Search Console.
- Complete the profile (the first week). Opening hours, including bank holidays. Phone, website, services, real photos of the premises and the team. Google asks for your address, hours, category and attributes to be complete and accurate.
- Keep an eye on changes others suggest (always). Anyone can suggest a change to your profile. From the moment Google notifies you, you have 4 days to accept or reject it. If you don’t respond, Google may publish it if it matches public information, such as your website.
Why don’t I show up if I already have a profile?
Because having a profile only makes you eligible. Google decides who shows up at the top using three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. This is what it looks at in each one and what you can change:
| Factor | What Google looks at | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Relevance | Whether your profile matches what the person is searching for | A specific category, complete services and description, and a website with one page per service |
| Distance | How far your business is from the person searching; if they don’t share their location, Google uses what it knows about where they are | Nothing. The address is your real one or, if you go to customers’ homes, your service area |
| Prominence | How well known your business is: how many websites link to you, reviews and ratings | Ask all your customers for reviews and reply to them, and get other local websites to mention you |
For relevance, it helps to have a website with one page per service that says the same as your profile. I explain it in which pages your business website should have.
What can cost you your profile
There are shortcuts Google goes after. They’re all in its policies:
- Keywords in the name. “Dentista Vícar Barato” (cheap dentist in Vícar) instead of the real name.
- Reviews in exchange for something. Google prohibits offering payments, discounts or free services for a review.
- Asking only happy customers for reviews. That’s prohibited too.
- Prices, dated offers and direct calls to action in the profile details. Search Engine Roundtable reported that policy update on 6 October 2026. Offers and updates do have a place in posts.
What I see with my clients
Back to Clínica Vida Dental. Its website was slow, unclear on mobile and had no simple way to book an appointment. What I did was what the business needed. A website from scratch, keyword research and work on local search rankings, with its Google Business Profile included.
The result is in the case study: Top 3 on Google for “dentist + area” in Vícar and La Gangosa. Average position of 1.5 for “clínica dental Vícar”, according to Search Console over the last 12 months. Note the nuance: Search Console measures Google searches, not rankings within Maps. That’s why I report it exactly as it is.
What I take from this case is the order. The profile alone wasn’t enough. Google needed to understand from the website what the clinic does, treatment by treatment. A complete profile with a website that doesn’t explain it leaves relevance half done.
Your profile isn’t finished once it’s verified. At Greentech Balear I post on their Google Business Profile twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. With photos and with reviews answered. It’s scheduled work, like the website.
If you’d like me to look at your profile
In the Diagnostic Session I look at your website and your Google Business Profile before we talk. It’s 30 minutes, free, and I leave you with three priorities. Book yours. If you’re in Seville, here’s how I work as a digital marketing consultant in Seville.
Sources
- Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (relevance, distance and prominence; you can’t pay for a better ranking; accessed 21 October 2026): https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=es
- Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google (requirements, name, address, two-hour service area, categories; accessed 21 October 2026): https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=es
- Google Business Profile Help, profile verification (methods, 14 days for the code by post, 30-day expiry, review of up to 5 working days; accessed 21 October 2026): https://support.google.com/business/answer/7107242?hl=es
- Google Business Profile Help, user-suggested edits (4 days to accept or reject; accessed 21 October 2026): https://support.google.com/business/answer/3480441?hl=es
- Google Maps, Prohibited and restricted content policy (review incentives, selective reviews, promotions and prices in the profile; accessed 21 October 2026): https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114?hl=es
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Maps policy update on what merchants cannot post in listings or posts (6 October 2026): https://www.seroundtable.com/google-maps-policy-listings-or-posts-42228.html
- My own data: published case studies for Clínica Vida Dental (average positions in Search Console, last 12 months) and Greentech Balear (Google Business posts, Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Freelance digital marketing consultant in Seville. I work on the digital presence of professionals and small businesses with one simple principle: your website as your operations hub. Building websites, doing SEO and running social media with my own hands since 2018.
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