Google publishes a short page describing what its local search results are based on. It names three factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. The page is here, and it is worth reading in full because it is one of the few places Google talks directly about how local ranking works.
What it does not do is rank them, weight them, or tell you which one matters more. Every marketer who has claimed to know the exact formula has been guessing. The most honest reading is the literal one: all three matter, and they answer different questions about your business.
Relevance: does your listing match what the searcher asked for?
Relevance is about whether your Google Business Profile matches the search query. If someone searches "electrician near me" and your primary business category is "electrician," you match. If your category is "general contractor" but you also do electrical work, Google may consider you less relevant to that specific search.
The levers here are your primary business category, your business description, and your services. Getting these right is mostly a one-time setup task, and Google's own guidance is straightforward about it: choose the category that most accurately describes your core service.
This is the factor owners usually get right without thinking about it. If you are a plumber and your profile says "plumber," you are covered. The edge cases matter (a company that does both HVAC and plumbing may want separate profiles for each trade at the same address), but for most single-trade businesses, relevance is not the bottleneck.
Distance: are you close enough to be considered?
Distance is "how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search." In practice, this means how far your address is from wherever the searcher is standing when they type "[trade] near me."
This is the factor I wrote about in why distance wins, and it operates differently from the other two. Distance is a filter more than a score. It determines whether you are in the set of businesses Google considers for a particular search, not where you land within that set. In our near-me audits, about 16 to 17 of the top 20 results are local storefronts within roughly 5 to 6 miles of the search location. A business well outside that radius, regardless of how strong its reviews or how accurate its category, is typically not in the results.
You cannot change your distance to a town from your current office. You can change it by having an office in that town. That is the whole argument for a satellite office as a growth strategy.
Prominence: how well known and regarded are you?
Prominence is Google's term for how established and reputable your business appears. It includes review count and rating, but also things like links to your business from other sites, mentions in articles, and your general web presence.
For most local service businesses, reviews are the biggest practical lever within prominence. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, 97% of consumers said they check ratings when researching a local business, so the consumer signal is clear. On the Google side, the company says "Google review count and review score factor into local search ranking."
Prominence is the factor owners spend the most time on, and it genuinely rewards the effort. Earning your first 20 reviews at a new location is one of the highest-return early investments a new office can make.
How the three interact
The three factors do not operate in isolation. They work in sequence, roughly:
- Relevance narrows the field to businesses that match the search query.
- Distance narrows it further to businesses close enough to the searcher.
- Prominence sorts the remaining candidates.
This is a simplification, and Google does not confirm this exact order, but it matches what we see in the data. A business that is relevant and close but has few reviews lands in the results but sits lower. A business that is relevant and prominent but far away often does not appear at all.
The practical takeaway is that each factor addresses a different problem. If you are in the results but ranked low, prominence (reviews, profile quality) is probably the lever. If you are not in the results at all for a town you want, distance is probably the constraint, and no amount of prominence work will fix it.
A checklist for figuring out which factor is your constraint
- Search "[your trade] near me" from the town you want. Are you in the results at all?
- If yes: your distance is fine. Focus on reviews, profile completeness, and relevance.
- If no: check how far your nearest office is from that town. If it is more than about 5 to 6 miles, distance is likely the constraint.
- If you are close but still missing: check your business category. An incorrect or too-broad category can hurt relevance.
FAQ
Q: Does Google rank these three factors?
No. Google names them and says they all factor in. It does not publish weightings or say one matters more than the others.
Q: Can prominence ever override distance?
In thin markets with few local competitors, a very strong listing farther away might appear. In competitive trades, the local businesses fill the map pack first.
Q: Where do ads fit in?
Ads are separate from organic local results. They sit above the map pack and are determined by your bid and ad quality, not by relevance, distance, and prominence. They are a way to appear in a town where you lack organic presence, but they cost per click and build nothing.
Q: How often should I check my local ranking?
At least quarterly for the towns that matter to you. More often if you have recently opened a new location or made significant profile changes.
Social atomization notes
Google names three local ranking factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. They answer different questions. Relevance is whether your listing matches the search. Distance is whether you are close enough to be considered. Prominence is how you rank among those considered. Most owners work hard on prominence and forget that distance is the gate.