Your Google Business Profile is the wrong shape
Wrong primary category, empty services, outdated photos, or a service-area setup that shows a home address when it should be hidden will quietly keep you out of the map pack. So will an unverified or suspended listing that you can still find by brand name.
Test like a customer: search the service plus town from a phone on mobile data, not your business name from the office. Appearing for your name but never for "boiler repair" or "emergency plumber" is a ranking problem, not a disappearance.
Reviews are too few, too old, or too vague
Local ranking leans on prominence. Competitors with a steady stream of recent reviews will outrank a plumber whose last five-star comments are years old, even if the work quality is identical. Google also weighs how you respond.
Vague praise helps less than reviews that name the job and the area. Build a simple after-job routine rather than one-off blasts. Never buy reviews or offer incentives that break Google's rules; short-term volume is not worth a listing risk.
The website does not match how people search
A single "services" page that lists everything ranks for almost nothing. Customers search for boiler repair, bathroom fitting, powerflushing and emergency callouts as separate jobs. Each needs a page that says where you cover it and how to contact you.
Area clarity matters too. "Serving the region" without naming towns forces visitors to guess. Name the places you work, and keep the phone number easy to tap on mobile. Rankings that send people to a confusing site still fail to fill the diary.
Name, address and phone details disagree online
When directories, your site and your Google profile disagree about your name or phone number, Google loses confidence and shows you less. Old abandoned listings and spelling variants split that trust further.
Audit the main UK trade and business directories first. Match the exact trading name and phone you use on the profile. Fixing citations is unglamorous work, and it often unlocks rankings that content alone cannot.
Proximity and competition, not a "broken" Google
Sometimes nothing is broken. A competitor with a closer base, more reviews and cleaner services will win for searchers on their side of town. That is how local search is designed to work.
Measure on a grid across your patch. If visibility fades smoothly with distance, invest in prominence and area pages rather than endless setting tweaks. If you are invisible next to your own base, the profile or citation problems above are the priority.