Can't Get Business Name to Show Over Our Pin in the Map Pack Despite Ranking #1. Has anyone else had this issue?

[dakotawilliams]

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something like this recently. We're experiencing an issue where despite ranking in the map pack for a large number of terms, for almost all of those searches our name doesn't actually show over our map pin like it does for our competitors. In fact, Google will add business names over pins in the map for listings that are NOT ranking in the local pack. We've also noticed that for a lot of terms where we rank outside of the map pack, if you move the map even the tiniest bit, we suddenly rank in the top-3. Could this be some sort of filtering that's happening with our listing?

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

Do you have a physical location or is the business an SAB?

 

[dakotawilliams]

Do you have a physical location or is the business an SAB?

It's a physical location

 

[cleverlyengaged]

Yes, I have had this issue before. I made some observations that might help you...

• The more zoomed into maps, the more likely map markers are to display. Zooming out and we are left with either GMB profiles with recent reviews, many reviews and/or specific categories.
• Google is more likely to show cafes, coffee shops, schools, parks, restaurants, etc places where users frequently visit and are actively using Google Maps. Google can track foot traffic and the number of people visiting a business in a specific area.
• Google’s motivation is always for the user experience. It must not see value in showing certain categories. For my client, they were categorized as "housing development" unless a user is actively searching for it.
• After further review, I realized the LAT and LONG coordinates of the physical location didn't align to the map marker. It was a brand new building and Google Maps didn't have the buildings showing on Google Maps.
• Review Apple Maps, MapQuest, Foursquare, Bing Places and other map programs to confirm the map marker is consistently on the center of the business and the LAT and Long coordinates match.