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Guide · Google Maps

Your Google Maps listing: a checklist you can do yourself.

For most small businesses in Pakistan the Google Maps listing is the first thing a customer sees, before any website. It costs nothing, and most of this takes minutes. It is the same list the Google plan on sitey.pk works through every month.

Google Maps checklist, explained 0:21
Customers leave when they can't see a price (a short film) 0:53
Read the film as text

A made-up story about a made-up salon. The film has no speech; the words below are the ones written on screen.

Evening. Sana, in a teal kameez with a long braid, looks at herself in the mirror. On screen: "Sana wants a facial." She picks up her phone: "So she checks Google."

The salon's Google listing says "call for price". Its photos are from 2019, the map pin is on the wrong street, the phone number says "call now" but nobody answers, and the owner line says "own this business?". A red stamp lands on each one: not shown, old, wrong, no answer, and three question marks.

She messages the salon on WhatsApp: "salam! facial kitne ka hai?" The reply: "sirf Rs 2,000 :)". She answers: "done! 5 baje aati hoon."

On screen: "5 pm. The salon." At Noor Beauty Salon, the owner, Noor, waves hello and prints the bill: facial 2,000, gold mask +500, deep cleanse +500. Total: Rs 3,000. Sana clutches her face.

Sana: "You said 2,000!" Noor: "That was the basic one!" Sana: "Nobody told me that!" Noor points at a tiny price list on the wall: "It's... on the list?" On screen: "Neither of them lied. The price just wasn't written down."

Sana gives the salon one star and writes "overcharged. never again." Outside the salon, three neighbours read the review on their phones and walk away. On screen: "One bad bill. Four customers gone." The picture freezes in grey on the empty door.

Silence. Then the letters s, i, t, e, y, dot, p, k stamp onto the screen, with the words "real prices · real photos · real reviews".

On screen: "Sitey puts it all up front." The same listing is rebuilt, one gold tick at a time: facial Rs 2,500, mask and cleanse included; real photos from this week and real reviews; the pin on the right door; a phone that is answered, on WhatsApp; a verified owner; Urdu and English. Next to it, the salon's own website shows the same price in both languages, with a button to book on WhatsApp.

On screen: "The next customer: Ayesha." She shows Noor the listing on her phone: "Rs 2,500, sab included? Book!" The bill says facial, all included, Rs 2,500: the same as online. Both of them smile.

On screen: "And Google moves them up." In a search for "salon near me", the salon climbs from fourth place to first, and its pin grows on the map. Three green charts, for visits, calls and bookings, rise bar by bar, and a big green arrow shoots up.

The film ends: "Show the price. Keep the customer." sitey.pk: websites and Google listings, in Urdu and English. WhatsApp 0326 3974343.

  1. Claim it and verify it. Search for your business on Google Maps. If it offers to let you claim it, do. Google verifies ownership by phone, text, email, video or a postcard, depending on the business, and until then you cannot change most of it. Step by step in Roman Urdu: Google Map par apni dukan kaise dalein.
  2. Use your real name. The name on your signboard and nothing more. Adding words like "best biryani in Lahore" to the name is against Google's rules and can get the listing suspended.
  3. Pick the right main category. The first category counts most. "Chinese restaurant" says more than "Restaurant" if that is what you are. Add a few more categories only if they are also true.
  4. Set your hours, and special hours. Put in your normal hours, then add special hours before Ramzan, Eid and public holidays. Wrong hours send people to a closed shutter, and they rarely try twice.
  5. A phone number somebody answers. List the number that is actually picked up. If orders come on WhatsApp, say so in the description.
  6. Your website. Add the link so people can see your menu and prices without calling. A Facebook page is better than nothing; your own site is better than a Facebook page.
  7. Photographs you took. Your food, your shop front, your setups. Add new ones every month, because a listing with recent photos looks open. Never use pictures from the internet.
  8. Your menu or services, with prices. Restaurants can add a menu; shops and services can list products or services with prices. People compare prices before they call.
  9. Reply to every review. Thank the good ones. Answer the bad ones calmly, without arguing. People read your replies as closely as the reviews.
  10. Ask for reviews the honest way. After a good order, send your review link on WhatsApp. Never pay for reviews, never trade a discount for one, and never write them yourself: Google removes them and can act against the listing.
  11. Post updates. Deals, new dishes, festive packages. Posts appear on your listing and show Google the business is active.
  12. Keep your details the same everywhere. Name, address and phone should read the same on Google, your website, Foodpanda and Facebook. If you find two listings for the same place, ask Google to remove the duplicate.

How Google decides whose listing to show

This is what people call local SEO. Google's own help page, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, names three things:

The same page says there is no way to pay for a better place on Maps.

One thing we have seen ourselves (September 2026): when several updates were posted on one listing within a few minutes, Google switched posting off for that listing. Post one at a time, days apart.

Doing all of this every month is the work in the "Website + Google" column on the pricing page, if you would rather somebody else did it.

Rather have it done for you?

Send your business name on WhatsApp. Your listing gets looked at, and you are told what could be better and what it would cost.

Message on WhatsApp

Last checked: 10 September 2026 · All guides