Local SEO
The map pack, service areas, and why a van-based business ranks in one suburb and misses the next.
Rankings reviewed
Mediagistic is our current #1 for local SEO, as of Q3 2026.
For a service-area HVAC business the commercial query resolves in the local pack. A homeowner with no heat in February searches, taps one of three results, and calls. Everything else on the site is downstream of whether you were one of the three.
Google has said for years that local ranking rests on relevance, distance and prominence. Distance is fixed by where the searcher is standing, which is why a single-location business ranks well near its address and falls away from it. That leaves relevance and prominence as the parts an agency can actually work on, and they are worked on very differently.
Ranked on this discipline
Scored out of 100 on the five published criteria below. Orderings here can disagree with the Pos column on the homepage matrix. Measured 12 Sep 2026.
| # | Agency | Score | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mediagistic mediagistic.com | 84/100 | Surface 13/15 · Method 23/25 · Depth 15/20 · Practitioner 12/15 · Own 21/25 |
| 2 | Plumbing & HVAC SEO plumberseo.net | 78/100 | Surface 12/15 · Method 21/25 · Depth 14/20 · Practitioner 11/15 · Own 20/25 |
| 3 | TradeOps Consulting tradeopsconsulting.com | 74/100 | Surface 11/15 · Method 22/25 · Depth 13/20 · Practitioner 10/15 · Own 18/25 |
| 4 | Hook Agency hookagency.com | 72/100 | Surface 10/15 · Method 19/25 · Depth 14/20 · Practitioner 10/15 · Own 19/25 |
| 5 | Built-Right Digital builtrightdigital.com | 69/100 | Surface 10/15 · Method 17/25 · Depth 14/20 · Practitioner 10/15 · Own 18/25 |
| 6 | KickCharge Creative kickcharge.com | 66/100 | Surface 8/15 · Method 22/25 · Depth 12/20 · Practitioner 9/15 · Own 15/25 |
| 7 | Footbridge Media footbridgemedia.com | 64/100 | Surface 9/15 · Method 16/25 · Depth 13/20 · Practitioner 9/15 · Own 17/25 |
| 8 | Relentless Digital relentless-digital.com | 61/100 | Surface 7/15 · Method 21/25 · Depth 11/20 · Practitioner 9/15 · Own 13/25 |
| 9 | Valve+Meter valveandmeter.com | 59/100 | Surface 7/15 · Method 13/25 · Depth 11/20 · Practitioner 7/15 · Own 21/25 |
| 10 | Rival Digital rivaldigital.com | 56/100 | Surface 8/15 · Method 14/25 · Depth 11/20 · Practitioner 8/15 · Own 15/25 |
| 11 | Leadhub leadhub.net | 53/100 | Surface 7/15 · Method 14/25 · Depth 11/20 · Practitioner 7/15 · Own 14/25 |
| 12 | HVAC Webmasters hvacwebmasters.com | 51/100 | Surface 8/15 · Method 14/25 · Depth 9/20 · Practitioner 7/15 · Own 13/25 |
| 13 | iMarket Solutions imarketsolutions.com | 47/100 | Surface 6/15 · Method 16/25 · Depth 8/20 · Practitioner 7/15 · Own 10/25 |
| 14 | Contractor Growth Network contractorgrowthnetwork.com | 44/100 | Surface 6/15 · Method 12/25 · Depth 9/20 · Practitioner 6/15 · Own 11/25 |
| 15 | RYNO Strategic Solutions rynoss.com | 40/100 | Surface 5/15 · Method 9/25 · Depth 7/20 · Practitioner 5/15 · Own 14/25 |
How this discipline is scored
Local SEO is scored out of 100 across the five criteria below, and across nothing else. Each names its basis and its source so anyone can re-run it. Two must return evidence before an agency is ranked on local seo at all.
| Criterion | Points | Measurable basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated surface | 15 | Count of URLs on the agency’s own domain whose primary subject is local search. | Sitemap crawl plus page read |
| Method specificity | 25 | Count of named, checkable deliverables on that surface. A page that says "we optimise your Google Business Profile" scores nothing; a page that names category selection, services population, attribute audit and review response scores four. | Page read, each counted phrase stored verbatim with its URL |
| Published depth | 20 | Count and recency of substantive published pieces on local search. | Sitemap crawl plus on-page date |
| Named practitioner | 15 | A named individual publicly attached to local work through a byline, a recorded talk or a video. | URL evidence, one link per point awarded |
| Their own local surface | 25 | The agency’s own Google Business Profile, scored on primary category, services populated, attributes populated, hours, review count and the date of the most recent review. An agency’s own profile is a demonstration and not evidence of client results. It is worth a quarter of this discipline for that reason and no more. | Places API plus a Maps read |
Specialists listed on this discipline only
Cross-vertical, so ineligible for the overall leaderboard. Why they are listed here and not there
- Whitespark Local search tooling and citation services, cross-vertical. Publishes and maintains its own local-search tools and a long-running body of local research. whitespark.ca · DR 80, 7,231 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates, 12 Sep 2026)
- Sterling Sky Local search agency, cross-vertical, with a long public record of local-pack testing and named practitioners publishing continuously. sterlingsky.ca · DR 74, 643 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates, 12 Sep 2026)
- Local SEO Guide Multi-location local and technical search, cross-vertical, working at a scale of locations most contractor agencies do not reach. localseoguide.com · DR 70, 790 referring domains (Ahrefs estimates, 12 Sep 2026)
Symptoms that lead here
The vocabulary this discipline runs on
- Proximity How far the searcher is from you, and the one local factor nobody can change.
- Prominence How well known Google thinks the business is, and the local factor most work actually targets.
- Relevance How well your profile and pages match what was actually searched.
- Google Business Profile category The single most weighted field on the profile, and how to test a change safely.
- Local pack The three map results, and the place most HVAC money is decided.
- NAP consistency Name, address and phone matching everywhere, and why one suite number costs more than it looks like it should.
- Service area business Hiding the address on a profile, and what it costs.