Local SEO case study: an electrician's Map Pack rankings

The business and the problem

The client is an electrician serving New Orleans. The business name is hidden in the tracker screenshots, and this page shows only what those two scans support.

Electrical work is a trade where searchers act fast. Something has failed, they search on a phone, and they call one of the three businesses Google shows on the map. A business that sits fourth or fifth in most of its area gets very few of those calls, even if it ranks well near its own office.

The business had a Google Business Profile and a website. What it lacked was consistency. Its details did not match across the web, its profile was incomplete, and its website did not back up the profile with local pages.

How the results are measured

Map rankings change with where the searcher stands. A search from the business's own street can show it first, while a search two miles away shows it nowhere. One rank check from one spot says very little.

A geo-grid scan solves this. It runs the same search from many points laid out in a grid over the service area and records the business's map rank at each point. This case uses a 9 by 9 grid, so 81 points, and reports the average rank and how many points place the business in the top three.

The table and the two screenshots above show both scans. Read them with the note under the screenshots: the two grids are centred on different parts of the city, so the comparison is indicative, not like for like.

What the audit found

What we changed, in order

1. Step 01

   Make the details consistent

   Name, address, and phone were checked and corrected across the main directories and data providers that feed local results.

   What this finds. One set of facts about the business everywhere it appears.

2. Step 02

   Rebuild the Business Profile

   The primary category was set to the core trade, attributes and services were completed, and fresh photos were added.

   What this finds. A profile that tells Google exactly what the business is.

3. Step 03

   Add local service pages with schema

   Service pages for the main areas were added to the website, with LocalBusiness markup that matches the profile.

   What this finds. A website that supports the profile instead of contradicting it.

Directory fixes went first because they take longest to spread across the web. The profile came second because it is what appears on the map. The website came third, to back up both.

How to read the numbers

Across the 9 by 9 geo-grid, the average Map Pack rank moved from 5.5 to 2.0 average Map Pack rank across a 9 by 9 geo-grid, view evidence. In the first scan, none of the 81 points placed the business in the top three. In the second, 71 of 81 did.

That is the shape of the change, not a precise measure of it. Because the grids are centred on different parts of the city, some points in the second scan cover streets closer to the business than the first scan did, and distance is one of the three things Google says local results depend on. Part of the change may come from that difference.

What the scans do show clearly is that the business moved from rarely appearing in the top three to appearing there across most of the area scanned.

Why consistency matters to the map

Google Business Profile Help names three things local results depend on: relevance, distance, and prominence. The work in this case touched two of them.

Relevance improved when the primary category named the trade exactly and the services were filled in. A searcher looking for an electrician is matched to profiles that say, clearly, that they are one.

Prominence is how well known a business looks across the web. Google says it draws on information from other sites, reviews, and links. Directories that agree with each other, and a website that confirms the same details with local pages, make the business easier to trust as one real place.

Distance did not change, because the business did not move. That is why the grid centre caveat matters: distance is the one factor the work could not touch, and the scans may reflect it.

If you are starting a profile from scratch, it is easier to get these right on day one than to fix them later. My guide to setting a profile up correctly covers each field.

What this case does not prove

The scans measure rankings, not calls or jobs. I do not have the client's call figures to publish. The scans have no dates on them, so the time between them is not shown. The business is in the United States, where directories and competition differ from Pakistan. And because the three changes happened together, this page cannot say which one moved the rankings most.

I cannot promise the same rankings for another business. Nobody controls the map, and Google says there is no way to pay for a better local position.

What a local business in Pakistan can take from this

The three problems in this case are common in Pakistan too. Many businesses have different phone numbers on different directories, a profile set up years ago and never finished, and a website that never names the areas it serves.

Start with the checks that cost nothing. Search your business name and phone number and read every listing that comes back. Compare each one with your profile. Then read your profile against Google's guidelines, field by field. My guide to a business that does not show on Google Maps walks through those checks in order.

Directory clean up is the slow, unglamorous part. Consistent business listings take weeks to spread, which is why they come first. The profile work is covered in Business Profile optimization. The whole local picture is in local SEO for Pakistani businesses. If your profile has been suspended rather than buried, the process is different, and it starts with an appeal done once and done right.

If you would rather someone keep the profile active after the clean up, ongoing profile care covers posts, photos, and replies. For a single session to read your own map results with me, book an hour. Owners in Rawalpindi can also see how I work with local businesses in Rawalpindi. Local packages are set out on the PKR pricing page.

Your next step

Search your business name and phone number and list every directory that shows different details. If you would like help reading what you find, send me your profile link and the list. I reply within 24 hours. You can also run the free website scan to check your site's local basics.