I analyzed 100 Google Business Profiles to find what ACTUALLY impacts rankings in 2025.
Forget the BS advice from 2019.
Here are the 47 factors that matter NOW (ranked by impact): ๐งต๐
1/ TIER 1: Critical Factors (Do These First)
1. Primary category accuracy 2. Business name matches legal name 3. Complete address with suite/unit 4. Local phone number (not toll-free) 5. Consistent NAP across web 6. Hours accuracy (including holidays) 7. Service area definition
Get these wrong = you lose. Period.
2/ TIER 2: Review Signals (20% of ranking power)
1. Total review count (velocity matters) 2. Average rating (aim for 4.5+) 3. Review recency (fresh reviews win) 4. Review response rate (respond to ALL) 5. Review keyword diversity 6. Review authenticity signals 7. Star distribution pattern 8. Review length/detail