Your Google Business Profile Is Sending Leads to Your Competitor

^When a homeowner searches for kitchen cabinets on their phone, Google usually shows a map with a short list of businesses under it. If your profile is missing details, sits in the wrong category or hasn't had a new review in months, the tap goes to the dealer listed above you.

Google explains how it picks those results in its Business Profile help centre. It says local results are "mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity," and defines each one:

• Relevance: "how well a Business Profile matches what someone is searching for."
• Distance: "how far each business is from the customer who's searching."
• Popularity, which Google also calls prominence: "how well-known a business is." Google says this also draws on things like how many websites link to you and how many reviews you have.

You can't move your showroom closer to every searcher, and Google says "there's no way to request or pay for a better local ranking." Relevance and popularity are where profiles leak leads.

Leak 1: The Wrong Primary Category

Google says plainly that "the categories you select affect your local ranking." In Whitespark's 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors survey of 47 local search experts, primary category ranked as the most important factor for showing up in the map results.

Pick the primary category that best describes your core business, then add categories for your other departments. Google's own playbook allows one primary and up to nine additional categories, but its help page also says: "Do not select a category for every product or service." Changing categories can also trigger re-verification, so make the change once and get it right.

Leak 2: Missing or Wrong Information

Google says "businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results." It also says customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable when they find a complete profile, 70% more likely to visit, and 50% more likely to consider purchasing.

Check your hours first, including holiday hours. Being open at the time of the search ranked fifth in the Whitespark survey. Then fill in everything else: address, phone, website, services and photos of real projects.