Google Business Profile Ranking Factors

SEOMarketing
Written By AH Media

I’ve put together a list of the most important Google Business Profile (GBP) rankings factors, broken down by each main category, to get your business to the top 3-pack of local Google Map search results.

Google Business Profile Ranking Factors

Here are the most important ranking factors for your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).

GBP Profile

  1. Primary GBP Category * most important factor *

  2. Additional GBP Categories (must be services you offer)

  3. Proximity of Address to the Point of Search (Searcher-Business Distance)

  4. Physical Address in City of Search

Keywords

  1. Keywords in GBP Business Title

  2. Keywords in GBP Landing Page Title

  3. Keywords in GBP Landing Page Headings (H1, H2, etc)

  4. Click-Through from Search Results for Relevant Search Terms / from Geographically Relevant Locations

  5. Keywords in Titles Across Entire Website

  6. Keywords in GBP Landing Page URL

  7. Keywords in Domain Name

  8. Keywords in URLs Across Entire Website

  9. Keywords in Image ALT attributes on GBP Landing Page

  10. Keywords in Text Surrounding Links to GBP Landing Page

  11. Keywords in GBP Services

  12. Keywords in Image ALT attributes Across Entire Website

  13. Keywords in GBP Landing Page Meta Description

  14. Keywords in Meta Descriptions Across Entire Website

Reviews

  1. High numerical Google Ratings 

  2. Quantity of Native Google Reviews (w/text)

  3. Sustained # of Reviews Over Time (rather than bursts)

  4. Recency of Reviews

  5. Keywords in Native Google Reviews

  6. Positive Sentiment in Review Text

  7. Quantity of Native Google Ratings (no text)

  8. Authority of Third-Party Sites on Which Reviews are Present

  9. High Numerical Ratings by Authority Reviewers (e.g. Yelp Elite, Google Local Guides, etc)

  10. Quantity of Reviews on Industry-Specific Sites

  11. Diversity of Third-Party Sites on Which Reviews are Present

  12. Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews (e.g. Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yellowpages, etc)

  13. Quantity of Third-Party Unstructured Reviews (e.g. blogs, newspapers, magazines)

  14. Presence of Review Justifications in Local Search Results

  15. High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5)

  16. Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g. Yelp Elite, Google Local Guides, etc)

  17. Keywords in Third-Party Reviews

  18. Presence of Owner Responses to Most Reviews

  19. Quantity of Positive Google Review Attributes

  20. Quantity of Services Performed in Google Reviews

GBP Landing Page (Website)

  1. Dedicated Page for Each Service

  2. Internal Linking Across Entire Website

  3. Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain + GBP Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains

  4. Geographic (City/Neighborhood) Keyword Relevance of Domain Content

  5. Internal Links TO GBP Landing Page from Other Pages of Website

  6. Quality of Inbound Links to Domain + GBP Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains

  7. Quantity of Inbound Links to Landing Page URL from Industry-Relevant Domains

  8. Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL + Domain

  9. Volume of Searches for Business Name

  10. Topical (Product/Service) Keyword Relevance Across Entire Website

  11. Volume of Quality Content on Service Pages

  12. Reference to Location Specific Entities on GBP Landing Page

  13. Website's Degree of Focus on a Specific Niche

  14. Internal Links FROM GBP Landing Page to Other Pages of Website

  15. Load time of GBP Landing Page

  16. Volume of Quality Content on Entire Website

  17. Mobile-friendly/Responsive Website

  18. Keywords in Headings (H1, H2, etc) Across Entire Website

  19. Website Uses HTTPS by default

  20. Volume of Content on GBP Landing Page

  21. Domain Authority of Website

  22. Load time of Pages Across Entire Website

  23. Page Authority of GBP Landing Page URL

  24. Embedded Google Map for Location on GBP Landing Page

  25. Length of Dwell Time on GBP Landing Page

  26. Presence of XML Sitemap

  27. Matching Google Account Domain to GBP Landing Page Domain

  28. Keywords in Image Filenames Across Entire Website

Links

  1. Removal of spam listings through spam fighting

  2. Consistency of Citations on Primary Search Engines (Google Maps, Bing Maps, Apple Maps)

  3. HTML NAP (name, address, phone) matching GBP NAP

  4. Proper Category Associations on Aggregators and Tier 1 Citation Sources

  5. Quantity of Citations from Locally-Relevant Domains

  6. Diversity of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL + domain

  7. Consistency of Citations on Key Sites (Yellowpages, Yelp, D&B, CityGrid)

  8. Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain

  9. Consistency of Citations on Data Aggregators (Infogroup, Localeze, Foursquare/Factual)

  10. Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain

  11. Diversity of Anchor Text to GBP Landing Page URL

  12. Quantity of Citations from Industry-Relevant Domains

  13. Quantity of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL

  14. Diversity of Anchor Text to Domain

  15. Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts, Gov Sites, Industry Associations)

  16. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations

  17. Quantity of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)

  18. Enhancement/Completeness of Citations

  19. Sustained Influx of Links Over Time (rather than bursts)

  20. Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)

  21. Presence of Business on Expert Curated Best of and Similar Lists

  22. Consistency of Citations on Other Citation Sources

  23. Keywords in Text Surrounding Links to Domain

  24. Presence of Outbound Links to Authority Topically Relevant Sites

Engagement

  1. Completeness of GBP

  2. Quantity of Engagement Signals on GBP (scrolling through listing, clicking photos, reading reviews, reading Q&A, clicking on Posts, etc..)

  3. Click-Through Rate from Search Results (General)

  4. Prominence on Key Industry-Relevant Domains

  5. Driving Directions to Business Clicks

  6. Clicks to Call Business

  7. Quantity of Positive Google Review Attributes

  8. In-store visits tracked by Android or Google Maps Mobile app location detection

  9. Presence of "Website mentions" Justifications in Local Search Results

  10. Proper Hours Set on GBP

  11. Quality/Relevance of Photos

  12. Presence of "Identifies as" Attributes on GBP

  13. Quantity of Photos with Google Vision-AI Labels Matching Keywords

  14. Presence of "Provides" Justifications in Local Search Results

  15. Local Area Code on GBP

  16. Unlinked Brand Mentions

  17. Sustained Output of Content Over Time (rather than bursts)

  18. Quantity of Photos in General on GBP

  19. Presence of Crowd Sourced Attributes

  20. Length of Dwell Time on GBP

  21. User Added Attributes in GBP

  22. BBB Accredited

  23. Keywords in GBP Products

  24. In-store visits tracked by third-party beacon or location detection technology

  25. Quantity of Bookings Through Google Booking Partners

  26. Comprehensive Google Q&A Section with Owner-Seeded FAQs

  27. Keywords in Image Filenames on GBP Landing Page

  28. Setting Service Areas in GBP

  29. Quantity of Messages Through Google My Business Messaging

  30. Presence of Google Posts Justifications in Local Search Results

  31. Quantity of Products on GBP

  32. Frequency of Google Posts Posted

  33. Number of Bookings Through GBP Booking Feature

  34. Presence of Appointment URL

  35. Keywords in Google Posts

  36. Quantity of Videos on GBP

  37. Participation in Adwords, Adwords Express, Hotel Finder, or other paid Google products

  38. Quantity of Google Posts Posted

  39. GBP Booking Feature is Enabled

  40. Quantity of Transactions Identified Through Credit Card Partners

  41. Quantity of Questions Asked in Google Q&A

  42. GBP Messaging Feature is Enabled

  43. Keywords in Google Q&A

  44. Sum of Transactions Identified Through Credit Card Partners

  45. Geo-tagged Photos Uploaded to GBP

Negative Factors

  1. Incorrect Primary Category

  2. Presence of Other Profiles in the Same Category at the Same Address

  3. Site Hacked / Presence of Malware

  4. Low Numerical Ratings of Google Reviews (e.g. 1-2)

  5. Negative Sentiment in Google Reviews

  6. Absence of Crawlable NAP on Website

  7. Incorrectly-placed Map Marker in GBP

  8. Address is a PO Box, UPS Mail Store, Virtual Office, or Other False Address

  9. Quantity of Negative Google Review Attributes

  10. Profiles with Same Address/Phone Marked as “Permanently Closed”

  11. Hiding/Removing the GBP Address

  12. Mis-match Address on GBP Landing Page

  13. Absence of Crawlable NAP on GBP Landing Page

  14. Reports of Violations on your GBP

  15. Category Confusion (adding additional categories from completely unrelated industries)

  16. Association of GBP account with other suppressed listings

  17. No Hours of Operation on GBP

  18. Incomplete/Missing Data on the Primary Data Sources

  19. Presence of Multiple Profiles with Same Phone Number

  20. Reports of Review Gating

  21. Mis-match NAP / Tracking Phone Numbers Across Data Ecosystem

  22. Reports of Fake Reviews on your GBP

  23. Low Numerical Ratings of Third-party Reviews (e.g. 1-2)

  24. Receiving Too Many Google Reviews Too Fast

  25. Negative Sentiment in Third-Party Reviews

  26. Keyword Stuffing in GBP Business Name

  27. Presence of Stock Photos on Profile

  28. No Owner Responses to Any Reviews

  29. Listing 800 Number as the Only Phone Number in GBP

  30. Presence of 3rd Party Reviews in Schema/JSON on Website

  31. Keyword Stuffing the Title Tag of GBP Landing Page

AH Media

AH Media’s content team consists of internal members as well as contributors from all over the globe who are passionate about helping business owners succeed in digital marketing.

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