Google Maps Fixes: From Search to the Front Door
Most people meet a local business in Google Maps on a phone: they search, scan a few pins, tap one, check whether it is open, look at the photos and press Directions. The Google Maps Audit follows that journey.
It checks that your pin sits where customers actually arrive, that regular and special hours are complete, that photos are plentiful and recent, that the category and review signals fit, and that services, posts and filter attributes are filled in. This page explains each finding from the point of view of someone using Maps and links the guide that fixes it.
Where each finding shows up in Maps
Maps and your Business Profile share the same underlying data, but Maps presents it in its own way: a small card over a map, filter chips along the top, and a navigation route at the end. A detail that looks minor in the profile manager can decide whether someone arrives at your door. The table follows a typical visit.
| Moment in Maps | What the customer sees | Audit check |
|---|---|---|
| Searching and filtering | Results filtered by chips such as "Open now", rating or features. | Hours completeness, attributes, category fit. |
| Scanning the map | Pins with names, ratings and review counts. | Review count and recency. |
| Opening the card | Photos, open or closed status, category label. | Photo count and recency, hours, category. |
| Checking details | Services, menus, products, updates. | Services and products, posts. |
| Getting there | A route to the pin. | Pin accuracy. |
The editing itself happens in your Business Profile, so the GBP fixes hub is the place for how to write review replies or choose additional categories. The wider strategy of citations, local schema and location pages sits on the local SEO fixes hub. This hub is about how the result behaves once it is on the map.
The Maps fix guides
Getting people to the right place
Fixing a wrong pin location covers pins that land on the wrong side of a building, at a rear loading bay or in the middle of a retail park. It explains adjusting the pin from the profile, suggesting an edit, and using Plus Codes for places without a clear street address. Fixing missing or wrong hours covers regular hours, special hours for bank holidays and closures, and the extra hour sets for things like delivery, takeaway or a kitchen, as well as the temporarily and permanently closed statuses.
Making the card persuasive
Fixing a weak photo set covers what customers look for in the photo strip, especially the entrance and outside so they can recognise the place on arrival. Fixing a wrong primary category explains how the label under your name affects which searches you appear for and what customers assume you do. Fixing low review count and recency covers the numbers shown next to your pin and honest ways to keep new reviews coming, such as a QR code at the till or on a receipt.
Answering questions before the visit
Fixing missing services and products covers the lists and descriptions people scroll through on the card. Fixing missing posts covers updates, offers and events. Fixing missing attributes covers the features that feed Maps filters, such as step-free access, parking, Wi-Fi or outdoor seating.
By type of business
Maps for restaurants covers menus, dietary attributes, booking links and food photos. Maps for service-area businesses covers hidden addresses and whether to list a whole city or specific districts. Maps for multi-location businesses covers keeping pins, hours and photos right across many branches.
Which Maps findings to fix first
Anything that sends a customer to a locked door or the wrong street comes first, because it costs a visit and often produces an angry review. Presentation comes after.
- Wrong closed or open status. A listing marked closed when you are trading, or open when you are not, is the most damaging Maps error.
- Pin in the wrong place. Especially on large sites, upper floors, arcades and shared buildings.
- Missing special hours. Bank holidays, Christmas and planned closures. Customers filtering by "Open now" will not see you if the data is uncertain, and will turn up if it is wrong.
- Category label. If the label under your name does not describe your main business, fix it before anything cosmetic.
- Attributes that feed filters. Accessibility and practical features that people filter on.
- Photos, services, posts and review flow. These strengthen the card over time.
Review numbers deserve a note of their own in Maps. The rating and count sit right beside your name on the pin and in the list, so they are often the first thing compared. The audit looks at recency as well as the total, because a listing whose newest review is a year old can look as if it has stopped trading. The answer is a steady, honest request at the end of each visit, never bought or swapped reviews.
Pins, entrances and awkward locations
Google places a pin from your address, and for many addresses that works well. It goes wrong in predictable places, and the audit's pin check is worth taking seriously if you are in one of them:
- Retail parks and shopping centres. The address points to the site as a whole, so the pin lands in a car park or at a management office.
- Upper floors and shared buildings. The pin is right for the building but the entrance is round the side or through another business.
- Rural and new-build addresses. The postcode covers a wide area, or the road is too new to be mapped accurately.
- Industrial units. Several units share one address and customers need the right door.
The fix is usually to drag the pin to the customer entrance in the profile manager and save it, then check again on a phone a few days later. Where there is no sensible street address, a Plus Code gives a precise location that anyone can type into Maps. Adding a line to the profile description or a photo of the entrance helps people on arrival.
Hours beyond the basics
Regular hours are rarely the problem. The findings usually concern special hours that were never entered, or hours for services that differ from the main opening times, such as a kitchen that closes before the bar or a pharmacy counter within a shop. Enter these as separate hour sets where your category offers them, and set special hours as soon as you know about a closure.
A sensible order of work
- Run the audit. Start with the Google Maps Audit to get the full list of pin, hours, photo, category, review, services, posts and attribute findings.
- Walk the route. Open Maps on a phone, search as a customer would, and follow the directions to the pin. Note anything that would confuse someone new.
- Fix status, pin and hours. Correct the open status, move the pin to the entrance, then add special hours for the next few months and any extra hour sets.
- Check the category label. Change it if it does not describe your main business.
- Complete attributes. Go through every attribute available for your category and set the ones that are true.
- Refresh the photo strip. Make sure the first photos include the outside and entrance, then the inside, team and products.
- Fill services or menus and add a post.
- Keep reviews flowing. Put a review link or QR code where customers finish their visit.
- Re-check in a few weeks. Run the audit again and look at the listing on a phone to confirm changes have gone live and have not been overwritten by suggested edits.
1. How do I move my business pin on Google Maps?
If you manage the Business Profile, open the profile editor from Search or Maps, go to the address or location section and adjust the pin on the map so it sits on your customer entrance, then save. The change may take a little while to appear and can be reviewed by Google. If you do not manage the listing, you can use Suggest an edit in Maps, but an owner-verified correction is usually quicker and more reliable.
2. Why does Google Maps say my business is closed when it is open?
Usually because special hours were set for a past date that still shows, regular hours are missing for that day, or a suggested edit from the public changed them. Occasionally a listing has been marked temporarily or permanently closed by mistake. Check the hours section and the business status in your profile, correct anything wrong, and add special hours for upcoming holidays so Google does not have to guess from other sources.
3. What are special hours on Google Maps and when should I use them?
Special hours override your regular hours on particular dates, such as bank holidays, Christmas, stocktaking days or a closure for refurbishment. Maps shows them to customers on those dates and uses them for the Open now filter. Add them as soon as you know about a change, ideally weeks ahead. Leaving them out means customers may travel to a closed business, which is frustrating for them and often leads to a poor review.
4. What is a Plus Code and should my business use one?
A Plus Code is a short code, made from letters and numbers, that describes a precise location anywhere in the world. Google Maps can show and search for them. They are useful when a business has no normal street address, when an address covers a large site, or when customers need to find a specific entrance. You can find your Plus Code by dropping a pin in Maps. It supplements rather than replaces your postal address.
5. Do attributes like wheelchair access affect my Google Maps visibility?
Attributes can decide whether you appear when people use filters or search for a specific feature, for example somewhere with step-free access or outdoor seating. They also answer practical questions on your listing before someone visits. Only set attributes that are true, because customers who arrive and find otherwise tend to say so in reviews. The attributes available depend on your business category and country, so you may not see every option.
6. Why do customers go to the wrong entrance using Google Maps?
Maps routes people to the pin, and the pin is often placed on the centre of a building or site rather than the door customers use. This is common in shopping centres, business parks, upper-floor offices and rural addresses. Move the pin to the customer entrance, add a clear photo of the entrance, and mention directions briefly in your business description. Then test the route yourself on a phone from a nearby road.
7. How is Google Maps different from my Google Business Profile?
Your Business Profile is the information you manage, and Google Maps is one of the main places it is shown, alongside Google Search. Maps adds its own layer: the pin and route, filters such as Open now, the order pins appear in for a search, and the compact card customers tap. The Maps Audit focuses on how the listing performs in that setting, while the GBP audit focuses on the completeness of the profile itself.
The Google Maps Audit checks pin accuracy, hours completeness, photo count and recency, primary and secondary category fit, review velocity and rating, services and products, post cadence and attribute coverage, and links each finding to the guide above.
Run the Google Maps Audit →