What it does

Search a business category in a town or district and Google Maps lists every business there with its star rating, number of reviews, opening hours, photos, price level and website. Google Business Profile is the free listing behind each pin. Our Local directories mirror the same data country by country, which is where the "listed competitors" in a Full Check come from.

Using it to validate a local idea

This is the competition count every local pitch needs and most skip. Draw the realistic travel radius for your customers, count the competitors inside it, and write down review counts: a rough proxy for volume, since perhaps one customer in fifty leaves a review. A market where the top three have hundreds of reviews each has proven demand and strong incumbents; one where nobody has twenty may have no demand at all. Then read the three-star reviews of the leaders. They describe, in the customers' own words, what the market wants fixed, and that sentence is the gap your idea either fills or does not. Check the top three profiles for pricing and services so your price point has a reference.