Proximity, in local search, is how close a business is to the person searching, or to the place named in their search. It is one of the three factors Google says it uses to rank local results, alongside relevance and prominence, and it is the one a business has least control over.
How proximity works
When someone searches for “accountant” on their phone, Google estimates where they are from device location, Wi-Fi or IP address, and shows the businesses that best combine being relevant, prominent and near. If they search “accountant in Richmond”, the named place becomes the reference point instead of the searcher’s position. A near me search relies on the device location almost entirely.
For a business with a shopfront or office, distance is measured from the address on its Google Business Profile. For a service area business that hides its address, Google still uses the verified address behind the scenes. The service areas you list tell customers where you travel; they do not move that point.
Proximity never acts alone. A business a little further away can outrank a closer one if it is a much better match for the search or far better known, which is why Google weighs distance against relevance and prominence. How much each factor counts varies by search and by how many competitors are packed into the area.
Why it matters
Proximity explains a lot of confusing ranking reports. An owner checks Google from their own premises, sees themselves at the top of the local pack and assumes the job is done. A customer two miles away sees a different set of businesses entirely. Local rankings are a map of positions, not a single number.
In London the effect is extreme. There are so many businesses per square mile that the local pack for “dentist” or “estate agent” can change from one street to the next. A practice on the Clapham side of a boundary may barely appear for people searching in Brixton, a short bus ride away. In a market town in Cumbria, by contrast, the nearest relevant business may show across a whole district simply because there is so little competition.
It also sets realistic expectations. No amount of optimisation will put a Croydon plumber in the local pack for someone standing in Camden. For areas like that, the better routes are well-built organic pages, paid ads with location targeting, or a genuine additional base.
Common mistakes
- Judging local rankings from one spot, usually the business’s own premises.
- Listing dozens of service areas in the hope of ranking across all of them. They describe where you work; they do not change the distance Google measures.
- Registering a virtual office or a friend’s address to get closer to a busy area. It breaks Google’s guidelines and is a common cause of profile suspension.
- Moving premises without updating the profile and citations, so Google keeps measuring from the old location.
- Giving up on areas just beyond reach instead of covering them with useful location pages and ads.
How to act on it
Measure visibility across a grid of points around your address with a local rank grid tool, rather than with one search from your desk. That shows where you are strong and where you fade out. Then work on the two factors you can change: make your profile and website as relevant as possible to the services people search for, and build prominence through reviews, links and citations. Both widen the area in which you appear.
For places you serve but are not near, write a genuinely useful page for each area where you do real work, and consider paid search aimed at those postcodes. Mapping where distance helps you and where it holds you back is one of the first steps in my local SEO service.