An SEO glossary of terms every marketer should know in 2026
A practical, current glossary covering the essential SEO terminology every marketer should be comfortable with, from foundational concepts to 2026-specific terms.
6 min read
Google has confirmed that local pack ranking is determined by three core factors — relevance, distance and prominence — combined together, rather than any single dominant signal. Understanding how each contributes helps prioritise where to actually focus improvement effort.
Relevance: matching the search
How well your Business Profile matches what a searcher is looking for, based on your business category, description and the completeness of your profile information relative to the specific search query.
Distance: proximity to the searcher
How close your business location is to the searcher's location or specified search area — this factor is largely outside your direct control, though accurately setting your service area (for service-based businesses) helps Google match you to genuinely relevant nearby searches.
Prominence: how well-known and trusted your business is
This combines your review count and average rating, your general web presence and citations, and how well-known your business is more broadly — the factor with the most room for deliberate, ongoing improvement.
You cannot move your business closer to every searcher, but you can meaningfully move the needle on both relevance and prominence with consistent, deliberate effort.
Practical ways to improve relevance and prominence
- Choose the most accurate primary category, and add relevant secondary categories.
- Complete every available profile field — services, attributes, business description.
- Actively pursue genuine reviews and respond to all of them professionally.
- Maintain consistent citations and NAP data across the web, as covered in our local citations guide.
What does not directly help
Google has clarified that keyword-stuffing your business name (adding extra descriptive terms not part of your real, legal business name) violates guidelines and can result in a suspended listing, rather than improving relevance as some site owners mistakenly attempt.
Frequently asked questions
Can I improve my ranking for searches far from my actual location?
Not directly for the local pack itself, though a service-area business can accurately configure the areas it serves to appear for relevant nearby searches within that legitimate service radius.
How much do reviews actually affect local ranking?
Review count, rating and recency all contribute to the prominence factor, making reviews one of the more directly actionable levers available for improving local pack visibility.
Is paying for Google Ads a way to improve organic local pack ranking?
No, paid Local Services Ads or Google Ads campaigns are entirely separate from organic local pack ranking and do not influence it directly.
If you want help improving your local pack visibility, talk to our team.
The takeaway
Prioritise proximity, relevance and prominence in that order when diagnosing local ranking issues — Google has confirmed these are the three core factors, and understanding their relative weight helps focus effort correctly.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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