How Does Google Determine Local Ranking?

Google determines local ranking based on three key factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Relevance refers to how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for. Distance considers how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search, or calculated based on the searcher's location if no location term is used. Prominence refers to how well-known a business is and takes into consideration both its online and offline popularity. Google combines all these factors to determine the best local results for each search.