For years, local SEO has largely been discussed in terms of getting somebody from Google to a business website. A customer searches for a dentist, restaurant, accountant or local tradesperson, finds a suitable result, clicks through, and then decides whether to make contact.
However, that journey is becoming less straightforward.
Google is developing Maps into a place where people can ask detailed questions, compare businesses and, in some circumstances, take the next step without visiting an individual website at all.
Google describes Ask Maps as the biggest transformation to Maps in more than a decade. The system allows people to ask questions such as finding a highly rated hotel within walking distance of particular amenities, rather than working through a conventional list of nearby businesses themselves. In some markets, Ask Maps can also help complete tasks such as adding a restaurant order directly to a shopping basket.
For businesses, that changes the role of the Google Business Profile. The listing is increasingly becoming a place where the customer can research, compare and potentially make a decision.
How Is Google Maps Moving From Listings to Recommendations?
A traditional Google Maps search might involve typing “Italian restaurant near me” and receiving several nearby businesses.
Ask Maps introduces a more conversational layer. Someone can specify that they want somewhere quiet enough for a conversation, ask for a particular type of food, or look for a hotel that combines several requirements. Google then attempts to interpret those requirements and recommend suitable places.
This matters because a business is no longer competing only to appear for a broad category search. Google increasingly needs enough information to understand whether that business matches a much more detailed request.
A restaurant may need to be understood as family friendly, suitable for groups or good for particular dietary requirements. A cosmetic clinic may need clear information about the specific treatments it offers. A tradesperson might need Google to understand the particular types of jobs they undertake and the areas they serve.
That information can come from several places, including the Business Profile itself, the website, and customer reviews.
Could Customers Make a Decision Without Visiting Your Website?
Increasingly, yes. A Google Business Profile can already show opening hours, photographs, services, reviews, directions, contact details, and other information. A prospective customer can often answer several of their initial questions without leaving Google.
Ask Maps develops this further by allowing Google to interpret and summarise information around a business.
Google also says information from more than 500 million contributors helps keep Maps current. People can submit photographs, suggest changes, and share useful information about places. Google is now making some of those contributions conversational, allowing users to tell Maps about changes such as updated opening hours.
This means an incomplete profile has a bigger potential consequence than simply looking untidy.
If a customer asks Google for a business offering a particular service and that service has never been added to the profile, Google has less direct information to work with. If opening hours are wrong, photographs are several years old, or key attributes are missing, a customer may move on before ever reaching the company website.
Why Are Reviews Becoming More Important?
Businesses have traditionally thought about Google reviews mainly in terms of star ratings and reputation. That remains important, but the words customers use in reviews can also help describe what the business is actually like.
A restaurant review might repeatedly mention “quiet”, “good for children” or “large portions”. Reviews of a clinic might discuss particular treatments, staff or facilities. A hotel could repeatedly receive comments about parking, cleanliness or proximity to local attractions. These descriptions give Google more context when somebody asks a detailed question.
Recent local search research argues that reviews are becoming increasingly useful to AI-driven recommendations because they provide information about the characteristics customers associate with a business. Google itself confirms that review numbers and positive ratings can contribute to local prominence.
That makes review strategy less about collecting a sudden batch of generic five-star ratings and more about developing a steady flow of genuine feedback from real customers.
Do Categories, Services and Photographs Really Affect Local Visibility?
Google continues to say that local results are mainly determined by three broad factors: relevance, distance and prominence.
Relevance considers how closely a Business Profile matches what somebody searches for. Distance considers the location of the business relative to the searcher. Prominence considers how well known the business appears to be, using information that can include links, reviews and ratings.
Google specifically advises businesses to maintain complete and accurate information, including their category, address, opening hours, and other relevant details. It also encourages businesses to add photographs and respond to reviews.
In practice, this means profile optimisation needs to go further than adding a company name and telephone number.
The primary and secondary categories should accurately describe the business. Individual services should be included where appropriate. Opening hours need to stay current. Photographs should show customers what they can genuinely expect.
The website still has an important role too. Local landing pages and detailed service pages give Google additional context about what the business does and where it operates.
Is Website Traffic Still a Good Measure of Local SEO Performance?
It remains useful, but it should no longer be viewed in isolation. Recent research has found that, across the US profiles analysed, website clicks fell 12.5% year on year during Q2 while calls fell 11.9%. Direction requests increased by 21.1%. This can be interpreted as evidence that more customer journeys may be continuing within Google Maps itself.
The UK dataset was smaller and produced a different pattern. In Q2, mobile Maps impressions fell sharply within the sample while direction requests and website clicks continued to increase.
This makes it too early to claim that UK businesses should expect website clicks to disappear. The useful lesson is that website sessions tell only one part of the story.
If Google Maps visibility rises and more people request directions, view the profile, read reviews, or contact the business directly from Google, those interactions may represent genuine local search value even though they never appear as a website visit in Google Analytics.
Why Can One Google Maps Ranking Be Misleading?
Local rankings can change significantly depending on where the person searching is standing. Google explicitly lists distance as one of its main local ranking factors.
A business might therefore appear prominently when somebody searches two streets away, rank considerably lower three miles away and disappear from the most visible results in another part of the town.
Checking a keyword manually from the office provides only one viewpoint.
A more useful approach is to measure rankings from several locations around the business’s target area. This creates a map of where visibility is strong and where competitors are consistently appearing instead.
For a Birmingham dentist, for example, it may be more useful to understand visibility across several nearby neighbourhoods than to report that the clinic is simply “number three for dentist Birmingham”.
This type of benchmarking can also show whether profile changes are improving visibility beyond the immediate area surrounding the premises.
What Should Businesses Do Next?
The development of Ask Maps does not require businesses to abandon their existing SEO strategy. It does make the Google Business Profile worth treating as a proper marketing asset rather than something that is set up once and occasionally updated.
Useful next steps include…
- Carry out a Google Business Profile audit: Check categories, services, opening hours, contact information, attributes, photographs and descriptions for missing or outdated information
- Benchmark local competitors and map rankings: Measure where the business currently appears from several locations around its target area and compare the profiles that consistently outperform it
- Review categories and services: Make sure Google has clear information about what the business actually offers
- Build a sustainable review strategy: Encourage genuine customers to leave useful feedback and respond consistently to reviews
- Strengthen local landing pages: Give Google and customers detailed information about services provided in relevant locations.
- Monitor local rankings and profile performance: Track visibility alongside calls, website visits, direction requests and other Business Profile interactions.
These steps are increasingly important because Google may be making more of the initial comparison on the customer’s behalf.
Is Google Maps Really Becoming a Business Homepage?
For some local searches, it is starting to perform many of the jobs traditionally associated with a homepage. It can explain what a business does, show what it looks like, provide opening times, surface customer experiences, give directions and help customers compare it with alternatives.
Websites remain extremely important. They allow businesses to explain complex services in greater detail, demonstrate expertise, generate leads, and provide Google with supporting information about the organisation.
The practical change is that businesses cannot assume customers will always reach the website before forming an opinion.
Increasingly, the Google Business Profile may be where that first impression, comparison and decision takes place.
FAQs
What Is Ask Maps?
Ask Maps is Google’s AI-powered conversational experience within Google Maps. It allows users to ask detailed questions about places and receive recommendations based on their requirements.
Does Google Maps Replace a Business Website?
No. A website still provides far more space for detailed service information, content and lead generation. However, some customers may make contact or visit a business after seeing enough information within Google Maps.
What Factors Affect Google Maps Rankings?
Google says its main local ranking considerations are relevance, distance and prominence. Complete business information, links, reviews and positive ratings can all contribute to local visibility.
Why Should Businesses Monitor Direction Requests?
Direction requests can indicate that somebody has moved from researching a business towards physically visiting it. As more customer activity happens within Maps, they provide useful context alongside calls and website clicks.
Why Should Local Rankings Be Checked From Several Locations?
Distance influences local results, so the same business can rank very differently across a town or city. Measuring several locations gives a more realistic picture of where a business is actually visible.