Local search is a different game with the same name

Local results are ranked by a different system from ordinary organic results, using signals that mostly are not on your website.

Google describes three factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Distance is the searcher's location relative to yours, and there is nothing you can do about it. That leaves two.

Relevance

Does your business profile actually describe what someone searched for?

The primary category is the single strongest lever here, and it is regularly wrong — a business that fits three categories picks the most flattering rather than the most searched. Secondary categories matter far less than the primary one.

Services, attributes and the description are all read. The description is not a ranking factor in any strong sense but it does affect whether someone chooses you.

Prominence

How well known is the business, according to everything Google can see: reviews, mentions on other sites, citations, links, and its ordinary web presence.

Reviews are the accessible part of this. Volume, recency and rating all contribute, and responding to them signals an active business. The effect is not subtle in competitive categories.

What people waste time on

Keyword-stuffing the business name. It works, it is against the guidelines, and competitors can and do report it.

Chasing every citation directory. A handful of significant, accurate listings beats two hundred low-quality ones. Consistency of name, address and phone number matters more than count.

Location pages with no local content. A page per town, identical apart from a substituted place name, is a thin-content pattern Google handles specifically. If the page cannot say something true and specific about serving that place, it is not worth having.

What actually moves it

Complete the profile fully — hours, services, photos, attributes. Post occasionally. Answer questions. Get reviews consistently rather than in bursts. Make sure the address and phone match everywhere.

Then measure it properly: profile impressions and actions, not website sessions. A local business can get more calls and fewer clicks and be doing better.