How Google chooses its top three on Maps
Relevance, distance, prominence - and which of the three you can actually influence.
When someone searches "plumber near me", Google shows three businesses above every website result. Roughly three quarters of searchers never look further. If you're fourth, you're competing for the leftovers.
The three factors, in Google's own words
Google is unusually transparent about local ranking. It weighs relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the searcher), and prominence (how well-known and well-reviewed your business is).
You can't move your premises. But relevance and prominence are built from signals you control: categories, services, photos, posts, review volume and recency, and consistent business information across the web.
Where most profiles lose
- ×Wrong or missing secondary categories - the single most common fix we make
- ×Phone number or address that disagrees with directories elsewhere
- ×No posts or photos in the last 90 days - the profile looks dormant
- ×Reviews left unanswered, especially negative ones
A complete, active, consistent profile routinely outranks a bigger competitor with a neglected one. Prominence is earned monthly, not bought once.
What to do this week
- ✓Check your primary category matches what customers actually search for
- ✓Add every service you offer as a secondary category or service item
- ✓Reply to your last ten reviews - all of them, not just the good ones
- ✓Publish one post and three real photos of recent work