Does local SEO work? Yes, with limits. In my October 2026 study of 983 Louisville contractors across 80 Google Maps searches, distance to the searcher mattered most, but among businesses at the same distance the right main category, more reviews, a business name that says the trade and a profile description that names the service all went with a higher map position. The answer was weakest for HVAC, where only reviews and distance came out clear.
The short answer
Local SEO works for Louisville contractors, but it doesn't beat distance. The business closest to the person searching starts with an edge no profile work can take away. Past that edge, four things a contractor controls went with a better spot on the map once distance was held equal:
- A main Google category that matches the search: about 3.3 places higher.
- More reviews: about 1 place higher for every doubling (10 to 20, 20 to 40).
- The trade in the real business name: about 3.1 places higher. Read the warning further down before you touch your name.
- A profile description that names the service: about 1.5 places higher.
How I tested it
The study in one box (October 2026)
- 8 trades, one search each, typed the way a homeowner types it: roofing company, hvac repair, plumber, electrician, lawn care, home remodeling, basement waterproofing, painters.
- 10 search spots across Jefferson County: Downtown, the Highlands, St. Matthews, Prospect, Middletown, Jeffersontown, Fern Creek, Okolona, Valley Station and Shively.
- 80 Google Maps searches (8 trades × 10 spots), run as a phone at each spot, top 20 results each.
- 983 different businesses showed up. For every one: main and extra categories, reviews, star rating, photos, claimed or not, hours, name, website and distance to each spot. The profile description was pulled for a random 541 of them.
- No business names are published, here or anywhere.
The hard part of any "what ranks" study is distance. A plumber two blocks from the person searching will beat a plumber across town almost no matter what, so a plain list of what the top 3 have mostly measures who happened to be nearby. I handled that two ways.
Same search, same spot, distance held equal. A business was only ever compared with the other businesses in the same search from the same spot, and its distance to that spot was held fixed in the same model, along with category, reviews, name and having a website. That's what "held equal" means on this page. Every number was checked by re-running it on 1,000 random re-draws of the businesses. I only call a result clear when the whole range lands on one side of zero.
Matched pairs. As a second check I paired businesses that showed up in the same search at about the same distance (within 25% of each other) and counted how often the one with a given item ranked higher. 50% would mean the item makes no difference.
Two ways the numbers are given:
- Places higher is the position on the map list (1 to 20) when the business is shown.
- Points more often in the top 3. Across all the checks, a business landed in the top 3 just 2.4% of the time. So 1.5 points more often (2.4% to about 3.9%) makes it about 1.6 times as likely.
What moved contractors up the map
1. A main category that matches the search
This was the clearest result in the study. With distance, reviews and name held equal, a business whose main Google category matched the search sat about 3.3 places higher and was 1.5 points more often in the top 3. In matched pairs at the same distance, the one with the matching category ranked higher in 60% of 1,239 pairs, and in 62% of the 229 pairs that also had similar review counts.
Most businesses already get this right: 722 of the 983 had it. The ones that don't, sink. If you want calls for roof replacement, "Roofing contractor" should be your main category, not "General contractor" or "Construction company".
2. Reviews
Each doubling of reviews (10 to 20, 20 to 40) went with about 1 place higher, held equal. Going from 5 reviews to 80 is four doublings, about 4 places. In matched pairs at the same distance, the business with at least twice the reviews ranked higher 70% of the time, across 4,233 pairs. It was clear in 7 of the 8 trades. The one exception was basement waterproofing, which had the fewest businesses.
The median business in the top 3 had 43 reviews. At #4 to #10 it was 22, and at #11 to #20 it was 11. The median business in the whole study had 13, and 96 had none at all.
Reviews are the lever you control most, and they showed up in almost every trade.
3. The trade word in the business name
A business whose real name says what it does ("Smith Roofing" rather than "Smith & Sons") sat about 3.1 places higher held equal, and ranked higher in 67% of 1,664 matched pairs. It was clear in 6 of the 8 trades.
Don't stuff your name. This finding is about real names. Google's rules say your profile name has to be your real business name, the one on your sign, website and paperwork. Adding "Roofing Louisville KY" to a name that isn't your real one breaks those rules and gets profiles suspended. Some top 3 listings in this study had names that look stuffed, with 1 to 6 reviews, which likely makes this number look bigger than it really is. If you're naming a new business, a clear name that says the trade helps. If you already have a name, keep it. Here's what to do if your Google Business Profile gets suspended, and how to report fake listings in the map pack if a competitor is doing it.
4. A profile description that names the service
In the random sample of 541 businesses, a description that names the service ("We repair and replace roofs...") went with about 1.5 places higher and 1.6 points more often in the top 3, held equal. In matched pairs it ranked higher 68% of the time. It held up among businesses that already had the right category.
77% of the top 3 spots in the sample had a description naming the service, against 58% at #4 to #10. Yet 168 of the 541 had no description at all, and 70 more had one that didn't name the service. It's the easiest fix on this list: write the description around the jobs you do, in plain words.
5. The basics: claimed, and hours filled in
These count, but only a little. A claimed profile went with 1.1 places higher. Hours filled in went with 0.9 places higher. Both came out clear but small, so treat them as a floor, not a strategy. 179 of the 983 businesses still hadn't claimed their profile.
An extra category that names the searched service (say, a general contractor that adds "Roofing contractor" as a second category) went with 0.9 places higher. It didn't change the odds of a top 3 spot, so it helps you climb the list, not crack the top 3.
What distance does
Each time the distance doubles (2 km to 4 km), a business sat about 1.6 places lower. The median #1 result was 1.9 km from the person searching; the median #20 was 4.3 km. So nearby searches are yours to lose, and further out, category, reviews, name and description decide it.
Top 3 vs the rest
The raw numbers, with nothing held equal. Treat this as a picture of who wins, not proof of why.
| Top 3 | #4 to #10 | #11 to #20 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median reviews | 43 | 22 | 11 |
| Median distance from the searcher | 2.3 km | 3.3 km | 3.8 km |
| Main category = the searched trade | 80% | 77% | 71% |
| Trade word in the business name | 76% | 71% | 63% |
| Claimed profile | 90% | 85% | 80% |
| Description names the service (541 sample) | 77% | 58% | 55% |
Does local SEO work for each trade?
Each trade has 72 to 153 businesses, far fewer than the full 983, so "not clear" in one trade usually means there weren't enough businesses to tell, not that it doesn't work.
Does local SEO work for roofers?
Yes. Every top 3 spot for "roofing company" went to a business with a roofing main category, and the few roofers without it sat about 8.6 places lower. Reviews matter more here than in any other trade: the median top 3 roofer had 121.5 reviews against 46 for the rest, and each doubling went with 1.7 places higher. The trade word in the name: 3.1 places.
Does local SEO work for HVAC companies?
This is the weakest answer in the study. For "hvac repair", only distance and reviews came out clear: each doubling of reviews went with 0.7 places higher, and the median top 3 business had 73 reviews against 51. Category and name couldn't be tested properly because nearly every business uses "HVAC contractor". For HVAC, reviews and being close are what this data can show.
Does local SEO work for plumbers?
Yes, and reviews come first. The median top 3 plumber had 106 reviews against 23.5 for the rest, and each doubling went with 1.3 places higher. The right main category went with 4.9 places higher; the trade word in the name, 1.5 places.
Does local SEO work for electricians?
Yes. The right category went with 4.4 places higher and 2.2 points more often in the top 3. Each doubling of reviews: 1.4 places. The trade word in the real name went with 5.4 places higher, the biggest of any trade. The same warning about stuffed names applies.
Does local SEO work for lawn care companies?
This is the clearest yes in the study. Category (5.3 places, 2.1 points), reviews (0.7 places per doubling) and the trade word in the name (3.1 places, 2.2 points) all came out clear. The review bar is lower here: the median top 3 business had 23.5 reviews against 7 for the rest.
Does local SEO work for remodelers?
Yes, but not through the category. "Remodeler" was the main category on only 17% of top 3 spots for "home remodeling"; general contractors and builders did as well. Reviews were clear (1.1 places per doubling), and "remodel" or "renovation" in the real name went with 3.5 places higher and 1.8 points more often in the top 3.
Does local SEO work for basement waterproofing?
Probably, but only 72 businesses showed up, so treat this as a pointer. It had the biggest category effect in the study: "Waterproofing service" as the main category was on 63% of top 3 spots against 22% of the rest, about 5 places and 6 points held equal. Reviews and name didn't come out clear, most likely because there were too few businesses to tell.
Does local SEO work for painters?
Yes. The right category went with 3.5 places higher and 3.7 points more often in the top 3, partly because "painters" also pulls up art studios and paint stores, which sink. Reviews: 0.8 places per doubling. The trade word in the name: 3.4 places.
What about your website?
On its own, having a website didn't move a contractor up the map. With distance, category, reviews and name held equal, a working website made no clear difference against no website. In matched pairs with similar reviews and category, the business with a site ranked higher just 48% of the time, which is a coin flip.
What's on the site is a different story, and it decides whether you show up in the normal Google results below the map at all. 324 of the 983 businesses had no website on their profile, and only 534 had one that worked. The website side is what my other site covers: what the contractor websites that get found have in common.
What this study can't tell you
This is one snapshot, taken on October 30, 2026. It isn't a before-and-after test. It shows what goes with a better map position once distance and the search spot are equal. That's a strong hint about what works, but correlation is not proof. Here's what to keep in mind:
- Busy businesses do several things at once. A contractor with lots of reviews often also has the right category and a full profile. The model holds the main ones fixed, but it can't rule out size and effort sitting behind all of them.
- Some results will be luck. About 400 tests were run in total. At this level of certainty, about 1 in 10 comes out clear by chance, so roughly 40 false "clear" results are expected. That's why I only report results that are clear in the main model and also hold up in matched pairs, across several trades, or both, and that fit how Google says local ranking works: relevance, distance and prominence.
- Distance is from 10 fixed spots, not from where your customers actually live. 147 businesses hide their street address, so their distance is rougher; the main results hold with all of them taken out.
- Southern Indiana wasn't searched from. Indiana businesses that showed up are included.
- Not measured at all: what reviews say, how fast you reply to them, backlinks, page speed, the services list, Google posts, Q&A, ads (Google Ads and Local Services Ads), and the calls or jobs a ranking actually brings in. It also doesn't measure whether ChatGPT or other AI tools name you. For that, see how to show up in ChatGPT for a local business.
More questions about whether local SEO works
Does local SEO really work for small contractors?
Yes, for the parts a small contractor controls. Among businesses at the same distance from the person searching, the right main category, more reviews, a real name that says the trade and a description that names the service all went with a higher map position. None of it beats being close, but more than half the top 3 spots in this study went to a business that wasn't one of the 3 closest.
What matters most for ranking on Google Maps?
Distance, and you can't change it. After distance, the biggest levers in this study were the main category (about 3.3 places), the trade in the real business name (about 3.1 places), a description naming the service (about 1.5 places) and reviews (about 1 place per doubling).
How many reviews do I need to rank in the map pack?
There's no fixed number, because it depends on the trade and the competition near you. In this study the median top 3 business had 43 reviews. By trade, it was 23.5 for lawn care, 73 for HVAC, 106 for plumbers and 121.5 for roofers. Each doubling of reviews went with about 1 place higher.
Should I add my trade or Louisville to my Google Business Profile name?
Only if it's your real name. A real name that says the trade went with a higher position, but adding words that aren't your actual business name breaks Google's rules and can get your profile suspended.
Does having a website help me rank on Google Maps?
Not on its own. A working website made no clear difference to map position once distance, category, reviews and name were held equal. What's on the site matters more, and it decides whether you show up in the normal results below the map.
Does this study prove local SEO causes higher rankings?
No. It's one snapshot from October 2026 that compares businesses at the same distance in the same search. It shows what goes with a better position, which is strong evidence but not proof. Only the findings that held up in several checks are on this page.
What to do with this
If you're a Louisville trade, the order is simple: get the main category right, write a description that names your jobs, ask every happy customer for a review, and keep at it. That's most of what I do every month for Louisville trades.
If you'd like to know where you stand in your own trade and part of town, I'll send you a free local SEO growth plan: where you show up now, what's holding you back, and what I'd fix first.