Why the profile outranks the site
When someone searches for a business near them, Google shows a map with local results before it shows any websites. Many customers decide inside that panel and never click through to a site at all.
That makes the profile the first impression for a large share of your prospective customers, and it is the asset most small businesses have never deliberately worked on.
What to fix, in order
Primary category. The single most powerful individual factor. A business categorised generically rather than by its actual trade is competing with one hand tied.
Claim and verify. A meaningful share of profiles across all businesses are unclaimed or unverified. An unclaimed profile can be edited by others.
Completeness. Hours, services, attributes, description. Complete profiles receive substantially more engagement than partial ones.
Photos. Recent, real photographs of the business, team and premises, added regularly rather than once.
Reviews, continuously. Not a one-off push — a steady flow, because recency is what is weighted.
The review point most businesses get wrong
Businesses often chase a total: 'we want 100 reviews'. Then they hit it, stop asking, and slide as competitors keep collecting.
Because recency now outweighs volume, the business that asks after every job beats the one that ran a single campaign two years ago, even at a lower total. It is a flow, not a target.
Respond to reviews, including negative ones. It signals an active profile and it is visible to every future customer reading them.
Questions
How specific should my profile category be?
Choose the category that most accurately describes the business's primary trade, then add secondary categories for other services. Accuracy matters more than trying to game the choice.
How many reviews does a small business need?
There is no threshold. What matters is having recent reviews arriving continuously, and enough of them to be credible against the businesses you compete with locally.
Can I ask customers for reviews?
You can ask, but you cannot incentivise or filter — offering something in exchange, or asking only happy customers, breaches Google's policies and can cost you the reviews.