Explain the three factors Google says decide local results, and say which of them you can influence.
When someone nearby searches for what you sell, Google often shows a small map with a few businesses pinned on it, above the ordinary website links. Google chooses those map results, and the listings in Google Maps, differently from the ordinary web results covered in the earlier modules. If your business doesn't show up there, you need to know what Google looks at and which parts of it you can change.
The explanation below comes from Google's own help pages for Business Profile owners.
Google says local results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. It combines the three to find the best match for a search. It doesn't publish how the three are weighted. It does say that a business farther away may rank higher than a closer one if it is more likely to have what the searcher wants.
These factors decide which businesses appear in the local pack, which is the map section of the search results, and in Google Maps. They work alongside your Google Business Profile, the free listing Google shows for a business with its address, hours, photos and reviews.
Wei Ming runs a chicken rice stall at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh, a business Wei Ming's father started. At lunch, office workers nearby search "chicken rice near me" and get a map with three pins. Wei Ming's stall isn't one of them, even though it has queues every day. A stall two blocks away, which Wei Ming knows is not as good, appears every time.
Relevance is how well a business profile matches what someone is searching for. Google says complete and detailed business information helps it understand a business and match the profile to relevant searches. Most small businesses lose out on relevance without realising it, and it is fully within your control.
A nephew set up Wei Ming's profile years ago. It had the general category "Restaurant", no description, no menu and only one photo. That gave Google little on the profile to connect it to a chicken rice search. The competing stall had a specific category, a menu listing its dishes and dozens of photos of its chicken rice.
To improve relevance, choose the right categories, fill in every field that applies to you and keep your details accurate. Lesson 7.2, "Set up and complete your business profile", covers the Google Business Profile in detail.
Distance is how far each possible result is from the location used in the search. If the searcher names a place, as in "chicken rice Toa Payoh", Google uses that place. If they don't name one, Google works out distance from what it knows about the searcher's location.
A business can't change distance. A customer at Bishan MRT who searches "chicken rice near me" is closer to other stalls, and Wei Ming can't do anything about that. Distance explains part of why a competitor can outrank you on a particular search, and work on your profile won't change it.
What you can do is make sure Google knows exactly where your business is. Your address and map pin must be accurate. For a hawker centre stall, put the unit number in the address so customers can find the stall when they arrive.
Prominence is how well known a business is. Google says some places are more prominent offline, such as famous landmarks and well-known brands, and its results try to reflect this. Prominence also draws on information Google has from across the web, such as links, articles and directories.
Google lists reviews as part of prominence, and says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. Google also says prominence is based partly on how many websites link to your business. The link work from modules 3 to 6 can therefore also feed your local visibility.
Google states there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Ads can appear in Maps and the local pack, but they are labelled as sponsored. Anyone who offers to sell you a higher organic map position is offering something Google says does not exist.
Local results depend heavily on where the searcher is, so check them from where your customers actually are. Take your phone and stand somewhere your customers would be, or near your business. Open Google Maps and search your main service plus your area. Look at the top three results and note these details for each:
its categories its rating and number of reviews how complete the profile looks: photos, hours, menus or services
Then compare what you found with your own profile.
Wei Ming's nephew ran this search from the office blocks near the hawker centre. Each of the top three had a specific category, more than a hundred reviews and recent photos. Wei Ming's stall had a general category, a handful of reviews and one old photo. The nephew concluded that the profile was keeping the stall out of the results and that distance had nothing to do with it.
The activity below asks you to run the same search and record those details for the top three results.
On your phone, search Google Maps for your main service plus your area. Write down the top three results with their categories, ratings and review counts.
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