Why Your Sarasota Business Isn't Showing Up on Google (And How to Fix It)

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You’ve got a website. You paid someone to build it, maybe even paid someone to “do SEO” on it. But when you search for your own business on Google, you’re nowhere. Your competitor down the street shows up first, and you’re stuck on page two wondering what the heck is going on.

This happens to Sarasota business owners all the time. And it’s usually not because your website is terrible or because Google hates you. It’s because nobody ever fixed the basics.

The Google Business Profile Problem

First thing – do you even have a Google Business Profile? Not just a website. I’m talking about that box that shows up on the right side when someone searches your business name. The thing with your hours, your address, your photos, and hopefully some reviews.

If you don’t have one, that’s problem number one. If you do have one but you set it up three years ago and never touched it again, that’s also a problem.

We had a bakery owner call us last month. She’d been in business for five years on Bahia Vista. Great pastries, loyal customers, but when people searched “bakery near me” she didn’t show up. Turned out her Google Business Profile said she was permanently closed. She had no idea. Google marked her closed because she never verified some update they asked for.

Your Google Business Profile needs attention. You gotta add photos regularly. You gotta respond to reviews – even the good ones. You gotta keep your hours updated, especially during holidays when everyone’s searching for what’s open.

And you need to pick the right categories. Google lets you choose one primary category and a few secondary ones. If you’re a dentist and you pick “Health Consultant” as your primary category, you’re screwed. You need to pick “Dentist” – the exact thing people search for.

This stuff matters for Sarasota SEO more than people think.

Your Website Probably Loads Too Slow

Nobody wants to hear this, but your website might be trash on mobile phones. It looks fine on your computer, so you think it’s good. But 80% of your customers are searching on their phone, and if your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, their gone.

I tested a client’s website last week – a contractor in Lakewood Ranch. On his phone, his homepage took 11 seconds to load. Eleven seconds! You think someone sitting at a red light waiting for your site is gonna stick around for 11 seconds? They’re calling your competitor before your site even shows up.

The problem is usually images. Somebody uploaded full-size photos straight from their camera, and now every page is trying to load files that are way too big. Or you’ve got some fancy slider thing that looks cool but kills your load time.

Google cares about speed. A lot. If your site is slow, you’re not ranking well. Period.

You can test your own site right now. Go to Google and search “PageSpeed Insights” and put in your website. If you’re scoring below 50 on mobile, you’ve got work to do.

Nobody Can Find Your Phone Number

This one drives me crazy. I’ll look at a business website and I gotta hunt around for 5 minutes to find a phone number. It’s in tiny text at the bottom, or hidden on some “Contact Us” page, or – and this is the worst – it’s embedded in an image so you can’t even click it on your phone.

Put your phone number at the top of every page. Big enough to read. Clickable on mobile so people can just tap it and call you.

Same with your address. Don’t just say “Sarasota, FL” – put your actual street address. Google needs to know exactly where you are for Local SEO to work.

And here’s the kicker – that phone number and address need to be exactly the same everywhere online. Same format, same everything. If your Google Business Profile says “123 Main Street” but your website says “123 Main St.” Google sees those as two different addresses. It confuses them, and confused Google doesn’t rank you well.

You’re Not Showing Up for The Right Searches

Let me tell you about a roofing company we worked with. Guy was spending $3,000 a month on ads trying to rank for “roofing contractor Sarasota.” Super competitive, expensive, hard to rank for.

Know what people actually search when their roof is leaking? “Roof repair near me” and “emergency roof leak Sarasota.” Nobody’s sitting there with water dripping through their ceiling searching for a “roofing contractor.” Their panicking and they need help NOW.

We shifted his whole strategy to focus on those emergency searches and repair searches. His leads went up, his costs went down, and he’s actually helping people who need him right away instead of people who are just browsing and comparing prices.

You gotta think about what your customers actually type into Google. Not what sounds professional or impressive. What do they actually say?

A med spa owner told me she wanted to rank for “aesthetic medical procedures.” I asked her when’s the last time someone called and said “Hi, I’d like to schedule an aesthetic medical procedure.” Never. They call asking about Botox, fillers, laser treatments – specific stuff.

That’s what you need to rank for. The actual words real people use.

Your Content Sounds Like a Robot Wrote It

I see this all the time. Someone hires a cheap SEO company or uses some AI tool, and their website ends up full of this garbage content that sounds like:

“Our company provides superior solutions for your service needs, leveraging cutting-edge methodologies to ensure optimal outcomes for all stakeholders in the greater Sarasota metropolitan area.”

What does that even mean? Nobody talks like that. Nobody searches for that. And Google’s getting better at spotting this keyword-stuffed nonsense.

Write like a human. Answer questions people actually have. If you’re a plumber, write about “Why is my water heater making that banging noise?” or “How much does it cost to fix a leaky faucet in Sarasota?” – real questions people ask.

The businesses that rank best now are the ones that sound helpful, not the ones trying to trick Google with a bunch of keywords.

You Don’t Have Any Reviews (Or You’re Ignoring Them)

Reviews are huge for Google Maps Ranking. Not just having them – responding to them too.

I worked with a restaurant owner who had 50+ five-star reviews but never responded to any of them. Meanwhile, his competitor had 30 reviews with a lower average rating, but the owner responded to every single one. Guess who ranked higher? The competitor.

Google wants to see that you’re engaged with your customers. Respond to reviews within 24-48 hours if you can. Thank people for good reviews. Address bad reviews professionally without getting defensive.

And stop being scared to ask for reviews. After you finish a job and the customer’s happy, just ask. “Hey, if you’ve got a minute, a Google review would really help us out.” Most people will do it if you make it easy.

Don’t offer discounts or freebies for reviews though – Google will penalize you for that. Just ask genuinely.

Your Competitors Are Doing Shady Stuff

Here’s something most people don’t know: your competitors might be actively sabotaging you. We’ve seen it happen.

Fake bad reviews from accounts that only leave one-star reviews. Duplicate Google Business listings for your business with wrong information. Spam links pointing to your website trying to get you penalized.

There’s a landscaping company in Siesta Key that kept getting fake one-star reviews saying they never showed up for jobs. All the reviews came from profiles with no other activity, all posted within a few days of each other. Obvious fake reviews from a competitor.

We got them removed, but it took time and effort. Google doesn’t make it easy.

You gotta monitor your Google Business Profile regularly. Check for duplicate listings. Watch for suspicious review activity. Keep an eye on what’s ranking above you and make sure nobody’s doing anything sketchy.

The Sarasota Market Is Competitive

Let’s be real – Sarasota’s not some tiny market where you can slap up a website and automatically rank. We’ve got big companies with big budgets competing here. We’ve got national chains with professional marketing teams. We’ve got snowbirds searching for services six months a year and then locals the rest of the time.

You can’t just wing it and hope for the best.

But you also don’t need a massive budget. You need to do the right things consistently. Fix your Google Business Profile. Make your website fast. Create helpful content. Get reviews. Make sure all your information matches everywhere online.

Small Business SEO isn’t about having the most money. It’s about doing the fundamentals right while your competitors are too lazy or too cheap to bother.

What To Do Next

Go check your Google Business Profile right now. Make sure it’s claimed, verified, and has current information. Add some photos if you haven’t in a while.

Test your website speed on your phone. If it’s slow, that needs to get fixed before you do anything else.

Search for your business on Google. Are you showing up? If not, search for what you do plus Sarasota and see who is showing up. Look at what their doing differently.

And if you’re completely lost or you’ve tried fixing this stuff yourself and it’s not working, maybe it’s time to get help from people who actually know the Sarasota market. Not some company in another state running your account from a call center. Someone local who understands that Gulf Gate customers search different than Lakewood Ranch customers.

Your business deserves to be found. You’re good at what you do. You just need people to actually see you when their searching. That’s fixable – but you gotta fix it.