The map decides: what 340 local searches show

We searched Google for twenty trades in seventeen Dutch cities, from "plumber Groningen" to "accountant Middelburg". That makes 340 searches. For every first page we recorded what a customer sees: the map block with businesses, the ten regular results, and whether Google put an AI answer on top.

Almost always the map first

In 333 of the 340 searches there was a map block with three businesses, which is 98 percent. It sits above the regular results and gives what a customer wants to know first: who, where, and what others thought of them. For a local business, that block is the first place to win, even before the website.

The bar differs by trade

In half the searches, the number three on the map had 49 reviews or fewer. By trade the spread is wide. For hairdressers, the number three had 264 reviews or more in half the cities, for dentists 172. For gardeners and accountants it was 13, for carpenters 7.

In 28 percent of all searches the number three had fewer than 20 reviews, in 17 percent fewer than 10. There, a place on the map is within reach of a business that asks for a review after every job.

Reviews are not all that counts. Google also weighs distance, how well the profile fits the search and how well known the business is. But reviews are the part an owner controls, and the part the customer sees.

Below the map: mostly local businesses

Of the ten regular results, on average seven belonged to a local business. Two were directories and platforms such as Werkspot, Trustoo or Indeed. One was a national site with a page per city: the same domain showing up for the same trade in at least four cities. For removal firms, bathroom specialists and locksmiths it was two on average.

Those national sites show that a good page per city works. In 22 percent of the searches one of them made the top three. A local business with a real page for its trade and its city has an edge there: it is actually there.

AI answers: still rare for local trades

Google put an AI answer above the results in 14 percent of the searches. Most often for accountants and removal firms, in 5 of the 17 cities. For estate agents, not once. People searching locally still reach a business through the map and the regular results, for now.

For a local business the map is the shop window. In many trades the bar to get in is lower than people think.

What this means

1. 1Search for your own trade in your own city and count the reviews of the number three on the map. That is your first target.
2. 2Ask for a review after every finished job, with a direct link. A steady habit beats a one-off campaign.
3. 3Make sure your business profile is right: the correct main category, your service area, your opening hours and photos of real work.
4. 4Create a page for every city you work in that truly answers the trade and that place. That is what the national sites do, and what a local business can do better.

How we measured

Measured on 11 October 2026 with Google results from DataForSEO: Google.nl, desktop, Dutch, the first page, searched from the Netherlands with the city in the query. One measurement per search; what Google shows varies by moment and place. We use the middle value rather than the average, because a few businesses with thousands of reviews skew an average.