Local ranking factors.In plain English.

Relevance is how well a Business Profile matches what someone searched for, so complete and detailed business information helps. Distance is how far the business is from the searcher, or from the location in the search.

Prominence is how well known the business is. Google says this is based partly on information such as how many websites link to the business and how many reviews it has, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking.

Google also says there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, and that verified businesses with complete, accurate information are more likely to show up.

You can't move your address closer to every customer, so the work goes into relevance and prominence. That means a verified, complete profile, the right categories, honest reviews and real links from other sites. Keep the business name as it is in the real world: Google's guidelines say adding unnecessary information to the name isn't permitted and can lead to suspension.

Many of the same details show up in the sources AI assistants read for local questions.

Example: 'Rivera Plumbing' stays 'Rivera Plumbing' on its profile, not 'Rivera Plumbing - 24/7 Emergency Plumber Austin', and the services and towns go into the profile's services and service areas instead.