The Local Marketing Map · For marketing agencies and consultants
Good at the job, and hard to find.
We checked 25,574 independent businesses on Google and read 3,715 homepages and 33,220 positive reviews, to find where good firms have gaps, who shows signs of paying for attention, and what to say.
Reviews to 30 October 2026 · One report · One-off payment · Instant access
★★★★★A recommendation“Recommended by a friend, I attended a free assessment.”
Dentists
★★★★★A search“Found these great guys on Google”
Removals
★★★★★A listing site“First saw the car online and arranged an appointment to view.”
Used car dealers
★★★★★Its reviews“Found this place on google and went there based upon the reviews.”
Garages & MOT
The headline finding
Plenty of firms are good at the job and hard to find.
3,378 independent firms rated 4.5 or higher have at least two of four gaps: no website of their own, an unclaimed Google listing, under 25 reviews, or under 10 images. In a typical local trade the top tenth of firms hold 49% of all Google reviews. We measure what a customer can see, not search position.
Good firms that are hard to find, by trade
Independent firms rated 4.5 or higher on at least five reviews. The report ranks all 18 trades, with each gap and how much it varies by area.
Few electricians show signs of budget
That share of electricians' homepages carry a Google Ads tag or Meta pixel, against 20% of aesthetics clinics. Need and budget often sit apart.
People still find firms through people
Where a review says how the customer came, that share name a recommendation and 15% name a search. Most reviews do not say, so read this as a guide.
Half the firms share very little
That share of a typical local trade's Google reviews belongs to its bottom half of firms.
In the customer's own words
Customers hand you the copy.
Five star reviews repeat the same phrases trade by trade. The report lists them, ready to test in adverts and on landing pages.
“Glad a friend recommended them , high standards.”Garages & MOT
“The finish looks fantastic and everything was done on time.”Roofers
“The tattoo looks incredible!”Barbers & tattoo
“Found this place on Google”Dentists
Word for word from public Google reviews of independent firms, with businesses and people left out.
What it will not tell you
A report that separates need from budget.
A gap shows a firm could use help. It does not show it can pay. So the report sets gaps beside the only sign of budget we can read: 14% of homepages carry a Google Ads tag or Meta pixel.
What homepages show
3,715 homepages, read once as plain HTML, so tools added by script can be missed. Treat these as minimums.
Inside the report
Eight sections, from the finding to your first line.
- Summary
The headline figures, and what they do not mean.
- The attention gap
How much of a local trade's reviews its leaders hold.
- Trade ranking
All 18 trades, with each listing gap and how much it varies by area.
- Signs of budget
Need against ad tags, with what homepages show by trade.
- How customers found them
What reviews say about recommendations, search, listing sites and social media.
- What to say
The phrases five star reviews use most in each trade, and what each trade credits.
- Where to start
Three trades worked through, each with a first offer and an opening line to adapt.
- Method and limits
Where the figures come from, how the AI was tested, and what the report cannot tell you.
- Get the report
One of the three opening lines
Lead with what their customers already say.
Each trade in the Where to start section comes with a line like this.
An opening line to adapt
“Your customers praise you for turning up on time and leaving the place tidy. Very few people can see that yet. We fix that first.”
Who it is for
- Marketing agencies and freelancers choosing a local niche
- Local SEO and reviews specialists who want a specific first line
- Anyone selling marketing services to local businesses
What it is not
- A list of leads: it names no businesses
- A measure of spend: an ad tag shows setup, not budget
- A figure for all UK businesses: it covers these 18 trades
Full report
The Local Marketing Map
£15
One-off payment · Instant access
Questions
Before you buy.
- Where does the data come from?Google listings for 25,574 independent firms, our own read of 3,715 homepages, and 33,220 positive public Google reviews read by AI. We hold reviews for about a quarter of the listings, the busier ones.
- How accurate is it?Listing gaps and homepage tags are counted directly. AI reads how customers found a firm: 97% precision and 97% recall against a second AI model on 100 reviews. No person has audited the labels.
- Is this all of the UK?No. It covers the local markets collected so far, and Removals, Physio & chiro and Hotels each come from one area. The report shows where each trade's figures come from, so you can judge how far they travel.
- Which trades does it cover?Used car dealers, estate agents, hotels, garages, removals, tyre shops, vets, wedding venues, accountants, dentists, restaurants and pubs, roofers, physios, aesthetics clinics, electricians, barbers and tattoo shops, cafes and driving schools.
- What does it leave out?Search volumes, advertising spend and market sizes in pounds. Solicitors, pharmacies, opticians, care homes and cleaners have no reviews here.