What does MyBizGrade check?

We analyze your website speed, SEO tags, Google reviews, social media presence, and accessibility. Each area gets its own score and letter grade.

How is the grade calculated?

Each category is scored from 0 to 100 based on real data from your site. The overall grade is a weighted average across all five categories.

Yes, the full audit and grade are completely free. You can upgrade to a Pro report with copy-paste fixes for $39 if you want help improving.

What's in the Pro report?

You get a priority action plan, copy-paste ready fixes for every issue, time estimates, and a downloadable PDF. It tells you exactly what to change and how.

How long does the audit take?

Most audits finish in under 30 seconds. Complex sites with many pages may take up to a minute.

Do you store my data?

We store your audit results so you can revisit your report. We never sell your data or share it with third parties.

How often should I check my grade?

We recommend running a new audit every month. Your online presence changes as you update your site, get new reviews, and post on social media.

MyBizGrade was built by a small team of developers who wanted to make online presence auditing simple and affordable for small businesses.

Why Your Competitor Ranks Higher on Google (And How to Fix It)

## You Offer a Better Product. So Why Do They Show Up First? You know your business is better. Your service is better. Your customers are happier. But when someone searches Google for what you do, your competitor shows up first. This is one of the most frustrating experiences for a small business owner. And it happens all the time. The good news: Google rankings are not random. Google uses specific signals to decide who ranks where. Once you understand those signals, you fix them one by one until you climb past the competition. Here are the real reasons your competitor ranks higher and the concrete steps to change it. ## Reason 1: They Have More Google Reviews Reviews are one of the strongest local ranking signals. Google treats them as votes of confidence from real customers. Look at your competitor's Google Business Profile. Count their reviews. Compare the number to yours. If they have 80 reviews and you have 12, Google sees their business as more established and trusted. The rating matters too, but volume often has a bigger impact on rankings than a perfect 5.0 score. **How to fix it:** - Ask every satisfied customer for a Google review - Send follow-up emails or texts with a direct link to your Google review page - Create a QR code linking to your review page and display it at checkout - Respond to every review you receive (positive and negative) - Set a goal to add 5 to 10 new reviews per month A consistent review generation system closes this gap faster than any other tactic. ## Reason 2: Their Google Business Profile Is Better Optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization directly affects local rankings. A complete, detailed profile outranks an incomplete one almost every time. Compare your GBP to your competitor's. Check: - **Business categories:** They might have chosen more relevant primary and secondary categories - **Description:** A keyword-rich, detailed description signals relevance to Google - **Photos:** Profiles with 20 or more photos get more clicks and engagement signals - **Posts:** Regular GBP posts show Google the business is active - **Services and products:** Listed items give Google more data to match search queries - **Attributes:** Things like "wheelchair accessible" or "free Wi-Fi" add relevance signals **How to fix it:** - Fill in every single field in your GBP. Leave nothing blank. - Choose the most specific primary category available - Add at least 20 high-quality photos of your business, team, and products - Write a 750-character description using natural keywords - Publish a GBP post every week - List all your services with descriptions and prices ## Reason 3: They Have More and Better Backlinks Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to your site. Google treats each link as a recommendation. The more quality links a site has, the more authority Google assigns it. Your competitor probably has links from local news sites, business directories, chamber of commerce pages, supplier sites, and industry blogs. **How to fix it:** - Join your local chamber of commerce (they link to member websites) - Get listed in online business directories (Yelp, BBB, Yellow Pages, industry-specific ones) - Sponsor local events, sports teams, or charities (they link to sponsors) - Write guest posts for local blogs or industry publications - Ask suppliers and partners to link to your website - Create useful content on your blog worth linking to (guides, data, templates) Building backlinks takes time. Start with the easy wins (directories and partnerships) and add more over the following months. ## Reason 4: Their Website Has Better On-Page SEO On-page SEO means the content and code on your website's pages. Google reads your title tags, meta descriptions, headers, content, and image alt text to understand what each page is about. If your competitor's homepage title says "Best Plumber in Dallas | 24/7 Emergency Plumbing" and yours says "Home | ABC Company," Google has a clear idea what their page covers. Yours is a mystery. **How to fix it:** - Write unique title tags for every page (include your main keyword and location) - Write meta descriptions under 155 characters with a clear value statement - Use one H1 heading per page with your target keyword - Structure content with H2 and H3 headings - Add alt text to every image describing what it shows - Include your city and service keywords naturally in your page content - Create individual pages for each service you offer ## Reason 5: Their Website Is Faster and Mobile-Friendly Google measures page speed and mobile usability. A slow, clunky website loses rankings to a fast, clean one. Test both websites at pagespeed.web.dev. Compare the scores. If your competitor scores 85 on performance and you score 45, this is a ranking factor working against you. **How to fix it:** - Compress all images (use tools like TinyPNG or ShortPixel) - Enable browser caching - Remove unused plugins and scripts - Use a content delivery network (CDN) - Switch to a faster hosting provider if needed - Test your site on a phone and fix anything broken or hard to use ## Reason 6: They Have More Consistent NAP Citations NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone number. Google checks whether your business information is consistent across the internet. Mismatched data creates confusion and hurts your rankings. If your business is listed as "Smith Plumbing" on Google, "Smith's Plumbing LLC" on Yelp, and "Smith Plumbing Services" on Yellow Pages, Google is unsure these are the same business. Your competitor likely has the exact same name, address, and phone number on every listing. **How to fix it:** - Pick one exact version of your business name, address, and phone number - Update every online listing to match exactly (include suite numbers, abbreviations, everything) - Check Google, Yelp, Facebook, BBB, Yellow Pages, Apple Maps, and any industry directories - Use a tool like GradeMyBiz to identify NAP inconsistencies ## Reason 7: Their Website Has More and Better Content Content gives Google more pages to index and more opportunities to match search queries. A website with 5 pages competes with fewer keywords than one with 50 pages. Check if your competitor has: - A blog with regular posts - Detailed service pages for each offering - Location pages for areas they serve - FAQ pages answering common customer questions - Case studies or project galleries **How to fix it:** - Create a dedicated page for every service or product you offer - Start a blog targeting questions your customers ask - Add an FAQ section to your main pages - Write location-specific content if you serve multiple areas - Publish at least 2 new pieces of content per month ## Reason 8: They Have Been Online Longer Domain age and online history give older businesses a slight edge. A website active for 10 years carries more trust than one launched last month. You cannot change this. But you should know it explains part of the gap. The other 7 factors above matter much more and are within your control. ## The 30-Day Action Plan to Close the Gap You don't need to fix everything at once. Follow this order for maximum impact: **Week 1:** Optimize your Google Business Profile completely. Fill every field. Add photos. Write your description. **Week 2:** Start a review generation campaign. Ask your 10 most recent happy customers for a Google review. **Week 3:** Fix on-page SEO on your top 5 most important website pages. Update title tags, meta descriptions, and headers. **Week 4:** Get listed on 10 business directories with consistent NAP information. **Ongoing:** Publish 2 pieces of content per month. Ask for reviews every week. Post on GBP weekly. Build one new backlink per month. Consistency beats intensity. Small weekly improvements compound into significant ranking gains over 3 to 6 months. ## For more on this topic, read [Restaurant Online Presence: Why Reviews Are Your #1 Marketing Tool](/blog/restaurant-online-presence-reviews). For more on this topic, read [Law Firm Website Best Practices: What Clients Look For](/blog/law-firm-website-best-practices).See Where You Stand Right Now The first step to outranking a competitor is knowing exactly where you fall behind. A vague sense of "they are doing better" does not help. You need specific scores. GradeMyBiz analyzes your website, Google Business Profile, reviews, social media, and listings in seconds. Get your free grade at [https://grademybiz.vercel.app](https://grademybiz.vercel.app) and see the specific areas where your competitor has the advantage. Once you know the score, you know the plan. And closing the gap gets a lot simpler.