When someone searches “plumber near me”, the three businesses shown on the map get most of the calls. Google calls these the local pack. Appearing there is not luck. Google says it uses three main things: relevance, distance and prominence.
Relevance
Relevance is how well your business matches what the person searched for. Google reads your Google Business Profile, your website and your reviews to decide. You can help by choosing the right main category, listing every service you offer and having a website page for each one. See Google Business Profile setup and one page per service.
Distance
Distance is how far your business is from the person searching, or from the area they named. You cannot move your profile to win, and you should never fake an address, because Google suspends profiles that do. What you can do is make it clear which areas you cover, with a service area on your profile and a page for every town you cover.
Prominence
Prominence is how well known and trusted your business is, online and offline. Google looks at the number and quality of reviews, your average rating, links from other websites, mentions in directories and how well your website is built. This is the factor you can influence most over time.
What you can do this month
- Complete every section of your Google Business Profile, and keep your opening hours accurate.
- Choose one main category and add relevant extra ones.
- Add real photos of your work, your van and your team.
- Ask every happy customer for a review, and reply to each one. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Make sure your name, address and phone number match everywhere they appear. See citations.
- Add a fast, clear website and link it from your profile.
What not to do
Do not put keywords in your business name, buy reviews or list a fake address. These can get your profile suspended, which is far worse than ranking third.
You cannot control distance, but you can build relevance and prominence. Do the basics consistently and the map results follow.
Where we fit in
Your website is the part of prominence you fully control. See the offer for how we build and look after it.