In short:
- A “near me” search can show a map list of businesses, a short written answer, or both, and you can see which one you get by searching on your own phone.
- Nobody outside Google knows exactly how either one picks businesses, so put your effort into what you control: the words on your own site pages.
- The one change: add a plain paragraph near the top of your main service page saying what you do, for whom and where, then run the same searches before and after and write down what you see.
Picture someone standing on a Pittsburgh sidewalk in November. It’s 4:45, the light is already going and their furnace just quit. They pull out their phone and type “furnace repair near me.”
What comes back depends on how they searched. They might get a map with a list of businesses. They might get a short written answer. They might get both. If you want to be found, it helps to know how those look different and what you can do about it on your own website.
This post leaves your Google Business Profile alone. We’ve covered that plenty. It’s about your site pages, which are the part of your online presence you control completely.
Map results and AI answers look different
We’re describing what you can see on your own phone, not how Google works inside.
- Map results are a list. You see several businesses side by side, with names, hours and buttons. The searcher compares them and taps one.
- AI answers are written out. The searcher gets a few sentences, sometimes with links. It’s a reply, not a list to scroll.
We can’t tell you how either one chooses which businesses to show. Nobody outside Google can, and we don’t promise rankings or placement. So don’t take our word for how your results look. Check them, which we’ll get to below.
Your pages are the part you can fix this week
Whether a searcher lands on your site from a map, from an AI answer’s link or from a friend’s text, they read the same page. They want to know in a few seconds whether you do what they need, where they are.
Many service pages bury that. They open with a slogan, a stock photo and a paragraph about “quality and commitment.” The facts a stranger needs, what you do, who for and where, show up three scrolls down or never.
The one change: say it in plain text, right at the top
Pick your most important service page. If one page describes everything you do, start there. Near the top, add a short paragraph that answers three questions in everyday words:
- What do you do? Name the service the way customers say it.
- Who is it for? Homeowners, restaurants, nonprofits, new parents, whoever you actually serve.
- Where do you work? Name the neighborhoods and towns you really cover.
Here’s a made-up example so you can see the shape. It isn’t a real business:
“We repair and replace furnaces and boilers for homeowners in Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze, Regent Square and Highland Park. We do same-day repair calls when we can, and we’ll tell you up front if we can’t. Call us at the number above or send a request through this page.”
It’s plain and specific. A person reading it knows right away whether you can help.
How to write yours
- Keep it to two or three sentences. Read it out loud. If it sounds like a brochure, cut the adjectives and keep the nouns.
- Use your customers’ words. If people say “furnace repair,” don’t write only “heating system solutions.” Your emails and call notes show the phrases people really use.
- Name only places you really serve. If your area is a radius around your shop, say that and list the neighborhoods closest to you.
- Make the phone number a tappable link. Someone on a phone should be able to call with one tap.
- Keep the key facts as typed text. A flyer-style graphic of your services and service area looks nice, but if you can’t highlight the words with your cursor, they’re part of a picture. Type them out on the page too.
Do it for one page first
Don’t rewrite the whole site this week. Choose the page that brings in the work you most want more of. For a nonprofit, that might be the programs page. For a caterer, the page about private events. For a startup, the page that says what the product does and who it’s for.
Once that page reads clearly, move on to the next one.
Check what you see, before and after
You can’t see inside Google, but you can see what a searcher sees. Before you change the page, do this on your phone:
- Search the phrases a customer would use, such as “[your service] near me” and “[your service] in [your neighborhood].”
- Write down what comes up. Is it a map list, a written answer or both? Are you in it? How many businesses does each one name?
- Repeat with two or three variations. Customers type things differently.
- Save a few screenshots in a folder with today’s date.
Results can vary with where you’re standing and what device you’re holding, so use the same phone and, if you can, the same spot each time. Then make your page change, wait about a month and run the same searches again. Add a line to your notes about what you changed on the site and what you see now.
Maybe you show up more. Maybe nothing moves. Search results change for many reasons, and we can’t promise yours will. What you’ll have is a record, so you aren’t guessing whether a change helped.
What this won’t do
- It won’t guarantee you appear in an AI answer or a map result.
- It won’t work overnight. Plan on weeks, not days.
It will make your page clearer to every person who lands on it, and that’s worth doing no matter what any search engine does next.
If you’d like a second set of eyes
We’re a Pittsburgh agency, and we work without long-term contracts. If you’d like us to look at your main service page and tell you what we’d change first, we’ll do that with a free website review.
Keep reading: Google’s AI Is Describing Your Business. Give It the Right Facts