Ranking on Google: How a Local Business Reaches the Top 3

Ranking on Google for a local business usually comes down to one question: do you appear among the first three businesses on the map when someone in your city searches for what you do. Google shows those three spots above the regular results, and they get the largest share of calls. About 75% of customers click one of the first three businesses on the map and call right away, and almost nobody goes to the second page of results. In this article I explain how Google builds that order and the sequence I follow to get a business into the top three.

The map and the regular results: two different races

When someone types “plumber Rijeka”, Google usually shows two kinds of results. At the top is a map with three businesses, known in the industry as the local pack, and below it the classic list of websites. The Google Business Profile decides the map, and the website decides the list below it. Both positions are valuable, but for a tradesperson, salon or repair shop the map almost always brings more calls, because a customer can call or ask for directions with a single tap.

This article mostly deals with the map. I explain how a website ranks in the classic results in What Is SEO and How It Works for a Small Business.

What Google looks at when ranking on the map

Google publicly lists three groups of factors.

Relevance is how well your profile matches what the person typed. The primary and secondary categories, the list of services, the business description and the content of the website the profile links to all play a part here.

Distance is how far the business is from the person searching or from the place named in the search. Because of it, the same profile can be first in one neighbourhood and tenth three kilometres away.

Prominence is how well known the business is. Google counts the number and rating of reviews, mentions and links on other websites, and generally how much is known about the business online.

You cannot influence distance, so all the work goes into relevance and prominence. Google also says explicitly that a better local ranking cannot be paid for, which means the only path to the top is work on the profile, the website and the business’s reputation.

Choose the keywords you want to appear for

Before any work, it is worth defining exactly which searches you want to be in the top three for. Owners often think of one term while customers search with other words. A hair salon may target “hairdresser”, “hair salon” and “haircut”, and a car repair shop “car repair”, “mechanic” and “car service”. Google does not always treat them the same way, so the order can differ for each term.

With clients I choose one main keyword, the one customers type most often and that brings the most calls, plus a few secondary ones. The main keyword sets the primary category of the profile, the homepage title and how progress is measured, and I cover the secondary ones through services, secondary categories and separate pages on the website. That way the whole job has a clear goal that can be measured every week.

Step 1: measure where you are today

The first thing I do with a new client is measure. A search from your own phone while sitting in your shop tells you very little, because Google then sees you as the closest option. So I use a grid of measuring points spread across the city, usually 130 points, and at each one I check where the business appears for the main keyword. The result is a coverage map that shows exactly in which parts of the city you are in the top three and where you do not appear at all.

On the same grid I look at competitors: which categories they use, how many reviews they have, how often they add photos and posts and what their websites look like. That comparison becomes the work plan for the first few weeks.

Step 2: set up the profile down to the last detail

The fastest gains usually come from the profile itself: the right primary category, two to four secondary ones, a complete list of services with descriptions, accurate hours, a business description written for people and real photos. I describe the whole process in Google Business Profile: How to Create and Set It Up Step by Step, and the most common mistakes are covered in 7 Google Business Profile Mistakes Costing You Clients.

With many clients the ranking moves within the first weeks, simply because the basics are finally accurate and complete.

Step 3: make the name, address and phone match everywhere

Google compares information about a business across many places: the website, Facebook, business directories and registers. If the name is written differently somewhere, or an old address or outdated phone number is still listed, Google has a harder time connecting all those sources as the same business. So I go through every place the business is mentioned once and align the name, address and phone down to the comma, and I add the business to relevant Croatian directories where it is still missing.

Step 4: a website that confirms the profile

The map profile and the website work together. The page the profile links to should clearly say what you do and where, with the city in the title and text, and with the same name, address and phone as on the profile. If you offer several services, each important one deserves its own page. Local SEO experts list this in their research as one of the strongest factors for local results.

If you do not have a website, or yours is slow and hard to use on a phone, this is a good moment for a new website built for local search from the start.

Step 5: reviews, posts and photos every week

Prominence is built continuously. Fresh reviews, replies to them, new photos and regular posts show Google that the business is active and that customers choose it. A business with fifteen new reviews in the last three months often overtakes a competitor with a hundred old ones. For my clients I publish two posts a week and add new photos, and I help the owner build the habit of asking for a review after every job. I explain how to do that without risk in How to Get More Google Reviews.

How long ranking on Google takes: two examples

A position on the map does not change overnight, but with steady work the gains come within weeks. Two examples with numbers:

• A hair salon in Zagreb. At the start the salon was visible on 4 of 130 measuring points. In 68 days it reached 2nd place, 22 new clients came in the first month, and the salon hired another hairdresser.
• A plumbing business in Rijeka. At the start it was visible on 12 of 130 points. In 79 days it reached 1st place, with 35% more calls in the first month and not a single euro spent on ads.

That is why I set the goal for local SEO at 90 days. If you do not get into the top three results within that time, I keep working for free until it happens.

Shortcuts that do not pay off

Some shortcuts bring a short jump and a long problem. Keywords in the business name, fake addresses, bought reviews and several profiles for the same business break Google’s rules and lead to suspension, after which the business disappears from the map until the appeal is resolved. Everything I do for clients follows Google’s guidelines, because a position you can lose overnight is not worth that risk.

If you want to know where your business stands on the map today and how far you are from the top three, get in touch for a free review. I will show you the measurement for your city and main keyword, what the competitors above you are doing and what I would change first. I describe how I work on the local SEO and Google optimization page, and if you are torn between SEO and ads, Local SEO or Google Ads: What to Choose First will help.