Local map pack ranking with just reviews?

[lokko]

I have a friend who has a local business that does no off page seo on his site. Just has BBB.org, and a few other related backlinks, but maximum 5 links. Maybe has 1-3 citations at max. His top performing keyword has a traffic volume of 600, which he ranks 5th place for.

He has about 170 google reviews (all legit) and when I check his local map pack positions, he's #1 for most of the important keywords. How is this possible? All he gots is reviews to back him up.

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[davids355]

I think google takes reviews pretty seriously for local terms.

 

[Nicol williams]

I think he optimized the google business page in pretty well manner as it is one of the important factors in local pack ranking. Reviews are also important important factor in ranking

 

[lokko]

I think he optimized the google business page in pretty well manner as it is one of the important factors in local pack ranking. Reviews are also important important factor in ranking

He doesn’t know jackshit about optimizing his google my business page.