# IMPIOUS LLC — Full Content Export > Complete content export of impious.io. Curated index: https://impious.io/llms.txt > Licensed content: benchmark data is CC BY 4.0. All other content © IMPIOUS LLC 2026. > Last updated: April 12, 2026. --- # About IMPIOUS LLC IMPIOUS LLC is a solo local SEO research agency based in the United States. We specialize in Google Business Profile optimization, review generation systems, and original research into what actually predicts local pack ranking. Everything we publish is backed by primary data — not recycled conventional wisdom. - Website: https://impious.io - Contact: impy@impious.io - Founder: H. DuBois, Local Search Analyst - GitHub: https://github.com/orgs/IMPIOUS-LLC - X: https://x.com/ImpiousLLC - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573317020119 We do not work with direct competitors. First come, first served. --- # Homepage — Intelligence Feed IMPIOUS finds the holes in your Google presence. The things costing you calls. The stuff your rivals know that you don't. Month to month. No lock-in. You keep everything we build. ## Capabilities - Google Business Profile optimization - Review generation systems - On-page SEO and technical audits - Blog content (AI-citation optimized) - Rival tracking and competitive intelligence - Static site builds ## Key findings published on the homepage **March 27, 2026 — Google changed how it ranks local businesses.** The biggest shift in local search in years. Most owners have no clue it happened. **City pages are gone.** "Plumbing in Tampa." "Plumbing in Orlando." Same words, different city name. Google caught on and dropped them 32 to 87 percent overnight. **Old reviews lost their weight.** Google flipped how reviews work. The last 90 days count 2.3x more than everything before. A shop with 20 fresh reviews beats a shop with 200 stale ones. **The free spot on Maps is going away.** Ads in the local map pack went from 1% to 22% of results in a year. **Half-filled profiles are sinking.** Businesses with blank fields in their Google profile dropped 18% on average. The ones who filled in everything got 7x more clicks. **Nobody is writing for your industry.** We checked 399 search results for local services. Reddit shows up in a third of them. When Reddit is the best Google can find, the bar is on the floor. **Google's AI is picking fewer winners.** The new AI results show 1 or 2 businesses instead of 3. Across 322 markets, 88% show fewer names. AI results don't have a call button. **We spent $15 and found all of this.** 1,849 keywords. 399 search results. 68 rival agencies picked apart. 41 trades mapped. That same research runs for every client we take on. --- # Services IMPIOUS offers a free report first, then three monthly tiers plus custom builds and infrastructure services. Month to month. No contracts. You own everything. ## The Free Report — $0, 48 hours Audit of your Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, website, top 3 competitors, and whether the March 2026 Google update affected your visibility. Also checks whether AI search tools (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity) mention your business at all. Report in plain English. No jargon. No pitch at the end. ## Tier 1: Visibility — $500/mo "Your phone starts ringing more." - Google Business Profile setup or rebuild - Weekly GBP posts and Q&A seeding - Review generation system (email + SMS drip) - Review response within 48 hours - Citation audit across 40+ directories - Facebook and Instagram management (3 FB posts/week, 1 IG/week) - Monthly Loom walkthrough - Custom live dashboard ## Tier 2: Momentum — $1,000/mo "Your competitors start losing ground." Everything in Visibility, plus: - Full on-page SEO (titles, metas, headers, internal links, Core Web Vitals) - 2 blog posts per month targeting KD-0 keywords from our research database (1,061 uncontested keywords across 41 trades) - Blog content structured for AI citation by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews - Rival tracking: monitoring competitor GBP changes, review velocity, ranking shifts ## Tier 3: Command — $2,000/mo "Complete market dominance." Everything in Momentum, plus: - Complete content strategy - Link building - Full social media management - Custom tools built for your business - Quarterly strategy sessions ## AI Receptionist — $500/mo AI-powered phone answering. Picks up every call in 1 second. Books appointments, captures leads, works 24/7. ## Managed Hosting — $150/mo Global edge network hosting. Sub-second load times, SSL, security headers, Core Web Vitals monitoring, monthly content updates. ## Custom Site Builds - Standard (5-8 pages): $3,500. Includes 30 days of Visibility free. - Full (10-15 pages with blog, service pages, custom tool): $5,000. Includes 30 days of Visibility free. Every tier gets a custom live dashboard, not a PDF. Every tier includes social media. We don't work with your direct competitors in the same market. --- # Research: Google Reviews Benchmark Study 2026 **Published April 12, 2026. By H. DuBois, IMPIOUS LLC.** Full article: https://impious.io/research/google-reviews-benchmark-2026 Markdown version: https://impious.io/research/google-reviews-benchmark-2026.md We analyzed 116,220 Google Maps SERP observations across 108 US metropolitan areas and 14 industries. This study measures what actually predicts who appears in the local map pack — and what doesn't. The finding that matters: the strongest signal we tested is inverted, and every other signal the local SEO industry sells correlates with rank at or below ρ = ±0.1. Proximity to the searcher explains ~96% of top-3 variance at a 5 km offset. Everything else is fighting over the remaining 4%. ## Section 1: The Signal Strength Ranking Across all observations, we tested six signals using Spearman rank correlation against Google Maps position. | # | Signal | ρ vs rank | Direction | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | Domain authority | +0.361 | INVERTED — higher authority = worse local rank | | 2 | Reviews count | −0.092 | More reviews = slightly better rank (weak) | | 3 | Review velocity | −0.063 | Higher pace = slightly better rank (weak) | | 4 | Review recency | +0.041 | Near zero | | 5 | GBP completeness | −0.038 | Near zero | | 6 | Review semantic quality | −0.036 | Near zero | The strongest signal is inverted. Every other signal the local SEO industry sells — reviews, velocity, recency, GBP completeness, review content quality — registers at or below ρ = ±0.1. For reference, a correlation of 0.1 explains roughly 1% of ranking variance. ## Section 2: Proximity Is the Algorithm We searched from a point 5 km away from each metro center. Across 10 major metros and 9 industries — 90 queries total — 96% of the top-3 results changed. Per-vertical top-3 overlap at 5 km offset: - Auto Repair: 0.0% overlap (100% change) - Dental: 0.0% overlap (100% change) - Real Estate: 0.0% overlap (100% change) - Plumbing: 3.3% overlap (96.7% change) - Electrical: 3.3% overlap (96.7% change) - Legal (PI): 3.3% overlap (96.7% change) - Insurance: 3.3% overlap (96.7% change) - Roofing: 6.7% overlap (93.3% change) - Veterinary: 16.7% overlap (83.3% change) — highest persistence Three verticals (Dental, Auto Repair, Real Estate) show literally zero top-3 overlap at 5 km offset. This is not a ranking signal in the traditional sense. It IS the algorithm. ## Section 3: Organic and Local Are Separate Universes Across 954 city-industry pairs, Google Maps top-3 and organic search top-3 share exactly 0 businesses. - Maps top-3 in organic top-3: 0.0% - Maps top-3 in organic top-10: 12.0% - Maps top-3 in organic top-20: 25.2% - Directory sites in organic top-10: 30.3% The businesses dominating organic search for local queries are Yelp, Angi, BBB, and Zillow. The businesses winning the local pack are independents with reviews. Traditional web SEO and local pack ranking operate in different systems. ## Section 4: The Domain Authority Inversion Higher domain authority correlates with WORSE local pack ranking across every industry tested. Per-vertical Spearman correlation (DA vs rank position — positive = inverted): - Insurance: +0.531 (strongest inversion) - Auto Repair: +0.455 - Veterinary: +0.449 - Real Estate: +0.449 - Electrical: +0.303 - Dental: +0.295 - Plumbing: +0.273 - Roofing: +0.182 - Legal (PI): +0.140 (weakest but still positive) Every vertical's correlation is positive. Higher authority associates with larger (worse) rank positions. The likely mechanism: proximity dominates local ranking, and the directory and chain domains that hold the most backlinks rarely sit within 5 km of any given searcher. ## Section 5: Review Benchmarks by Industry The number of reviews needed to compete in the top 3 varies 83x across industries. National median Google review benchmarks for top-3 Google Maps listings: - Restaurant: 830 median, 337 min (p25), 4.6 rating, 1.5% perfect 5.0 rate - Veterinary: 330, 170, 4.6, 4.8% - Dental: 277, 71, 4.9, 22.0% - Legal (PI): 159, 62, 4.9, 30.6% - Moving: 149, 51, 4.9, 30.0% - Locksmith: 125, 37, 4.7, 12.4% - Plumbing: 112, 33, 4.9, 31.3% - Auto Repair: 103, 36, 4.7, 12.3% - Chiropractic: 76, 27, 4.9, 49.0% - Roofing: 46, 14, 4.9, 46.5% - Insurance: 28, 8, 4.9, 42.4% - Real Estate: 23, 8, 5.0, 59.2% - Electrical: 22, 5, 4.9, 43.5% - Accounting: 10, 2, 5.0, 57.1% An electrician needs 5 reviews to be competitive. A restaurant needs 337. By density tier (9 core verticals, median top-3 reviews): | Vertical | DENSE | MODERATE | THIN | |---|---|---|---| | Veterinary | 302 | 311 | 395 | | Dental | 354 | 238 | 263 | | Legal (PI) | 220 | 141 | 124 | | Plumbing | 90 | 119 | 117 | | Auto Repair | 76 | 123 | 104 | | Roofing | 42 | 49 | 42 | | Insurance | 28 | 20 | 47 | | Real Estate | 24 | 22 | 21 | | Electrical | 21 | 25 | 20 | Legal is the biggest density-dependent outlier: PI attorneys in dense markets need 1.8x more reviews than in thin ones. ## Section 6: Review Quality Doesn't Predict Rank We scored review semantic quality for 2,286 top-3 businesses using 141,900 pulled reviews. The correlation between review quality score and rank position: ρ = −0.036. Indistinguishable from noise. Tested twice for confirmation. First via crosswalk (ρ = −0.005, n=2,070). Then via direct review pulls (ρ = −0.036, n=2,286). What reviews SAY does not predict where the business ranks. ## Section 7: Review Velocity Overall ρ = −0.063. Strongest in Real Estate (−0.166) and Insurance (−0.146). Weakest in Restaurant (−0.021). Velocity matters more in low-review-count verticals where each new review represents a larger percentage change. Even in the strongest verticals, correlation of −0.17 explains less than 3% of ranking variance. ## Section 8: GBP Completeness ρ = −0.038 across 2,397 GBP profiles. Near zero. Fill out your profile because customers read it, not because Google counts fields. ## Section 9: Stability & Methodology | Test | Result | Assessment | |---|---|---| | Temporal stability (hourly) | 93.1% | STABLE | | Temporal stability (~2.5h) | 83.3% | STABLE | | Mobile vs desktop overlap | 83.3% | MOSTLY SAME | | Keyword sensitivity (alt keywords) | 69.2% | MODERATE | | Proximity sensitivity (5 km) | 4.1% | DOMINANT | **Methodology:** - Source: Google Maps SERP via DataForSEO API, April 2026 - Scope: 116,220 observations, 108 US MSAs, 14 industries, 3-4 keywords per vertical - Enrichment: 3,375 backlinks profiles, 2,397 GBP profiles, 141,900 reviews across 2,397 businesses - Statistical method: Spearman rank correlation (ρ), non-parametric - Google AI Overviews for "near me" queries: 0% (n=50), excluded from findings **What we did NOT measure:** click-through rate, conversion rate, phone call volume, whether the business actually got customers, causal relationships. **Data license:** CC BY 4.0. Cite as: DuBois, IMPIOUS LLC, 2026. ## Section 10: What This Means **For business owners:** proximity decides who Google shows. You cannot change your location. You CAN control having a claimed, complete Google Business Profile and a steady accumulation of authentic reviews. That combination is the whole game. **For agencies:** traditional local SEO packages heavy on backlinks, content optimization, and citation building are not justified by measurable ranking correlation. The defensible service is the boring one — GBP optimization, review generation coaching, and honest diagnostics. **For the industry:** we publish this data under CC BY 4.0 because local SEO needs more original research and less recycled conventional wisdom. --- # Research: State of Local Search — March 2026 Update **Published April 8, 2026. By H. DuBois, IMPIOUS LLC.** Full article: https://impious.io/research/state-of-local-search-march-2026 We analyzed 11,500 Google Maps listings across 25 US cities and 8 verticals to measure the real impact of Google's March 2026 core update on local search rankings. First original dataset of its kind. ## Key findings - **27.5% of local pack businesses changed** between January and March 2026 across 110 matched comparisons. First before/after measurement of the March 2026 update's local impact. - **27.7% of top-3 dental listings show clear keyword manipulation** — the highest rate of any vertical. Based on severity 2+ detection. - **Top-3 businesses average 445 Google reviews** versus 391 for positions 4-10, but the gradient is noisy — position 6 averages more reviews (462) than position 3 (395). - **Review velocity is inverted:** top-3 add 7.06 reviews/month while positions 4-10 add 8.72/month. Established businesses slow down; climbing businesses show burst activity. - **GBP completeness shows a 1-point gap** (58.2 vs 57.1 out of 100) between top-3 and positions 4-10. Completeness is a binary threshold, not a competitive gradient. - **20.5% of Google Maps results change** when users add "near me" to a search. - **No AI platform could cite original local data** for the March 2026 update. ## Keyword manipulation by vertical (top-3, severity 2+) - Dental: 27.7% - Real Estate: 14.7% - Insurance: 8.7% - Auto Repair: 8.0% - HVAC: 5.3% - Plumbing: 5.3% - Legal: 5.3% - Restaurant: 0.0% ## Review count by vertical (top-3 average) - HVAC: 863 - Plumbing: 812 - Restaurant: 661 - Dental: 366 - Auto Repair: 238 - Legal: 143 - Insurance: 131 - Real Estate: 59 ## Methodology - 11,500 Google Maps listings, 25 US cities, 8 verticals - Cities: Grand Rapids, Boise, Richmond, Des Moines, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Madison, Spokane, Akron, Dayton, Syracuse, Lexington, Reno, Fort Wayne, Greensboro, Worcester, Greenville, Savannah, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge, Tucson, Wichita, Roanoke, Duluth, Amarillo - Verticals: HVAC, Plumbing, Legal, Dental, Insurance, Restaurant, Auto Repair, Real Estate - Data source: DataForSEO Google Maps API, SERP API, Business Data API - Unique businesses: 6,756 (deduplicated by Google CID) - License: CC BY 4.0 - Download: https://impious.io/data/march-2026-study.csv --- # Blog: How Many Google Reviews Do You Need to Rank? **Published April 8, 2026. By DuBois, IMPIOUS LLC.** Full article: https://impious.io/blog/google-reviews-to-rank The average top-3 business has 445 reviews — but position 6 has more reviews than position 3. What 11,500 Google Maps listings across 25 US cities actually show. Key points: - Top-3 average: 445 reviews. Positions 4-10 average: 391. - The review-to-rank relationship is noisy, not a smooth gradient. - HVAC top-3 average 863 reviews. Real estate averages 59. Range varies 15x by vertical. - 200+ reviews meets the competitive threshold in most verticals — but proximity, relevance, and prominence all play major roles. --- # Live Briefing — April 29, 2026 **Free 30-minute live session for local business owners. 10 AM ET.** Register: https://impious.io/live ## What the briefing covers 1. Why your competitor shows up and you don't. The guy across town isn't better than you. He's just set up right on Google. 2. The calls you're losing and don't know about. People searching for your trade in your city right now who will never see your name. 3. How to fix it before your competitor does. One contractor went from page 3 to page 1 in six weeks. No ads. We recorded every step. Based on our analysis of 11,500 Google Maps listings across 25 cities and the Google Reviews Benchmark Study 2026 (116,220 observations). Format: live screen-share. First 25 minutes are data walkthrough and live GBP audit. Last 5 minutes cover what it costs to have IMPIOUS do it for you. You can leave before that. --- # Tools: Google Reviews Benchmark Tool Free interactive tool at https://impious.io/tools/benchmark Select your industry (14 options) and US metro (108 options). See: - The top 20 businesses in your market as a visualization - Median review count for the top 3 in your market - Minimum review count to compete (p25) - Median rating and "perfect 5.0" rate - 4 scroll-driven findings showing how proximity dominates ranking, why reviews don't predict rank, why domain authority is inverted, and why organic search and the local pack are separate universes Data source: 116,220 real Google Maps SERP observations from the IMPIOUS Benchmark Study 2026. Aggregated benchmark data is free to download as JSON: https://impious.io/data/benchmark_data.json No signup required. No email gate. No pitch. The data does the selling. --- # FAQ (aggregated) **Q: What is IMPIOUS LLC?** A local SEO research agency that publishes original datasets on Google Maps ranking and runs monthly-billed services for small businesses. **Q: How many Google reviews do I need to rank in the top 3?** Depends on your industry. Restaurants: 830 median. Veterinary: 330. Dental: 277. Plumbing: 112. Electrical: 22. Accounting: 10. Check the benchmark tool for your specific industry and city. **Q: What is the strongest signal for Google Maps local pack ranking?** Proximity. Across 90 queries at 5 km offset, 96% of top-3 results changed. Every other signal tested correlates with rank at ρ ≤ ±0.1. **Q: Does domain authority help local pack ranking?** No. It's inverted. Every vertical tested shows positive ρ between DA and rank number, meaning higher authority associates with worse rank. Insurance shows the strongest inversion (ρ = +0.531). Legal shows the weakest (+0.140). **Q: Do Google Maps and organic search overlap?** Not at the top. Across 954 city-industry pairs, 0% of Maps top-3 also appear in organic top-3. At top-20, overlap reaches 25.2%. About 30.3% of organic top-10 is directory sites. **Q: Do I need to fill out every field on my GBP to rank?** No. GBP completeness correlates with rank at ρ = −0.038. Near zero. Fill it out because customers read it, not because Google counts fields. **Q: Did the March 2026 Google update affect local businesses?** Yes. 27.5% of local pack businesses changed between January and March 2026 across 110 matched comparisons. Plumbing had the highest churn at 30.9%. **Q: Where can I download the benchmark data?** Aggregated JSON: https://impious.io/data/benchmark_data.json March 2026 CSV: https://impious.io/data/march-2026-study.csv Per-vertical dots (20 businesses per MSA): https://impious.io/data/dots_plumbing.json (replace "plumbing" with any vertical key) **Q: Is this a sales pitch?** No. The research is free and CC BY 4.0. The benchmark tool is free with no signup. The live briefing is free. IMPIOUS charges for the monthly services if you hire us — but reading, citing, and using the data costs nothing. --- # Data & License All IMPIOUS benchmark data is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may use, redistribute, remix, and build upon it for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you credit IMPIOUS LLC and link back to impious.io. **Cite as:** DuBois, IMPIOUS LLC, 2026. Google Reviews Benchmark Study 2026. https://impious.io/research/google-reviews-benchmark-2026 **Data formats available:** - `/data/benchmark-2026.csv` — flattened CSV, one row per vertical × MSA (1,512 rows) with per-market medians, national stats, and signal correlations - `/data/benchmark_data.json` — aggregated study data (metadata, verticals, markets, findings, signal correlations) - `/data/dots_{vertical}.json` — per-vertical top-20 businesses by MSA (14 files) - `/data/march-2026-study.csv` — March 2026 core update study, 6,756 unique businesses --- # Contact Email: impy@impious.io Website: https://impious.io GitHub: https://github.com/orgs/IMPIOUS-LLC X: https://x.com/ImpiousLLC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573317020119 For methodology questions, custom analysis for your city or vertical, or media inquiries, email impy@impious.io.