When a competitor outranks you, it's usually for one of a few reasons: they're closer to the searcher, they have more reviews, their profile is better set up, or their website has pages yours doesn't. Here's how to work out which.
In the map pack
- Distance. Where is their business located compared with the searcher? You can't beat distance everywhere.
- Primary category. Look at the category shown under their name. Is it more specific than yours?
- Reviews. How many, how recent, and how highly rated, compared with yours?
- Profile completeness. Services, photos, hours and posts.
- Business name. If their name includes the service, it can help them. If they've added keywords that aren't their real name, that breaks Google's rules and you can suggest an edit.
In the normal results
- Pages. Do they have a dedicated page for the service and suburb, and you don't?
- Content. Does their page answer more of the customer's questions?
- Links. Are other local and industry sites linking to them?
- Age and history. Older, established sites often have an advantage.
- Technical issues. Is your page slow, not indexed or missing a proper title?
What to do
Fix what you control first: profile, reviews, service pages and titles. Then build links. See how to rank higher on Google Maps and the DIY SEO audit.