What changed in local ranking factors between 2023 and 2026?

What exactly changed in Google's local-ranking labels?

The 2023 capture says “prominence.” The current Business Profile summary says “popularity.” The current Maps page still says “prominence.”

The 2023 archived Business Profile help page names relevance, distance, and prominence. Google's current Business Profile guidance uses popularity in its summary but keeps Prominence as the explanatory heading. Google's current Maps guidance still names relevance, distance, and prominence.

What did “prominence” mean in the 2023 guidance?

In Google's 2023 Business Profile guidance, prominence meant how well-known a business was, with offline prominence and information across the web included in the explanation.

The archived page also named links, articles, directories, review count, review score, and search-engine optimization as information it considered when explaining prominence. That is the wording in Google's December 30, 2023 capture. It is not a claim that each item has a published weight or that improving one guarantees a position.

What does “popularity” mean in the current Business Profile summary?

Google's current Business Profile summary uses “popularity.” Its Prominence heading still describes how well-known a business is and points to links and reviews.

The current Business Profile guidance therefore presents the two words on the same page. Google's current Maps guidance uses prominence for the factor in its local-results explanation. The Business Profile information-sources guidance separately explains that Google uses business information to surface relevant local results across Maps and Search.

Did Google's local-ranking formula change between 2023 and 2026?

The public wording difference does not establish a change to Google's underlying local-ranking formula.

Google says that it keeps search-algorithm details confidential and does not offer a way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Its current Business Profile guidance gives qualitative descriptions, while the Maps guidance says the factors are combined. Neither page publishes numeric weights or thresholds for the label difference.

For the current definitions of relevance, distance, and the third factor, use Google's local-ranking factors. This page adds the dated comparison rather than replacing that standing answer.

What should a business do with the 2023-to-2026 wording difference?

Treat “popularity” and “prominence” as public documentation labels to track, not as two separate ranking tactics.

Keep the Business Profile information accurate and complete, as Google's current Business Profile guidance recommends. When checking a local result, record the search query and the searcher's location because Google's distance definition depends on that context. The Google Maps hub covers the search surface, and Google Maps optimization covers the broader owner workflow.