What Google says decides who ranks higher on Google Maps
Google has a help page called Tips to improve your local ranking on Google. It’s the closest thing to an official answer, and it’s short. Google says local results are “mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity,” then breaks the third one out under the heading prominence. Here’s what it says about each:
- Relevance is “how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.” Complete, detailed information helps Google match you to searches.
- Distance is “how far each business is from the customer who’s searching.” If the searcher doesn’t share a location, Google uses what it knows about it.
- Prominence is how well known a business is. Google says it’s partly based on how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have, and that “more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.”
Google also says, “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google,” and that it keeps the details of the algorithm confidential. So anyone who tells you the exact formula is guessing.
Be honest with yourself about distance. You can’t move your shop closer to every customer, and you shouldn’t fake an address to try. Google’s guidelines say a rented mailing address you don’t operate from isn’t eligible for a profile. The work that moves you up the map is all relevance and prominence.
How to rank in Google Maps by making your profile match the search
Relevance starts with your Google Business Profile. Google’s ranking page lists the details it wants: your full address if customers can visit, your hours including special hours, your category, and attributes. It also says verifying your business makes it more likely to show in results.
Categories. Google calls these out by name. Its category help page says “the categories you select affect your local ranking on Google.” Picking them well has its own guide: Google Business Profile categories.
Services. Google’s page on managing services says that when customers search for something you’ve listed, it may be highlighted on your profile. Add the services the editor suggests that you really do, and add custom ones for jobs it doesn’t suggest. Write them in the words customers use.
Service area. If you travel to customers, Google says to set your service area by city, ZIP code or other area, not a radius, with up to 20 areas. List the towns you want work from.
Hours. Keep them current and set special hours for holidays. A profile that says you’re open when you’re not sends people to a locked door.
Reviews, photos and links that build prominence on the map
Prominence is the part you build over time.
Reviews. Google ties reviews to ranking directly. Its page on getting more reviews suggests sharing a review link or QR code with customers. It also says offering free or discounted goods or services for reviews is strictly prohibited. So ask every happy customer, make it one tap, and never pay for it.
Replies. Google’s ranking page says, “Positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.” Its review tips ask for replies that are polite, brief and specific, without promotional offers. On a bad review, don’t attack the person, apologize where it fits, and reply soon.
Photos and videos. Google lists these as a way to help customers see what you offer. Real jobs, real trucks and real people beat stock photos, because customers can tell.
Links. Google says prominence is partly based on how many websites link to your business. For a local business the useful ones are local: your chamber of commerce, a supplier’s dealer list, a sponsorship page, a trade association, local news.
Questions to settle before you work on your Google Maps ranking
Does my website affect where I show on Google Maps?
Google’s ranking page doesn’t spell out how it uses your website, so I won’t pretend it does. Here’s why I still work on the site when someone hires me for Maps. Google says relevance comes from detailed information, and prominence partly from links to your business. Your website is where both live.
If the profile says you do furnace repair in Sterling Heights, the site should have a furnace repair page that names the towns you serve. The phone number, business name and address on the site should match the profile exactly, so a customer who checks both isn’t confused. When other local sites link to you, they link to your website, and the profile links there too. A site with one thin homepage gives none of that work anywhere to land.
Does my business information need to match on every directory?
Google’s help pages don’t say directory listings are a ranking factor, so I don’t sell them as one. I clean them up anyway, for a plain reason: customers find you on Yelp, Facebook, Bing and your industry’s directories, and an old phone number on any of them is a lost call.
The rule I follow is one name, one address or service area, and one phone number, written the same way everywhere, matching your Google profile. Fix the big directories first, then the ones specific to your trade. Don’t create new listings on sites nobody visits just to have more of them.
How do I know if my Google Maps ranking is improving?
Start with what Google gives you. The Business Profile performance report shows calls from the call button, website clicks, direction requests, the search terms people used to find you, and how many people viewed your profile. Owners and managers of verified profiles can see it.
Then check rankings the right way. Because distance matters, one search from your own desk tells you almost nothing. Check from the towns you want work in, for the searches you want to win, and compare month to month. If calls and website clicks from the profile are going up, the ranking work is doing its job.
If you want someone to do the profile part for you, my $400 Google Business Profile optimization covers categories, services, service area, photos, duplicates and the website check in one pass. For the full list of what I check across the profile, site, listings and links, read my local SEO checklist. If you want the ongoing work, reviews, pages and links month after month, see my local SEO page and send me the search you most want to win.