Being at the top of Google searches will always be important. It’s a measure of trust, a measure of quality, and a measure of consistency.
Moreover in 2026, it is by far the most popular way in which a customer is researching which local business can provide the service they require in their area. After all, eight in ten consumers look up local businesses online every week, with a third of them doing so daily (SOCI, Consumer Behaviour Index).
And given that over 90% of Google users browsing for local services never look past the first page, it is absolutely pivotal to be there.
As seen in the (positioned) screenshot, the stats are overwhelmingly in favour of a business who is among the first seen when that search is made. They are the likely candidate for both high intent and lower-intent general queries.
A Google Business Profile allows your business to be displayed on the map when people are searching for a service you offer in your area. Based on its vicinity from the searcher, and how much Google trusts your business to provide said service it will show up at a position on a list.
Generally the further you are from the person, the more ‘on point’ everything about your profile needs to be for Google to recommend you.
The crucial part is, the maps list is more leaderboard than list. It’s not ok to just show up. Out of 100 people searching for what you do:
You can however pay for these top spots. While it. There are genuine advantages. However in the long term, it is an investment in your continued growth to ensure your business takes those top spots.
Personally, we always skip past the sponsored results who’re paying to be at the top, and always focus on one of the first few who are at the top organically (it always just seems a bit dodgy that they feel they have to pay Google to be at the top, it’s not necessarily earned from a buyer’s perspective). Therefore, to achieve this status of being “first seen”, SEO and Google optimisation is the key component.
However searching for a query versus actually becoming a customer are two entirely different things, right? How many of these people actually take the next steps with the businesses which their search surfaces?
Well out of 100 people searching for something:
Correct. 76% of people Googling (things related to) the services you provide will reach out the same day to enquire. 88% of people searching for services in a week.
For example, a resident of the quaint town of XYZ:
“Mechanic near me”, “boiler installation near me”, “laser hair removal XYZ”, “driveway contractor”, “cleaning services XYZ”, “teeth cleaning XYZ” etc.
Between 28 and 76 of those 100 googling will actually end up purchasing a service related to their search. So quick and dirty maths says, from 100 people:
Between 25 (0.28 × 0.9) and 68 (0.76 × 0.9) will actually end up purchasing from someone in the top 5 on Google.
It goes without saying, not Googling stuff you need in 2026 is unfathomable. Year on year this means ever-increasing opportunity for local businesses.
But it’s not just Google nowadays, a fast-growing share of people are asking AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude who’s worth using. Some are able to connect using APIs to Google Maps. Others like Google Gemini have Google Business Profiles directly built into their suite of utilities.
Regardless, finding business this way has jumped over the last year to become one of the fastest shifts in consumer discovery habits. Love it or hate it, us humans enjoy people putting things on a plate for us. We ensure it is your business which is read.
These tools have the ability to search Google for themselves, using Google’s trust system as their primary basis to compile together what they deem to be the most trustworthy results, ready to be shown to consumers.
If your name isn’t surfacing there, you’re missing out. We now gear our strategy to ensure that you will also be showing up as recommendations on popular AI tools, as well as online searches.
If we’ve built your site, its management fees are absorbed into this at £0. Additionally, if you choose to build a site in addition to opting in for SEO management, we’ll do the site build at 35% off.
We start by seeing exactly where you rank across your key searches and area, then agree on a strategy and KPIs before proceeding any further.
Once we agree on a plan of attack, from there it’s the ongoing graft of building and fixing pages, and earning the reviews and signals that move you up. Every fortnight you get one clear page showing where you rank now and what we changed to get you there, not a spreadsheet filled with gobbledygook.
Two things we do differently.
First, the opening two months are on us, because we’d rather prove the work than pitch it. We’re here for the long relationship, not the quick signature.
Second, we only run SEO on a site we can properly measure, so we can show you real traffic and bookings instead of vanity rankings. If your current site is already sound, we’ll say so and run on it. If not, we’ll happily build you a new site at 35% off.
