Google now uses neural matching to go beyond the exact words in business name or description. This helps Google to understand conceptually how these might be related to the words searchers use and their intents.

In early November, we began making use of neural matching as part of the process of generating local search results. Neural matching allows us to better understand how words are related to concepts, as explained more here: https://t.co/ShQm7g9CvN

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 2, 2019

In other words, your business listing might be shown for search terms that do not appear in your business name or description.

Google confirmed that this was a global launch covering countries and languages worldwide. The update has fully rolled out:

Neural matching in local search -- which we call the Nov. 2019 Local Search Update -- has now fully rolled out. However, as with web search, results can change as there are smaller updates that happen all the time, as well as content itself that constantly changes.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 2, 2019

Just like regular search results, the new local search results can change over time.

Google says that you don't have to change anything:

The use of neural matching in local search doesn’t require any changes on behalf of businesses. Those looking to succeed should continue to follow the fundamental advice we offer here: https://t.co/tPkyuyMjsP

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 2, 2019

There are some things that you can do. For example, you should have a complete Google My Business profile, you should upload photos and videos, you should verify your locations, keep your hours accurate, and you should respond to reviews.

Google ranks local results based on relevance, distance, and prominence. These factors are combined to help find the best match for a search.

For example, Google algorithms might decide that a business that's farther away from your location is more likely to have what you're looking for than a business that's closer, and therefore rank it higher in local results.

"I decided I’m going to open source the data we used for the 2017 Local SEO Ranking Factors. [...] It’s ~150k rows of data (each row representing a different business listing on Google My Business). [...] I have the forthcoming analysis for the 2019 Local SEO Ranking Factors, which will be going live later this week."

"Evaluators are reminded not to base ratings on personal viewpoints. [...] Evaluators are also told that their ratings 'should not be based on personal opinions, preferences, religious beliefs, or political views.'".

"It might seem obvious: you do not have a good website just because it doesn’t have a manual penalty. Google’s John Mueller confirmed this on Twitter. A webmaster thought that the link profile of his website was good because Google did not penalize his site."

"I chose to remove my Google My Business listing because of my belief that it was hurting my search engine traffic and rankings. Not only did I prove it to myself that that’s the case once, I have now proven it TWICE. I’ve had the GMB listing removed twice, and in both cases it has helped my search engine traffic (and the direct traffic to the site, as well)."