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1.8M Google Business Profiles Reveal What Drives Local Rankings

By InnovaAI Research1 min readSearchengineland

A study of 1.8 million Google Business Profiles has surfaced concrete patterns in category selection and profile completeness that separate high-ranking local listings from low ones. At the same time, AI assistants are now shortlisting local businesses on behalf of customers, raising the stakes for every optimization decision agencies make.

Key Facts

01A study of 1.8 million Google Business Profiles identifies specific category selection and profile completeness as top ranking factors.
02Specific GBP categories outperform generic ones; winning primary-plus-additional category combinations are now data-backed.
03AI assistants are choosing local businesses for customers, making GBP optimization a prerequisite for AI recommendation inclusion.
04Google Search Console and Google Business Profile data measure different things, and conflating them in client reports creates confusion.
05Profile completeness is a recurring deliverable, not a one-time setup task.

Why It Matters

▶With AI assistants pre-selecting local businesses, a poorly optimized GBP profile means a client may never appear in the consideration set at all.
▶Data from 1.8 million profiles gives agencies a benchmark to identify underperforming category choices and justify optimization changes to clients.
▶Reporting discrepancies between Google Search Console and GBP Insights, if left unexplained, can undermine client confidence in agency work.

Agency Actions

Audit every client's GBP primary category against patterns from the 1.8-million-profile study and switch overly generic categories to more specific ones, testing on lower-risk accounts first over a 60-day monitoring window.

medium effort

Add a profile completeness score to monthly client reports using BrightLocal or Synup, setting a minimum threshold such as 90% as a service standard.

low effort

Include a short explainer in client reporting decks that distinguishes what Google Search Console measures from what GBP Insights measures, preventing data confusion.

low effort