Selection and search settings
Each original study used three related Google organic queries through our keyword tracker, DataForSEO: Huntington, New York origin; English; desktop/Windows; depth 10 requested. Returned organic counts varied. Qualifying provider-owned results were selected from the named primary query; directories and unrelated locations were excluded.
“First qualifying providers” does not mean positions one, two and three. The individual records preserve actual positions, queries and exclusions. A national franchise and a standalone local company retain their different contexts.
AI-assisted observation, human review
AI agents help organize niche results and flag service, audience and offer patterns. A human checks business fit, page evidence and the interpretation. We examine public HTML and rendered pages, with bounded supporting inventories. Unreviewed pages stay unknown.
Some original result URLs were opaque Google redirects. Where this occurred, business identities and destinations were matched to directly inspected public pages. Exact URL-overlap conclusions remain limited; source records document those limits.
Keep the units separate
A homepage ratio, a ranking-page ratio and a service-page ratio answer different questions. Appliance repair uses six service pages for some findings; pest control has two primary providers. Its supplemental comparison does not increase those denominators.
We have not pooled different definitions into a market-wide percentage. The 17 figure counts primary provider records across the six studies; it is not a common denominator for the individual findings.
What this cannot establish
These are historical snapshots, not live rankings, conversion tests, credential certifications or a representative survey. Shared page features cannot isolate ranking causes from links, proximity, brand prominence, history or other differences.
Use the findings to form a question, inspect your own offer and test a useful change. The research does not justify copying a competitor, claiming their capabilities or multiplying thin service-and-town pages.
