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Google Business Profile Statistics

Published Sep 25, 2026 · Last updated Sep 25, 2026 · 8 min read

Local search runs on numbers — how many people read reviews, how fast they act, and how often a complete profile gets picked over an empty one. This page collects the statistics that matter for Canadian trades. Every row carries the primary source, the date it was published, and who it actually studied. No "studies show" without a link.

How to read these numbers

Every number below carries three labels: the source, the publication date, and the scope. Scope matters most. A US consumer panel is not a Canadian one, and a general shopping study may not describe an electrician's market. We say so instead of pretending the numbers are universal.

This page is refreshed quarterly. If a number cannot be re-verified, it comes off rather than sit here aging. The date at the top reflects the last full check.

The numbers at a glance

Eleven numbers, each with its receipt:

What the review numbers mean for a trade

At 97%, reading reviews is not a niche behaviour — it is the default. The number that should sting is the third row: 31% of consumers now say they will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher. A 4.3-star profile is not "good enough"; it is a filter that removes you before the phone rings.

Volume and freshness matter almost as much as the rating. In the same survey, 47% of consumers said they will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, and 74% look for reviews written in the last three months. A steady trickle beats one heroic month: the profile needs to look alive this quarter, not in 2023.

The flip side is that reviews are a system you can run. 85% of consumers are more likely to use a business after reading positive reviews, and 93% have made a purchase after reading them. And 80% are more likely to use a business that responds to every review. Replying is free, and most competitors do not do it.

If you want the mechanics, our local SEO checklist for Canadian trades covers the review workflow step by step, and the five GBP mistakes we fix most covers the mistakes that suppress reviews in the first place. For the full playbook, see how to get more Google reviews. If you would rather hand it over, that is our Google Business Profile optimization service. For the full setup, see our Google Business Profile guide for trades.

What the search numbers mean

Local search happens on a phone, and it happens fast. Google's data puts the cost of a slow page in plain numbers: 53% of mobile visits are abandoned when a page takes longer than three seconds to load. Someone with a burst pipe is not comparison-shopping for a week: they tap the first few listings and call the one that looks open, reviewed, and easy to reach.

That is the window your profile and your mobile page are judged in. A profile that answers the obvious questions — hours, service area, phone number, photos of real work — removes hesitation before the call. A website that takes five seconds to load adds it back.

Google's documentation keeps the ranking framework simple. Local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and prominence, and businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up. Read the source directly: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.

The Canadian context

Canada is a small-business country: 1.08 million of the country's 1.10 million employer businesses have fewer than 100 employees, and British Columbia alone has 170,512 of them. Most of your competitors are small operations running their profile the way you are — which is why a complete, reviewed profile stands out.

For a one- or two-truck operation, the profile is often the only page a customer reads before calling. The work is unglamorous — categories, hours, photos, replies — but it is the same work whether you are the biggest contractor in town or the newest.

One Canadian rule belongs in every statistics roundup: text messages are commercial electronic messages under Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation. Consent, identification, and a working unsubscribe mechanism are required before you text customers. The CRTC's CASL FAQ is the plain-language source.

Want to know where your own profile stands? The free audit takes about five minutes and shows you what customers see: Get my free GBP audit →

What we left out (and why)

These are the statistics you will see on almost every local SEO page. We could not trace them to a live primary source, so they are not on this page:

• "76% of people who search for something nearby visit a business within a day" — from a 2016 Google study whose original page now redirects elsewhere; no live Google source carries the figure today.
• "70% more location visits for complete profiles" and "7x more clicks" — widely attributed to Google, but no live Google page or study with that number is published.
• "46% of all Google searches have local intent" — repeated everywhere, original source unclear.
• "98% of texts are read within three minutes" — no primary source.

If a vendor or an agency quotes those numbers, ask for the source. If they cannot show you one, treat the claim as marketing.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, published Feb 11, 2026; representative US panel of 1,002 adults via SurveyMonkey. Accessed Sep 23, 2026.
• Google, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help. Accessed Sep 23, 2026.
• Google, Introducing the mobile Speed Scorecard and Impact Calculator, published Feb 26, 2018, citing Google data from March 2016 (global mobile benchmark sample, n=3.7K). Accessed Sep 23, 2026.
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, published 2026 (data as of December 2024). Accessed Sep 23, 2026.
• CRTC, Frequently Asked Questions about Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation. Accessed Sep 23, 2026.