⚖️ How Google Decides Who Shows Up (The 3 Judges)

The three judges

When someone types 'salon May Pen', Google scores every business on relevance (do you clearly do this thing, here?), distance (how close are you to the searcher?), and prominence (does the internet think you're real and good — reviews, mentions, a website that answers questions?). You can't move your shop, but you control the other two completely.

Map pack vs the list

The three businesses in the map box get most of the calls. Getting there is mostly a Business Profile game (lessons 2–5). The blue-link list below it is mostly a website game (lesson 6). Do both and you appear twice.

What Google is really asking

'Is this business real, open, and the right one for this person?' Every lesson from here is about answering that question louder than the shop next door.

Homework

Search your business type + your town on your phone. Write down who's in the map box and one thing each of them has that you don't (photos? reviews? a website?).

✅ Do this now — step by step

1. Search your business type + your town on your phone right now and screenshot the map box.
2. For each of the three businesses shown, note: review count, photo count, whether they have a website, whether the category matches yours.
3. Write down the one thing each has that you don't — that's your first month's checklist.
4. Search two more ways ('near me', a service word) and see if the same three appear — consistency tells you who's really winning.
5. Bookmark the search; you'll repeat it monthly to watch yourself move.

⚠️ Mistakes to avoid

• Assuming you rank because you can find yourself — you're logged in and Google knows it's you; test on someone else's phone.
• Blaming location — prominence and relevance are the two judges you control, and most competitors ignore them.
• Trying to fix everything at once — the checklist from step 3 is enough for month one.

🇯🇲 How it plays out in Jamaica