What decides your hotel's place on Google Maps
Google says three things decide who it shows on Maps: how well a listing matches the search, how far it is from the person searching, and how well known the place is. A hotel cannot move, so the work is in the other two: a complete, accurate listing, and reviews that are many, good, recent and answered.
A OneHorizyn guide. Updated .
The three things Google names
- Relevance: how well your listing matches what was searched. The category you chose, your name and what your listing says all count.
- Distance: how far you are from the person searching, or from the place they named.
- Prominence: how well known you are. Google names the number of reviews and the rating among the things it looks at, along with what it finds about you across the web.
It depends on where the guest is standing
Search “hotels near me” from your own lobby and you will probably see yourself first. That is the kindest place to search from. A guest two kilometres away, or planning the trip from another city, sees a different list.
So check from where your guests are: from the station, the airport, the business district, and with the city's name typed in, as someone at home would search.
What you can change
- Claim your listing and fill in every part of it: category, address, phone, website, hours, what you have.
- Choose the category that says what you are. A resort listed as a resort may not be shown for “hotels”, and a hostel should be listed as a hostel.
- Add your own photos, and keep adding them.
- Ask every guest for a review, and reply to the ones you get.
- Make sure your website's own title says what you are and where.
What nobody can promise
No one can guarantee a place on Google Maps. A better place in the unpaid results cannot be bought: ads are shown apart from them, and marked. What you can do is see who is shown above you, and where you are behind them on the things that can be measured.
