Try searching “clinic near me” on your phone. Before any website appears, Google gives you a map with three businesses on it and their phone numbers. When in a hurry, most people would just call one of those three without browsing further.
Local SEO helps you get into that map. Here’s how Google chooses who to show in the top 3, and what you can do to make your business appear there.
What Decides Your Google Maps Ranking?
Google says that there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on maps. It also names three things that determine the maps ranking:
- Relevance is “how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for”.
- Distance “refers to how far each business is from the customer who’s searching”.
- Prominence “means how well-known a business is”.
You cannot change distance. Your shop is where it is. That leaves relevance and prominence for you to work on. Picture two clinics on the same street, the same distance from the customer; if one shows up above the other, relevance and prominence are the main factors affecting the ranking.
One thing before you check your own position: what you see is not what your customers see, because the map changes with where the person is standing. Searching from your own shop tells you nothing. Here is how to check properly:
- Open Google Maps and right-click on your shop.
- The first line of the menu is a pair of numbers, something like 3.072443, 101.612150. These are the coordinates of the exact spot, and clicking it copies them.
- Paste the numbers into a Google Maps address, with your own search word in place of klinik, like this:
google.com/maps/search/klinik/@3.072443,101.612150,14z
- Open that and you see roughly what someone standing there sees. The 14z at the end only sets how zoomed in the map is, so leave it alone.
Fix Your Google Business Profile First
Most people start with their website. Google’s local ranking advice is about your Business Profile, something you can work on quickly for free.
Pick the Most Exact Category
Your main category matters more than any other field. Pick the most exact one that is true. A clinic that fits braces should be an orthodontist, not a dentist. To check yours, search your main keyword on the map and look at what the top three businesses use.
Do Not Add Words to Your Business Name
Extra words in your business name are not allowed. “KL Best Price” and a list of services tacked onto your company name can get your whole profile suspended.
Fill in the Fields
Add Saturday hours, your lunch break, and the public holidays for your business. Put the important part of your description in the first line or two, since that is all most people read. List every service, not just the main one. Add at least 10 photos. Turn on WhatsApp, because that is how people here message a shop.
You can check your profile strength inside your Google Business Profile dashboard. If the donut shows a red or orange progress bar, your profile still has room for improvement. Follow the steps above to strengthen it.
The progress bar will turn green when your profile is fully optimised. But don’t stop there; keep posting updates and encouraging reviews to maintain the momentum.
Film the Verification Video
Google will request an unedited, unique, and complete recording with no breaks, at least 30 seconds long, filmed and sent from your phone inside your Business Profile. It has to show where you are, your business name on a fixed sign, and proof you work there, such as opening the cash register or a store room. Google takes up to five working days to check it.
How to Become Better Known on Google Maps
More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.
Ask for Reviews, and Never Pay for Them
A few reviews every week beats thirty in one afternoon. Google might mark them as spam and not show those reviews at all. Ask your customer to give one at the end of the service, in your WhatsApp message, or at the bottom of your invoice. Good or bad, you should reply to all of them; let your customers know that you value them.
However, do not buy reviews. Google doesn’t allow paid reviews, which includes giving a discount to a customer in exchange for a five-star review.
Search in Malay and See Who Appears
Search your own service in Malay. Klinik gigi instead of dental clinic. Bengkel kereta instead of car workshop. The shops that come up are often not the ones you expected. If you are not there, put those words in your services and on the matching page of your site. Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere they appear.
Your Profile Also Feeds AI Answers
AI assistants read your Business Profile too. It is public, and easy for a machine to read. An AI answer leans on the same things the map does: your categories, services, hours and reviews.
What to Do in the Next 30 Days
- Week 1: category, business name, address, phone, website link, opening hours, verification.
- Week 2: description, all services, products, photos, attributes, service areas.
- Weeks 3 and 4: posts, booking link, social links, logo and cover photo, replies to old reviews, and a weekly target for new ones.
Local SEO in Malaysia is one of the elements of SEO to work on. Once the profile is right, the next question is whether you have a website that supports it. We run a free SEO audit on your URL, and a free AI citation audit that checks whether AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini name your business.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my Google Business Profile not showing up?
First, check whether your profile is verified, because an unverified profile does not appear at all. Then look in your email for a suspension notice from Google. It also matters where you searched from, since a search inside your own shop will show your listing whether or not customers can actually find it. If the profile is verified, not suspended, and you checked from a neutral location, the usual cause is a wrong primary category.
How long does local SEO take for my profile ranking to improve?
Profile fixes are the quick part. In our client work, correcting a category or filling in missing fields can move a position within weeks. Reviews take longer, usually two to three months. If you're only just setting up your profile, this will take longer.
Do I need a website to show up on Google Maps?
No. A verified Google Business Profile can appear on the map on its own. A website still helps, because Google builds prominence from what it finds about your business across the web.