What 1.8 Million Google Business Profiles Tell Us About Local SEO Success
TLDR
Search Engine Land analyzed 1.8 million Google Business Profiles and found that specific primary categories, aligned additional categories, and higher profile completeness all correlate strongly with better local rankings.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
According to Search Engine Land, an analysis of 1.8 million Google Business Profiles across 4,209 categories revealed three key ranking factors. Specific primary categories outperform generic ones—for example, "Criminal justice attorney" ranks better than "Attorney," and "Electrician" beats generic "Contractor"—delivering 36% higher presence in top 10 results. Well-chosen supplementary categories add 6–17 rank position improvements over single-category profiles, though generic catch-alls like "Service establishment" appear harmful. A GBP completeness index combining website, description, hours, photos, and claimed status showed that moving from 0/5 to 5/5 completeness improves average rank by ~19 positions and triples top-10 appearance rates.