How do you analyse local competitors on Google Maps, in short?
Most owners know their physical competitors: the café across the road, the other salon on the high street. On Google, competition works differently. Someone typing “pizza” or “nail salon” sees a short list of profiles that Google picks based on what they searched and where they are. Those are the profiles you are up against, even if they are a mile away.
None of this is technical. It is a matter of looking, methodically, at what the profiles that win the clicks are doing, and spotting what yours is missing. The aim is not to copy anyone. It is to understand why a customer would choose the other listing over yours, and to give them a reason to pick you instead.
How does Google decide which businesses to show on Maps?
Before comparing, it helps to know what Google looks at. In its help page “Tips to improve your local ranking on Google”, Google names three main factors:
- Relevance: how well your profile matches what the person searched for. A complete profile (accurate category, description, services, products) has a better chance of matching more searches.
- Distance: how far your business is from the person searching, or from the place named in the search (“plumber Leeds”).
- Prominence: how well known your business is. Google says this draws on information from across the web (articles, links, directories) and that review count and rating are part of it.
The same page states that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Ads exist, but they are labelled “Sponsored” and do not change the organic ranking.
In practice, you cannot do anything about distance short of moving. So your analysis should focus on what you can change: the relevance of your profile and your prominence, meaning your reviews, your replies, your photos, your information and your presence on the web. To go through every field of your profile, use our guide to optimising your Google Business Profile.
Free tool, no sign-up
Free Google review calculator
Enter your current rating, your review count and the rating you are aiming for (a competitor’s, for example): the calculator tells you how many 5-star reviews you need.
How do you find your real competitors on Google Maps?
Google Maps results change with location, search history and the exact wording. To see what a customer sees, you need to strip those effects out as much as you can.
1. Search in a private window
Open a private or incognito window on your computer or phone, signed out of your Google account. That stops Google from favouring the profiles you look at often, including your own.
2. Search from where your customers are
Distance matters, so run the searches from your shop, and also from one or two places your customers come from (the town centre, the station, a nearby residential area). You will often see the list shift noticeably from one spot to the next.
3. Try several phrasings
Customers do not always type your exact trade. Write down three or four typical searches:
- the trade on its own: “bakery”, “plumber”, “Italian restaurant”;
- trade plus place: “bakery Bath”, “plumber Croydon”;
- the need: “gluten-free bread”, “emergency leak repair”, “Sunday brunch”;
- the “near me” search: “barber near me”.
4. Keep the profiles that keep coming back
For each search, note the profiles in the top positions. The ones that appear across several searches are your real competitors on Google. Three to five is usually plenty: beyond that, tracking becomes a chore and adds little.
What should you record on each competitor’s Google profile?
Anything a customer sees on a profile can tip their decision. Here is what to record, what it tells you and where to find it.
| Item | Where to see it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Average rating | Under the business name | The customer’s first impression. A few tenths of a star show up in a list. |
| Review count | Next to the rating | Accumulated reputation. A high count reassures and feeds prominence. |
| Pace of new reviews | Reviews tab, sorted by “Newest” | Whether the competitor actively asks for reviews. Count last month’s. |
| Owner replies | Under each review | Whether they reply, how often and in what tone, including to bad reviews. |
| Primary category | Under the rating (e.g. “Italian restaurant”) | Which searches they are going after. A more specific category than yours can give them an edge. |
| Photos | Photos tab | How many, how recent, how good, owner or customer photos. |
| Opening hours | Info panel | Whether they are open when you are closed, and whether they list holiday hours. |
| Posts (updates) | “Updates” or “What’s new” section | Whether they keep the profile alive: offers, events, news. |
| Website | “Website” button | Whether they have one, whether it works on a phone, whether you can book or request a quote. |
| Book button, menu, prices | Action buttons, Menu or Services tabs | What a customer can do without leaving Google. |
| Attributes | “About” section | Outdoor seating, wheelchair access, payment options: details that answer specific searches. |
Do the same for your own profile, with the same critical eye. That is often where the exercise pays off most: you spot a vague category, holiday hours that were never filled in, photos from three years ago.
How should you read the gaps between you and your competitors?
Recording numbers is pointless unless it leads to a decision. Here is how to read the most common gaps.
They have far more reviews than you
Do not just look at the total: look at the pace. A competitor who gets twice as many reviews as you each month will keep pulling ahead, whatever your current total. The answer is not a one-off push but a daily routine of asking every customer. Our guide to getting more Google reviews sets out that routine, and the article how many reviews to outrank competitors explains why pace matters more than the total.
Their rating is higher
Read your 1, 2 and 3-star reviews: which topics keep coming up (waiting times, welcome, price, cleanliness)? Do the same on your competitors’ profiles. If their customers often complain about waiting and you are quick, that is something to highlight on your profile and website. If your customers complain about one specific thing, fix that first, before asking for more reviews.
They reply to reviews and you do not
Google says replying to reviews shows customers that you value their feedback. Someone torn between two profiles can see at a glance which one is looked after. This is the easiest gap to close: our guide to replying to Google reviews gives you a method and templates.
Their profile is more complete
Categories, services, attributes, menu, recent photos, posts: every filled-in field makes a profile relevant to more searches. Close the gaps one at a time, starting with your primary category and your hours.
They show up for searches where you do not
If a competitor appears for “brunch” and you do not, even though you serve one, check that the word actually appears on your profile (description, services, menu, posts) and on your website. Google cannot guess what you never say.
What tracking sheet should you use to compare competitors?
A simple spreadsheet is enough. What matters is recording the same items, in the same way, on the same date each month. Here is a template to copy.
| Month | Business | Rating | Review count | New reviews this month | Replies to reviews? | Primary category | Latest photo | Latest post |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | You | |||||||
| October | Competitor A | |||||||
| October | Competitor B | |||||||
| October | Competitor C |
Under each month, add a “Decisions” line with three actions at most. For example:
October: 1. Put a review QR code on every table. 2. Reply to the 12 reviews still unanswered. 3. Add opening hours for the half-term holidays.
The following month, start by checking whether those three actions were done, then see whether the numbers have moved. Changes in rating and review count show within a few weeks; changes in ranking usually take more patience.
How often should you check on your competitors?
Once a month is enough in most cases. Any more often and you will mostly see noise (one review up, one down) and spend time without reaching any new decision. Any less often and you will miss the changes that matter: a new business opening nearby, a competitor who starts asking for reviews, a profile that switches category.
A few moments justify an extra check:
- a new business in your trade opening in the area;
- an unexplained drop in calls or direction requests in your profile’s performance data (our guide to Google Business Profile insights explains how to read them);
- before a busy season (summer, the holidays, back to school), to make sure your profile is up to scratch.
To see where your own profile stands before you start, run our free visibility check: it gives you a score out of 100 and the first things to fix.
What should you never do to a competitor?
Competitor analysis is there to help you improve, not to harm anyone else. Some tactics break Google’s rules, and sometimes the law.
- Posting or commissioning fake reviews, positive ones for you or negative ones for a competitor. Google’s policies ban fake reviews and conflicts of interest (a business owner reviewing a rival). Consumer protection law in many countries, including the UK and the EU, also treats fake reviews as a misleading practice.
- Mass-flagging a competitor’s genuine reviews to get them removed. Reporting exists for reviews that break the rules, not for getting in another business’s way.
- Suggesting false edits to a competitor’s profile (wrong hours, “permanently closed”). It is manipulation and it can backfire on you.
- Copying their text or photos. They are protected by copyright, and copied content does nothing to set you apart.
- Stuffing keywords into your business name (“Mario’s Pizza – Best Cheap Pizza Leeds”) because a competitor does. Google’s guidelines ask you to use your real business name, and a profile that ignores them risks suspension.
If a competitor is breaking these rules themselves (visible fake reviews, keyword-stuffed name), you can report it to Google from the profile in question, once, with specific evidence. Then get back to your own profile: that is what will make the difference over time.
How can you track competitors without spending hours on it?
Once you have the hang of it, a manual check takes about an hour a month for four or five profiles. That is reasonable, but it is also exactly the kind of job that gets pushed back when the business is busy.
To keep it quick:
- block out a fixed slot each month (the first Monday, for example);
- always track the same competitors, so you can compare month to month;
- stick to the numbers that lead to a decision (rating, reviews, pace, replies) and look at the rest once a quarter;
- always write down your three actions for the month, even modest ones.
To work out how many 5-star reviews you would need to match a competitor’s rating, use our free Google review calculator.
If you would rather hand over the tracking, that is what the Voxtya Visibility & insights service does: you pick 3 to 5 competitors, their ratings and review counts are recorded every month from Google’s public data, your visibility check is redone every month, and you get an email report with three concrete actions. €29/month, with a 30-day free trial. Nothing stops you starting with the sheet above.
The steps at a glance
The steps to find your competitors on Google Maps, compare their profiles with yours and turn the findings into monthly actions.
- Search like a customer. In a private window, from your neighbourhood, run three or four typical searches: your trade, trade plus town, a specific need, “near me”.
- Keep 3 to 5 competitors. Keep the profiles that appear above you across several of those searches.
- Record the same items. Rating, review count, new reviews this month, owner replies, primary category, photos, hours, posts, website, action buttons.
- Do the same for your own profile. Look at your own listing with the same critical eye.
- Read the gaps. Spot where you are behind: review pace, replies, incomplete profile, topics missing from your listing.
- Pick three actions. Write down three concrete actions for the month, no more.
- Repeat every month. Run the check on the same date and see what effect your actions had.
Do it without spending your evenings on it
Visibility & insights service
Pick 3 to 5 competitors: their rating and reviews are recorded every month, your visibility check is redone, and you get a report with three actions. €29/month, 30-day free trial.