Short answer
It’s usually one of 7 causes. Your site may be too new, or something is blocking Google. You may have no verified Google profile, or the wrong category. No page may match the search. Or you’re too far from the searcher, or have few reviews. Each takes about 5 minutes to check. Map-pack fixes typically show in 1 to 2 months.
- Start with a 2-minute test: search site:yourdomain.co.nz, then your business name on Google Maps.
- Website problems and Google Maps problems have different causes and different fixes.
- Google’s local results depend on relevance, distance and prominence. You can’t pay to rank higher on Maps.
- Typical timelines once fixed: map pack 1 to 2 months, normal results 3 to 6+ months. Nobody can promise them.
Make it about you. I’m a…
Jumps to the part that matters most for you. Nothing is hidden.
Start here: which part of Google are you missing from?
A 2-minute test tells you whether you’re missing from the map pack, the normal results or both, and that decides which fix you need. The map pack is the map with three businesses. The normal results sit below it. They work differently.
Search the four things in the table below. Use a private browser window so your own history doesn’t skew what you see.
| Search this | If you see… | It probably means |
|---|---|---|
| site:yourdomain.co.nz | No results at all | Google hasn’t indexed your site (causes 1 to 2) |
| site:yourdomain.co.nz | Your pages appear | Google knows your site. The problem is ranking (causes 5 to 7) |
| Your exact business name on Google Maps | Nothing, or someone else | No verified Google profile (cause 3) |
| Your service + your suburb | Competitors, but not you | Category, pages, distance or reviews (causes 4 to 7) |
Causes 1 to 2: can Google see your website?
If a site: search shows nothing, Google either hasn’t found your site yet or something is telling it to stay away. Google’s URL Inspection tool shows which, and its robots.txt guide explains the most common block.
- Check these two first
- 1
Cause 1: your site is too new5 min
A new site can take days to weeks to be indexed. Check: add your site to Google Search Console, submit your sitemap, and use the URL Inspection tool on your homepage. If it says “URL is not on Google”, request indexing once. Then link to your site from your Google profile.
- 2
Cause 2: something tells Google to stay away5 min
This is common after a new build. Check for a site password or “coming soon” page. On WordPress, look under Settings, then Reading, for “Discourage search engines”. On builders, look for a “hide from search engines” setting. Then visit yourdomain.co.nz/robots.txt and look for “Disallow: /”.
Causes 3 to 4: your Google Business Profile
If you don’t show on Google Maps, the cause is usually your Google Business Profile: it’s missing, unverified, suspended, or in the wrong primary category.
- The map pack runs on your Google profile
- 1
Cause 3: no verified profile, or a suspended one5 min
Without a verified Google Business Profile you won’t appear in the map pack. Check: sign in at business.google.com. Look for “Verified” or a warning. Suspensions often follow a keyword-stuffed business name or an address customers can’t visit. Setting up a profile is free. See our Google Business Profile setup guide.
- 2
Cause 4: the wrong primary category5 min
Whitespark’s 2026 local ranking survey rates the primary category as the strongest map-pack factor. Check: open your profile and read your primary category. Does it finish the sentence “this business IS a…”? Then check your services list is filled in. Add only categories that are true.
Cause 5: does any page match the search?
If no page on your site is about the service someone searched, Google has nothing to show, because it ranks pages, not businesses. Say someone searches “heat pump installer Henderson”. If your site only has a homepage saying “We do it all”, Google has nothing to match.
Whitespark’s 2026 survey rates dedicated service pages as the top factor for local organic results. One clear page per main service is usually the fix.
Your 5-minute check
- List the 3 services people most often call you about.
- Does each one have its own page, with the service in the page title and heading?
- Does each page say where you work, in plain words?
- Is there more than a few lines of text, with real photos of your work?
Causes 6 to 7: distance and reviews
If your profile and pages are fine, you’re probably too far from the searcher or have fewer reviews than the businesses that show. Google’s local ranking tips say results depend on relevance, distance and prominence.
- The two causes people miss
- 1
Cause 6: you're too far from the searcher5 min
Distance from the searcher is one of Google’s three local ranking factors. If your business is in one suburb and someone searches from the other side of the city, you may not show. That’s normal. Check: ask someone near you to search, or check results for your own suburb. To reach further, you need service and area pages on your website.
- 2
Cause 7: few reviews and few mentions5 min
Google says prominence includes how many reviews you have and how many websites link to you. In published local SEO tests, rankings tended to improve at around 10 reviews and could slip after a few weeks without new ones. Check: compare your review count and latest review date with the top 3 in your map pack.
You can't pay for a better map position
Google says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Google Ads appear separately and are labelled “Sponsored”. Anyone who guarantees you the top spot on Google can’t deliver it.
All 7 causes on one page
| # | Cause | Quick check | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site too new | site: search shows nothing | Search Console, sitemap, link from your Google profile |
| 2 | Site blocked | Password, “discourage search engines”, robots.txt | Remove the block, then request indexing |
| 3 | No verified profile | Sign in at business.google.com | Create or verify the profile (free) |
| 4 | Wrong category | “This business IS a…” test | Fix the primary category, fill in services |
| 5 | No matching page | One page per main service? | Add clear service pages |
| 6 | Too far away | Search from your own suburb | Service and area pages on your site |
| 7 | Few reviews | Compare with the top 3 | Ask every customer, steadily |
Where Web Smart HQ fits
If you’d rather not dig through settings, send us your website address for a free website check. We check 12 things and send you the three fixes that matter most, in plain English.
For bigger fixes, we help with local SEO and your Google Business Profile. New sites start from $499 + GST. See pricing.