How the KnowLocal score works
What we check, how each check is weighted, and what the score can and can’t tell you. No black box.
Where the data comes from
When you run an audit, we look up your business’s public Google Business Profile through our data provider, DataForSEO. That’s the same information any customer can see on Google Maps: your categories, hours, photos, rating, reviews and contact details. We also look at the competitors Google shows near you, and at benchmark figures for businesses in your category.
We don’t log in to your Google account, and we can’t see private figures such as your profile’s view counts.
Step 1: profile strength (0–100)
Six checks add up to 100 points. The more weight a check has, the more it matters to your score. The weights follow the three things Google says decide local results: relevance, distance and prominence. More reviews and good ratings are part of prominence. You can read Google’s own explanation in Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.
| Check | Max points | How it’s scored |
|---|---|---|
| Profile completeness | 25 | Seven key fields: name, category, description, address, phone, website and opening hours. Points are shared out by how many are filled in. |
| Review strength | 25 | Your star rating (up to 12 points, full marks at 4.5★ or above) plus how many reviews you have (up to 13 points, full marks at 100 or more). |
| Claimed profile | 15 | Whether the profile is claimed by the business. Unclaimed profiles score zero here. |
| Photos | 15 | Full marks at 25 or more photos, 10 points at 10 or more, 5 points for at least one. |
| Services & categories | 10 | 6 points if you list services, 4 points if you have extra categories beyond your main one. |
| Opening hours | 10 | Whether your opening hours are shown on the profile. |
Step 2: how you compare with businesses near you
A complete profile isn’t enough if the shop down the road has three times your reviews. So we also give you a competitive standing score, based on businesses in your category and the competitors we find near you.
| Signal | Weight | Compared with |
|---|---|---|
| Number of reviews | 42% | The average and top 10% for your category |
| Star rating | 24% | The average and top 10% for your category |
| Competitor pressure | 20% | How many nearby competitors have more reviews than you |
| Photos | 14% | The average and top 10% for your category |
Your final score blends the two: 55% profile strength and 45% competitive standing. Two rules keep it honest:
- A tidy profile can’t hide a weak position. Your score can be at most 25 points above your competitive standing.
- No comparison, no top grade. If we don’t yet have enough local data to compare you, the score is based on your profile alone and capped, and the report tells you so.
Step 3: the 75-point ceiling
We scale the result so that even a flawless, market-leading Google profile lands at 75 out of 100. The remaining 25 points are kept for visibility in AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini. That’s new ground, and there is always more to do there. It also means no report ever tells you there’s nothing left to improve.
| Score | Grade |
|---|---|
| 67–75 | Category Leader |
| 60–66 | Market Leader |
| 52–59 | Strong |
| 41–51 | Average |
| 30–40 | Weak |
| 0–29 | Critical |
What the score can’t tell you
- It isn’t a ranking guarantee. Distance from the person searching matters a lot, and nobody controls that.
- It only uses public data, so it can’t see how many people viewed your profile or called you.
- The AI-search readiness section of a basic scan is an estimate based on the same public signals. It isn’t a live test of what ChatGPT says about you.
If something in your report looks wrong, tell us through the support page and we’ll check it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the score worked out by AI?
No. The score comes from fixed rules applied to your public profile data, so the same profile always gets the same score.
Why can’t I score 100?
A perfect Google profile tops out at 75. We hold back the last 25 points for visibility in AI search, where there is always more you can do.
Does a high score guarantee I’ll rank first on Google?
No. Nobody can promise that, and Google says there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking. The score shows what to fix first, based on the signals Google says it uses.
Do I need to give you my Google login?
No. We only read information that is already public on your Google Business Profile.
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