For years, local search worked like a phone book with better lighting. Someone typed “plumber near me,” Google showed a map with three pins, and whoever had the most reviews and the closest address usually won.
That’s still happening. But a growing share of people are now asking Google Maps the kind of question they’d ask a neighbor: “Who can fix a leaking water heater today in an older house?” or “Where can I grab lunch and charge my phone near Eastgate?” And Maps is answering, with a short list of businesses it’s willing to recommend.
The question for your business isn’t whether you show up on the map. It’s whether Google knows enough about you to vouch for you.
What Ask Maps is
Google launched Ask Maps in March. It’s Gemini, Google’s AI, built into Google Maps (Google’s announcement). In the Maps app on Android or iPhone in the U.S., there’s an Ask Maps button. Tap it, ask a question in plain language, and you get a conversational answer with a custom map. From there people can save places, share them, get directions, or book a table.
To answer, Google says Maps draws on information about more than 300 million places, including reviews from more than 500 million contributors. It also personalizes results based on what the person has searched for or saved before.
What matters for you: in testing reported by Search Engine Land, Ask Maps typically showed only three to eight businesses per answer. A page of search results has room for everyone. A short recommendation list doesn’t.
How it decides who gets recommended
Google hasn’t published the recipe, so treat this as observed patterns, not gospel. Search Engine Land’s testing suggests Ask Maps works in two steps. First it decides which businesses are eligible for the question. Then it decides which of those it can confidently recommend.
Eligibility mostly comes down to the basics: your categories, services, hours, and location. Confidence comes from detail, and that detail lives in three places:
- Your Google Business Profile. Business description, services, attributes, and hours. “HVAC repair” makes you eligible. “Same-day furnace repair, including older homes and boilers” lets Google match you to the question someone actually asked.
- Your reviews. Not just the star rating. The words. A review that says “they came out the same evening and fixed our 20-year-old boiler” does far more work than “great service!”
- Your website. Pages that cover real situations, what to expect, and what it costs give Google something to quote and a reason to trust you.
Posts are worth doing again
There’s a second, smaller change worth knowing about. In 2018 Google moved the “Posts” from your Business Profile to the bottom of your listing, and most businesses quietly stopped posting. Now Google is testing a higher spot for Posts on the local panel. Local search expert Ben Fisher reports seeing them move up and down every few days as the test runs.
It’s a test, not a promise. But Posts cost nothing, they show customers you’re open and active, and they give Google more fresh, specific text about what you do. If you abandoned them years ago, this is a good time to start again.
Test it yourself
This is the most useful ten minutes you’ll spend on local marketing this month. Open Google Maps on your phone, tap Ask Maps, and ask three questions the way a real customer would. Don’t search for your business name. Describe a problem you solve:
- “Who can help with [your service] for [a common situation] near [your town]?”
- “Who’s open on Saturday for [your service] in [your area]?”
- “Which [your business type] is good with [a specialty you’re proud of]?”
Note who shows up and read what Maps says about them. If a competitor gets recommended for something you do better, look at their profile and reviews. Usually the difference is detail, not quality.
Five profile fixes that take an afternoon
- Categories. Pick the most specific primary category that fits, then add secondary categories for the other real work you do.
- Hours, including special hours. Holiday hours are coming. An AI that recommends you and then sends someone to a locked door won’t trust you twice.
- Services and description. List the specific jobs and situations you handle, in the words customers use. Skip the keyword stuffing. Write it for a person.
- Attributes. The checkboxes (accessibility, payment options, online appointments, and so on) are exactly the kind of detail conversational questions turn on.
- Photos. Real photos of your work, your team, and your storefront or vehicles. Recent beats polished.
What to do this week
- Run the three-question test above and write down what you find.
- Fix the five profile items, starting with hours and services.
- Ask your next five happy customers for a review, and ask them to mention what you helped with. Don’t script it. Just ask for specifics.
- Publish one Business Profile Post: an offer, a seasonal tip, or a recent project.
- Pick your most important service and make sure your website has a page that answers the questions people ask about it.
If you’ve been following along, this builds on what we covered about Google’s suggested edits. An accurate profile is the foundation. Ask Maps rewards the businesses that build on it.
Let’s make you easy to recommend
Most local businesses we work with at Digital Atmospheres have a Business Profile that’s correct but thin, and a website that explains what they do but not who they’re good for. Closing that gap is one of the highest-return things a small business can do online right now, and it doesn’t require a new website.
If you’d like a second set of eyes on your profile and service pages, book a Teams meeting or call. We’ll run the test with you and give you a short, practical list of what to change.