How Google ranks local contractors (proximity, relevance, prominence explained)

A homeowner in Columbus types “furnace repair” on a cold night. Google shows a map and three businesses under it. Most calls go to those three. Every week someone emails you promising to put you there, usually with a list of “ranking factors” and a monthly fee.

Before paying anyone, read what Google itself publishes. It is short, it is the only first hand source there is, and it explains more than the sales emails admit.

The three factors, in Google’s words

Google’s help page for business owners says: “Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity. Together, these factors help Google find the best match for customers’ searches” (Google). The same page then explains each factor under three headings: Relevance, Distance and Prominence. “Popularity” in the summary line and “Prominence” in the heading describe the same factor. What most people call proximity, Google calls distance.

Google’s definitions, quoted from that page:

• Relevance: “Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for.”
• Distance: “Distance refers to how far each business is from the customer who’s searching. If a customer doesn’t share where they are, Google uses what it knows about their location.”
• Prominence: how well known a business is. Google adds: “This factor’s also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have. More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.”

And one line every contractor should keep in mind when the sales calls come: “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. We do our best to keep the search algorithm details confidential to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone.”

Relevance: tell Google exactly what you are

Relevance is the factor you control most directly. Google says complete and detailed business information helps it “better understand your business and match it to relevant searches” (Google).

For a contractor, that starts with the category. Google’s guidelines ask you to “use as few categories as possible” and to pick categories that complete the sentence “This business IS a” rather than “this business HAS a” (Google). A heating and cooling company is an HVAC contractor; it does not need ten extra categories for every part it installs. Google also says: “Do not use categories solely as keywords”.

The same goes for your name. Google asks for the name you actually use, on your storefront, website and stationery, and says that including unnecessary information in it “isn’t permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.” “Smith Plumbing” is a name. “Smith Plumbing Best Emergency Plumber Columbus” is a suspension risk.

What to fill in instead: your services, your hours (including special hours for holidays), and a plain description of the work you do. The field by field version is in the Google Business Profile guide for contractors.

Distance: the factor you cannot move

You cannot move your shop closer to every customer, and Google does not say how it measures distance for a business that hides its address. What it does say is how service area businesses must set up their profile:

• If you work at customers’ homes and do not receive customers at your address, Google’s guidelines say you “should hide your business address from customers,” and give a plumber working from home as the example (Google).
• You can list up to 20 service areas, by city, ZIP code or other area, but not as a radius around your base. Google says the boundaries “shouldn’t be more than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based” (Google).

Be honest here. Listing a city you never drive to only brings calls you will turn down, and Google asks you to “be as specific and accurate as possible.” This is also why a contractor across town with far more reviews will not always beat you for a customer on your street.

Prominence: where reviews come in

Prominence is about how known you are, online and off. Google names two inputs on its ranking page: links from other websites and reviews.

On reviews, Google says the number you have and positive ratings can help. Further up the same page it adds that replying matters: “Positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.” Its review tips page asks owners to remind customers to leave reviews through a Google link or QR code, and to reply to them (Google). Google does not publish a target number or a weight. For a practical way to set your own target, see how many Google reviews a plumber needs.

On links, think of the places that already know you: your supplier’s dealer locator, the local chamber, the trade association, the youth league you sponsor. Google does not say which links count or how much. Your own website, with the same name, phone number and services as your profile, gives those links somewhere to point.

What about the “ranking factor” surveys?

SEO agencies publish yearly surveys ranking dozens of local factors. They are polls of practitioners’ opinions, not Google data, and Google says it keeps algorithm details confidential. Read them as informed guesses. We do not repeat their numbers here.

Local Services Ads are a different system

The ads at the very top of many contractor searches are Local Services Ads, and they do not follow the free ranking above. They are paid, you are charged for leads, and they are open to trades such as plumbers, electricians, roofers and HVAC in the US (Google).

Google says these listings are ranked by an auction that weighs your bid, how likely your ad is to produce a lead (including how quickly you answer), and profile quality, which includes “your rating, number of reviews, average response time” and the verification checks you completed (Google). So reviews count there too, but inside a paid system.

If you remember the Google Guarantee badge: Google has simplified its badges into a single Google Verified badge for all advertisers, and is discontinuing the Money Back Guarantee that came with Google Guarantee (Google).

What to do this month

1. Verify your profile. Google says verification makes a business “more likely to show up in search results” (Google).
2. Fix your primary category so it says what you are, and remove categories that are really keywords.
3. Use your real business name, exactly as it appears on your truck and invoices.
4. Set an honest service area: hide your home address, list the towns you actually serve.
5. Fill in services, hours and special hours, and add recent job photos.
6. Ask every customer for a review, the same way, and reply to the ones you get. Templates are in how to ask for a Google review by text; the limits are in Google’s rules on asking for reviews.
7. Check the map from your customers’ side once a quarter: search from a neighborhood you serve and note who appears.

An example. A two truck HVAC company in a Columbus suburb lists itself as “HVAC contractor”, hides the owner’s home address, sets eight suburbs it really serves, posts photos of real installs and texts every customer a review link the evening of the job. None of that is a trick. It is simply giving Google’s three factors accurate material to work with, which is all Google says you can do.