The map has one number, the site has another, and a directory has a third.

The short answer

Your name, address and phone number are printed in more places than you remember: the Google profile, the site footer, Facebook, an old directory, a supplier page. When they disagree, a search engine has to guess which is current.

It guesses conservatively, which means a shop with one consistent answer outranks a shop with 3 versions of the truth.

Where the copies come from

A number changes, and the site gets updated because somebody looks at the site. The directory somebody filled in 4 years ago does not, because nobody remembers it exists.

Then there are the versions nobody typed: a second Google profile from a previous owner, an address written "Rr." in one place and in full in another, a mobile on the map and a landline in the footer.

Why the map cares more than the site does

The map result is decided partly on how confident Google is that a business is real and current. Agreement across places it did not control is the cheapest evidence available to it.

That is why 2 shops with the same reviews and the same distance do not always place the same.

Fix it in this order

Decide the true version first, in writing: one name, one address spelled one way, one number. Then correct the Google profile, because it feeds the map.

Then the site footer and contact page. Then Facebook and Instagram. Then the directories, oldest first, which is the boring hour that most businesses never spend.

Then look for duplicates of your own listing and close them. A second profile splits your reviews between 2 shops.

What it changed for one shop

Iglisi Watch in Durres was consistent everywhere before the site went live, which is why the map listing worked before the pages did. Across 2 June to 30 August 2026 the site took 900 clicks from Google, and the profile carried the first weeks of that on its own.

Those figures were read in August 2026. Search moves, so check yours rather than borrowing ours.

Questions worth asking

Does it matter if the number is only slightly different?

A missing prefix or a space is usually forgiven. A different number is not, and neither is a different street. Pick one spelling and use it everywhere, including the punctuation.

I cannot get into an old listing to change it.

Most directories have a claim link on the page itself, and the rest have a contact address. Where neither works, the listing is old enough that asking for removal is easier than asking for a correction.

Should I use a tracking number for ads?

Only where the platform supports showing the real number to everybody else. A tracking number sitting on your public pages is a fourth version of the truth.

How long before it makes a difference?

The profile updates in days. The directories take as long as they take, and the map result moves once enough of them agree, which is why the order above starts with the ones you control.

Send us the address and we will list every version of your details we can find, with the odd ones marked. Get a free audit.

Updated 6 September 2026