Google says local results are mainly based on 3 things: relevance, distance, and prominence. You can influence relevance and prominence. You cannot influence distance, which is measured from the person searching. And you cannot pay for a better ranking, because Google says there is no way to request or buy one.
What Google says
Google’s help page on improving your local ranking lays out the 3 factors in plain terms.
Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Google’s advice is to provide complete and detailed business information so it can match you to relevant searches.
Distance is how far each business is from the person searching. If the person has not shared their location, Google uses what it knows about where they are.
Prominence is how well known a business is. Google says it is based on information such as how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.
The page also says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results, and that an inaccurate profile might not show for relevant searches in your area.
Distance explains why “my rank” is not one number
Because distance is measured from the searcher, 2 people a mile apart can see different businesses in the map pack for the same search. A customer standing outside your shop and a customer 4 miles across town are 2 different searches.
That is why a single “I rank number 2” claim is weak evidence. It describes 1 location. A better picture comes from checking the same search at a grid of points around your address and seeing where you appear, where you do not, and how that changes as you move away. Doily’s map pack grid does this for local rank tracking, and our guide to the map pack grid explains how to read the result.
If your ranking falls off sharply as the searcher moves away from you, that is distance doing its work, not a penalty. Nothing in your control makes you closer. What you can do is raise relevance and prominence enough to win from farther away.
Reading a grid, with example numbers
Suppose you check a 5 by 5 grid of 25 points around your shop, and the numbers here are invented to show the idea. You show up in the top 3 at 14 of the 25 points, which is 56%. Look at where the 14 are. If they cluster within a mile of the shop and thin out toward the edges, distance is shaping the result and the question is how to extend your reach. If you are missing at points right next to the shop, something else is wrong, such as a category that does not match the search or an inaccurate address.
Two grids taken a month apart tell you more than either alone. Compare the share of points where you appear and the shape of the area, not just the center point.
Relevance: what you control
Google’s advice for relevance is mostly about completeness. Verify the business, since Google says verification tells it you are authorized to represent the business and makes it more likely to show. Then fill in the details Google lists:
- Your full address, if customers can visit you.
- Business hours, including special hours.
- The kind of business you are, through your category.
- Other attributes, such as parking or Wi-Fi.
Photos and videos help customers see what you offer, and for retail businesses in eligible countries, in-store products can show in local results.
Google’s guidelines add rules that affect relevance directly. Your business name should reflect your real-world name as used on your storefront, website, and stationery. Extra information in the name, like services or locations added to catch searches, is not permitted and could lead to suspension. Categories should describe the business, not be used solely as keywords.
Prominence: what you can build
Prominence is slower. Google’s page points to reviews and links from other websites. Reviews are the part with the clearest actions: ask every customer, reply to the reviews you get, and keep the replies factual. Google notes that replying shows you value feedback and that positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.
Links to your business from local sites, such as chambers of commerce, trade associations, and local news, add to the picture Google describes, though it gives no formula. Keep the details you publish elsewhere, on your site, in directories, and on social profiles, identical to the profile. Google says accurate, up-to-date information makes a profile more likely to show, and mismatches across the web give you no benefit and some risk of confusing customers.
Address and service area rules
These are the rules that trip up service businesses.
- Use a real, precise address. P.O. boxes and mailboxes at remote locations are not acceptable.
- A virtual office is not eligible. If you rent a mailing address but do not operate there, Google says that location is not eligible for a Business Profile.
- Service-area businesses should have one profile for the central office, with a designated service area. The service area should not extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where the business is based.
- Businesses that show an address should keep permanent fixed signage of the business name there.
Google reserves the right to suspend profiles that violate its guidelines. A profile that depends on a bent rule is a profile that can disappear.
Local and AI answers
Google’s guide to generative AI features says AI responses can include information about local businesses, and that using Business Profile can help your products and services be visible in AI responses as well as in other Google results. That makes the profile the most direct way Google gives you to put your business facts in front of both.
First-week checklist
- Confirm the profile is verified and the name matches your storefront and website exactly.
- Check address, hours, category, and attributes against reality.
- Look at your last 10 reviews. Reply to any that have not had a response.
- Add current photos of the business, the team, and the work.
- Search your main service from 3 or 4 points around town and note where you appear.
If your visibility drops off past a certain distance, the pattern in local drop-off describes how to confirm it and what to do next. The setup details are in our guide to the Google Business Profile.
