Type "local SEO services" into Google and every result on page one is an agency selling it. None of them are Google's own guidance, and none of them are a government or consumer body. That gap between what agencies sell and what Google itself actually says is wide enough to be worth closing before spending anything on the sell side.
The three factors, in Google's own words
Google's help documentation names exactly three things that determine local ranking. Relevance is "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for." Distance is "how far each business is from the customer who's searching." Prominence is "how well-known a business is," and Google adds that it is "also based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have." That is the complete list. Google states plainly, in the same document, that "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google."
Nothing about citation consistency, directory listings, or a specific number of reviews appears anywhere in that documentation. Those ideas come entirely from the SEO industry's own testing and inference, not from Google. Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey, the most-cited attempt to quantify this, collected opinions from 47 local search practitioners and reports rough category weightings: Google Business Profile signals around 27%, review signals 24%, behavioural signals 18%, link signals 17%, on-page 8%, citations 3%, personalisation 2%, social 1%. The survey's own authors are explicit about what that is: "None of the experts have special access to the internal workings of Google's local search algorithm." Treat it as an informed industry estimate, not a confirmed formula, and treat any guide that presents a precise percentage breakdown as Google's own the same way.
One small inconsistency in Google's own page is worth knowing about rather than assuming is a formatting error: its summary line describes results as "mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity," while the page's own factor definitions name the third factor "prominence." Google appears to use the two words loosely as synonyms in its own documentation; treat them as the same factor rather than two separate ones some other guide has not mentioned.
Attributes and services: the completeness Google actually asks for
Beyond the core fields, Google Business Profile lets a business flag specific attributes, Wi-Fi, outdoor seating, step-free entrances defined by Google as at least "three feet or one metre wide" with no steps, and ownership identity attributes such as women-owned or veteran-owned. Google states that adding relevant attributes can surface a business in searches filtered for that attribute specifically, and that edits are usually reviewed within about 10 minutes, though occasionally up to 30 days. Eligible categories can also list individual services with a description, which Google says can be "highlighted when a local customer searches for that offering." None of this is optional polish; it is the "complete and detailed business info" Google names directly as feeding the relevance factor, the one component of local ranking a business controls entirely without needing a single review or link.
What actually moves prominence
Reviews are the part of prominence Google is most direct about, and also the part with the clearest rules attached. Google states "more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking" and that replying to reviews "shows that you value their feedback." It is equally direct about what is not allowed: offering any incentive, discount or payment in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing one, is "considered fake & misleading content and is strictly prohibited." A business cannot selectively solicit positive reviews or discourage negative ones, and reviews written by someone with an employment or contractual relationship to the business are barred outright as a conflict of interest. Genuine review volume, collected by simply asking every customer rather than filtering who gets asked, is the version of this that is actually within the rules.
Inbound links are the other stated component of prominence, and Google names them in the same sentence as reviews. This is the same link-earning work that underlies traditional SEO generally, not a separate local-specific tactic; a locally relevant, genuinely useful page is what earns a locally relevant link.
Handling a bad review has its own documented process, and it is worth knowing before one arrives rather than during. A business can flag a review through Google's Reporting tool for a genuine policy violation, spam, profanity, a conflict of interest, but Google warns directly: "Do not report a review just because you disagree with it or dislike it." Evaluation typically takes several days and can resolve as no violation found, with one appeal available, or removal; Google notes plainly that "occasionally, the system may also mistakenly remove legitimate reviews" too. There is a separate, sharper rule for anyone tempted to display reviews more selectively on their own website: Google's structured data guidelines make a business ineligible for the review-snippet rich result if it controls the reviews shown about itself, naming an embedded "Google Business reviews or Facebook reviews widget" specifically as disqualifying. Third-party, independently collected review platforms do not carry that restriction.
The citations debate, and what Google will not confirm
"Citations", listings of a business's name, address and phone number on third-party directories, are treated across the SEO industry as a near-certain local ranking factor. Google has never confirmed this. Its ranking-factors page names only relevance, distance and prominence, and never uses the word "citation" anywhere in its published Business Profile or Search Central documentation. Industry sources such as BrightLocal argue the case on different grounds: inconsistent listings "can cause a decrease in the level of trust Google has in your business," and cite their own research that "63% of consumers say that finding incorrect information would actively stop them from choosing your business." That is a genuine, named-source statistic, but it is BrightLocal's consumer-trust research, not a Google ranking statement, and the two should not be presented as the same kind of evidence.
One consequence is stated more bluntly than a ranking factor, and it is the closest thing to Google confirming citations matter at all: duplicate profiles, including ones a business inadvertently creates itself by re-registering at the same address under a slightly different name, are against Google's policy, and "if a profile is considered a duplicate, it won't show on Google Search or Maps" at all. That is a visibility switch, not a ranking weight. Consistent business information across the web is worth doing for the same reason BrightLocal's own research gives, a confused or wrong-looking listing costs trust with the customer reading it, whether or not it moves a Google ranking directly.
The profile itself: what Google actually checks
A Google Business Profile has to represent the business "as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers," not a marketing name, keyword-stuffed variant, or store code. The address must be a real, staffed location; PO boxes and unstaffed virtual offices are explicitly disallowed, and Google requires "permanent fixed signage of the business name at the address." A business that does not serve customers at its own premises, a mobile cleaner or a plumber, for example, should remove the address entirely and list a service area instead, defined by city or postal code rather than a radius: Google caps this at 20 areas and states the total boundary "shouldn't be more than about 2 hours of driving time" from the business's base.
Category selection matters more than most businesses treat it: Google states directly that "the categories you select affect your local ranking," instructs picking one primary category "as specific as possible" rather than a generic one, and warns against listing "a category for every product or service." Changing category can trigger a re-verification requirement, so it is worth getting right the first time rather than experimenting.
Beyond Google: worth doing, not worth over-weighting
Google accounted for 91.75% of UK search engine market share in August 2026, with Bing at 5.67% and every other engine below 1.3%. That context matters for where local-listing effort actually pays off. Bing Places for Business is free, requires the same basics (address, phone, hours, category), and can import an existing Google listing in one click rather than starting from nothing. What Apple called Apple Business Connect has been folded into a broader "Apple Business" offering as of this year, still free, still centred on claiming a location on Apple Maps with photos, hours and a business card-style profile. Both are worth the low effort of setting up. Neither is worth treating as comparable in scale to getting the Google profile right, given the size of the gap between them.
What to actually check first
Given all of the above, the practical order is the reverse of what most "local SEO checklist" content suggests. Before anything about reviews, links or a second platform: is the profile itself accurate against Google's own representation guidelines, is the correct primary category selected, and is there only one profile per real location. Those are the items Google states plainly, the ones with a stated visibility consequence, and the ones a business controls entirely without needing to earn anything external first.
None of this replaces the wider fundamentals covered in our SEO and GEO guide, crawlability, genuine content, technical soundness. A perfect Google Business Profile attached to a site that is slow, unindexed, or offers nothing worth linking to will not compensate for the gap. Local ranking and organic ranking share the same foundation; the profile is an addition to that foundation, not a substitute for it.
This is the starting point of the local-SEO work inside MSD's SEO and GEO service: checking the profile against what Google actually documents before recommending anything else. If you want an honest read on where your own local listing currently stands, talk to us.
A few useful questions.
What are Google's actual local search ranking factors?
Do business directory listings (citations) actually affect local ranking?
Is Google Business Profile enough, or do I need Bing Places and Apple Business too?
Sources and further reading
