Google ranks local businesses on three pillars — relevance, distance, and prominence. Here is how each one actually works, and which factors you can control.
In This Article
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Google ranks local businesses on three pillars — relevance, distance, and prominence. Here is how each one actually works, and which factors you can control.
The three pillars: relevance, distance, prominence
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Google Business Profile signals
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Review signals: count, velocity, keywords
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On-page and website signals
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Citation and link signals
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Behavioral signals and what's changing with AI search
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What you can control vs what you can't
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Stephen Gardner is the founder of HuskyTail Digital Marketing and a 20+ year veteran of SEO and digital marketing. He specializes in AI-powered local SEO for Las Vegas businesses, helping them dominate Google Maps and organic search without the fluff.