Why it matters on an HVAC site
Of the three local factors this is the one that responds to work. Proximity is fixed, relevance saturates once the profile and pages are right, and prominence keeps moving.
It is also the one most easily faked-looking. A business with 400 reviews collected in two months and no other trace anywhere is prominent in one dimension only, and the pattern is visible.
How to check it yourself
- Review count and rating against the real competitive set, which means the businesses actually ranking for the query rather than the ones the owner names.
- Citation coverage and consistency across the platforms that matter for the trade.
- Referring domains and unlinked brand mentions, treated as third-party estimates and cited as such.
Worked through in numbers
Two contractors sit two miles apart, both with complete profiles and the same primary category. One ranks in the pack across the area, the other only beside its own address.
Reviews: 312 against 41. Referring domains: 180 against 24, and the higher figure includes the local paper, two manufacturers and a trade body. Citation coverage: 38 platforms against 11.
Proximity favoured neither. The gap was entirely prominence, and the only part of it that could be moved inside a quarter was review velocity.
Where this sits in the rankings
Scored under Local SEO. How well known Google thinks the business is, and the local factor most work actually targets.