LOCAL BENCHMARK · MEDIUM
Plumbing in Madison, WI.
Every business below was observed on Google Maps for "plumber" targeted at Madison. Review counts, ratings, and ranks are from the IMPIOUS benchmark snapshot (internal benchmark, Apr 2026).
MEDIAN REVIEWS — TOP 3
567
P25 — MIN TO COMPETE
95
AVG RATING — TOP 3
4.82
DENSITY TIER
MEDIUM
TOP-3 MEDIAN REFERRING DOMAINS
179
TOP-3 MEDIAN DFS RANK
177
AI MENTIONS — TOP 3 CITED
1 / 3
AI PLATFORMS
GPT
| # | BUSINESS | REVIEWS | RATING | REF. DOMAINS | AI CITED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Action Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning and Electric, Inc. | 1102 | 4.9★ | 182 | — |
| 1 | Monona Plumbing & Fire Protection | 348 | 4.7★ | 212 | — |
| 1 | Madison Sewer & Drain Cleaning | 53 | 4.9★ | 61 | — |
| 2 | Avid Plumbing LLC | 898 | 4.9★ | 179 | cited |
| 2 | Roto-Rooter Sewer & Drain Service | 95 | 4.7★ | 61 | — |
| 2 | Triggs Plumbing | 66 | 4.6★ | 74 | — |
| 3 | H.J. Pertzborn Plumbing and Fire Protection Corporation. | 567 | 4.8★ | 204 | — |
| 4 | Robert's Plumbing & Heating INC | 35 | 4.5★ | — | — |
| 4 | Howe Brothers Plumbing LLC | 66 | 4.9★ | — | — |
Market read
Madison's plumbing market shows a counterintuitive gap: top-3 businesses maintain 567 median reviews (internal benchmark, Apr 2026) yet average only 64/100 Google Business Profile completeness. This suggests review volume doesn't correlate with profile optimization. The median entry floor sits at 95 reviews with a 4.82 average rating across leaders, who generate 5 monthly reviews at a 17% spam rate. Top-3 median referring domains reach 182, positioning the category for AI citation—one leader appeared in ChatGPT's top-3 for "best plumber in Madison, WI." Density tier remains medium, indicating room for consolidation. P25 competitors need 473 additional reviews to reach top-3 median, but the real gap lies in profile completeness and backlink authority, neither of which scales through reviews alone.
See "The Review Gap Is Smaller Than Everyone Thinks" for the cross-city pattern and "What the Top-3 Actually Have on Their Backlink Profile" for the backlink + AI-citation breakdown.