Everything below is measured against 734 ranking hardware store listings across 40 US cities, not against a generic local SEO checklist. The full measurement sits on the hardware stores benchmark page.
Where these come from. Google Maps results for “hardware store in {city}” across 40 US cities, collected 1 September 2026, signed out. Re-measured quarterly. Full method and findings.
Proximity, prominence and relevance, weighted differently from ordinary search, and recomputed for every point the searcher could be standing on. There is no single position to report.
That is why one in ten top-three listings in this category holds its spot on 7 reviews or fewer. Those listings are not more prominent. They are closer.
Which means the honest answer to "where do we rank" is a map, not a number.
Rankings measured on a grid around each location at a spacing that matches how far your customers actually travel, which is a different radius for a dentist than for a car dealer.
Reading the shape rather than the average. A location that ranks first at its own doorstep and vanishes two miles out has a different problem from one that is mid-pack everywhere.
Then the levers that move a map rather than a page: categories, service areas, the density of relevant content on the profile, and where a second location would actually pay for itself.
What the engagement actually contains, and what each part is measured against.
| Included | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Grid spacing matched to travel behaviour | The radius a customer will travel is different for hardware stores than for most categories, and the grid is set to match rather than to a default. |
| Shape reading, not averages | A location that ranks first at its doorstep and vanishes two miles out has a different problem from one that is mid-pack everywhere. The average is identical. |
| Service area and category levers | The settings that actually move a map, tested one at a time so the effect is attributable. |
| Expansion modelling | Where a second location would pay for itself, read off the grid rather than off a hunch about the neighbourhood. |
| Reported against the benchmark | Every metric shown next to the measured figure for hardware stores, so a number is always "against what" rather than floating on its own. |
| Per location, never per group | A group average hides your weakest site. Everything is reported per location first and rolled up second. |
Spacing matched to how far your customers actually come, which is a research question with a different answer per category.
Strong at the doorstep and gone two miles out is a different problem from mid-pack everywhere, and the city average cannot tell them apart.
Categories, service area, profile density. Change three at once and you have learned nothing about any of them.
Maps moves for reasons that have nothing to do with you. A fixed re-capture is what separates a real change from noise, especially in a category where a quarter of listings rank on under 46 reviews.
The median ranking listing carries 153, with the middle half between 46 and 550. That spread is the real answer: there is no single threshold. The full measurement, including how it differs by city size, is on the category page.
Lower than you have been told. 51% of ranking listings sit at 4.5 or above, which means one in two does not. Rating decides who clicks you, not whether you appear.
Because Maps recomputes for wherever you are standing. Your own phone at the office is the single least representative measurement available to you, which is why we use a grid.
Sometimes, and the grid tells you whether before you sign a lease. It shows exactly where your coverage stops and how much demand sits past that line.
The free audit reads your live Google profile and puts it against the measured benchmark for your category.