Rob Swan
What Google Shows for Plumbers and HVAC Companies in Hagerstown, Martinsburg and Charles Town
A Rural Ranking Experts listings study. Data collected October 2, 2026, from public Google Places business listings.
When a homeowner searches for a plumber or an HVAC company, who do they actually see? We ran six searches (plumbers and HVAC companies in Hagerstown, Maryland, and Martinsburg and Charles Town, West Virginia) and looked closely at the top 10 businesses Google returned for each. That came to 60 results from 48 different businesses.
This is an observational snapshot of the listings in one collection. It shows what the competitive field looked like on one day. It does not show why any business appears where it does, and nothing in it proves that a particular factor affects rankings.
- 60results across six searches
- 48different businesses after removing repeats
- 83–94%of each search’s reviews held by its three most-reviewed listings
- 45 of 48businesses rated 4.0 stars or higher
Key findings
- The same trade looked very different from town to town. The median plumbing listing returned for Hagerstown had 138 Google reviews, compared with 97 for Martinsburg and 32.5 for Charles Town. HVAC followed the same order: 208, 137.5 and 69.5.
- A Charles Town search returned a Jefferson County field. Only 2 of the 10 plumbing listings returned for Charles Town had a Charles Town address, but all 10 were in Jefferson County.
- A few listings held most of the reviews. In every search, the three most-reviewed listings accounted for roughly 83% to 94% of all the reviews in that search’s results.
- Martinsburg sat at a crossroads. Its results shared businesses with both Charles Town and Hagerstown results, including Maryland-based companies. Hagerstown’s results stayed in Maryland.
- Star ratings were tightly clustered. 45 of the 48 businesses were rated 4.0 or higher, and the median rating was 4.8.
What we studied
- Markets: Hagerstown, MD (Washington County), Martinsburg, WV (Berkeley County) and Charles Town, WV (Jefferson County).
- Trades: plumbers and HVAC companies.
- Searches: “plumber” and “HVAC” for each town, six searches in total.
- Data: public Google Places business-listing data: review count, star rating, address, whether a website, phone number and opening hours were listed, Google business type, and business status.
- Sample: the top 10 results per search, so 60 results and 48 unique businesses.
Some businesses appeared in more than one search. We identified each business by its unique Google Place ID and counted it once in every market, trade and overall total. 11 businesses appeared more than once: 8 were returned in two different markets, and 4 were returned for both the plumber and HVAC searches.
Overall findings
Review histories varied enormously. Across the 48 businesses, review counts ran from single digits to several thousand. The median business had 107.5 reviews, and 4 businesses had more than 1,000 each. Because a handful of very established listings pull the average up, we use medians throughout.
The basics were mostly in place. All 48 listings showed a phone number. 36 of 48 (75%) linked to a website and 45 of 48 listed opening hours. Every listing was marked as operational.
Listings returned near the top tended to have more reviews. Pooling all six searches, the first three results had a median of 349 reviews, compared with 78 for results 4 through 10. That is a tendency in this sample, with clear exceptions, and it does not prove cause and effect. Google says its local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and this study did not measure distance or relevance at all.
- Hagerstown · Plumbers
- Hagerstown · HVAC
- Martinsburg · Plumbers
- Martinsburg · HVAC
- Charles Town · Plumbers
- Charles Town · HVAC
Hagerstown had the highest median in both trades and Charles Town the lowest. Source: Rural Ranking Experts analysis of public Google Places listing data, collected October 2, 2026. Top 10 results per search; observational sample, not a ranking study.
| Search | Median reviews | Listings with a website | Address in searched town | Address in searched county |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hagerstown · Plumbers | 138 | 9 of 10 | 7 of 10 | 9 of 10 |
| Hagerstown · HVAC | 208 | 10 of 10 | 8 of 10 | 10 of 10 |
| Martinsburg · Plumbers | 97 | 7 of 10 | 5 of 10 | 6 of 10 |
| Martinsburg · HVAC | 137.5 | 9 of 10 | 6 of 10 | 6 of 10 |
| Charles Town · Plumbers | 32.5 | 4 of 10 | 2 of 10 | 10 of 10 |
| Charles Town · HVAC | 69.5 | 6 of 10 | 4 of 10 | 9 of 10 |
Hagerstown plumbers
The plumbing listings returned for Hagerstown had a median of 138 reviews, second only to Hagerstown HVAC in this study.
- Concentrated: the three most-reviewed listings held about 91% of all reviews in these 10 results.
- Mostly local addresses: 7 of 10 had a Hagerstown address; 9 of 10 were in Washington County. The rest were in nearby Maryland towns.
- Complete basics: 9 of 10 linked a website and all 10 listed hours.
Hagerstown HVAC companies
Hagerstown HVAC was the most review-heavy field in this sample, with a median of 208 reviews.
- 8 of the 10 listings had 100 or more reviews.
- All 10 linked a website, and all 10 were in Washington County (8 with Hagerstown addresses).
- 3 of the 10 were companies Google also classifies as plumbers. Combined plumbing-and-HVAC companies appeared in both kinds of search.
Martinsburg plumbers
The plumbing listings returned for Martinsburg had a median of 97 reviews.
- The most concentrated field in the study: the three most-reviewed listings held about 94% of all reviews.
- A regional field: 5 of 10 had a Martinsburg address and 6 of 10 were in Berkeley County. Others were in Kearneysville (Jefferson County) and one in Hagerstown, Maryland.
- 7 of 10 linked a website.
Martinsburg HVAC companies
Martinsburg HVAC listings had a median of 137.5 reviews, and 7 of 10 had 100 or more.
- Across the state line: two of the 10 results were Maryland HVAC companies, and two more were in Kearneysville. Only 6 of 10 were in Berkeley County.
- 9 of 10 linked a website.
Charles Town plumbers
This was the thinnest field in the study by review volume, with a median of 32.5 reviews.
- 6 of the 10 listings had fewer than 50 reviews.
- Only 2 of 10 had a Charles Town address. The others were addressed in Kearneysville, Ranson and Harpers Ferry, and every one was in Jefferson County.
- 4 of 10 linked a website, the lowest share in the study.
Charles Town HVAC companies
Charles Town HVAC listings had a median of 69.5 reviews: roughly double the Charles Town plumber median, but the lowest HVAC median of the three towns.
- Spread across the county: 4 of 10 had a Charles Town address; the rest were in Kearneysville, Harpers Ferry and Shenandoah Junction, plus one from Berkeley County. 9 of 10 were in Jefferson County.
- 6 of 10 linked a website.
What the three markets have in common
- A few listings held most of the reviews. In all six searches, the three most-reviewed listings accounted for roughly 83–94% of the reviews in that search.
- Ratings were high almost everywhere. 45 of 48 businesses were rated 4.0 or more. When nearly everyone is rated 4.5 or above, the star rating alone does little to tell listings apart.
- Every listing showed a phone number.
- Results reached beyond the town line. No search returned only businesses addressed in the searched town; between 2 and 8 of every 10 results came from the town itself.
- Hagerstown · Plumbers
- Hagerstown · HVAC
- Martinsburg · Plumbers
- Martinsburg · HVAC
- Charles Town · Plumbers
- Charles Town · HVAC
Across all six searches, the top three listings held roughly four-fifths or more of the reviews. Source: Rural Ranking Experts analysis of public Google Places listing data, collected October 2, 2026. Top 10 results per search; observational sample, not a ranking study.
Where the markets differ
Review depth. Counting each business once per market, the median listing had 190.5 reviews in Hagerstown, 115 in Martinsburg and 42 in Charles Town.
Website presence. 94% of the Hagerstown businesses linked a website, compared with 79% in Martinsburg and 53% in Charles Town.
- Hagerstown · Plumbers
- Hagerstown · HVAC
- Martinsburg · Plumbers
- Martinsburg · HVAC
- Charles Town · Plumbers
- Charles Town · HVAC
Website links were most common in the Hagerstown results and least common in the Charles Town results. Source: Rural Ranking Experts analysis of public Google Places listing data, collected October 2, 2026. Top 10 results per search; observational sample, not a ranking study.
How local a town search was. Hagerstown results were the most town-centred: 13 of 18 businesses had Hagerstown addresses and 17 of 18 were in Washington County. Charles Town results were spread across Jefferson County: 5 of 19 had Charles Town addresses, but 18 of 19 were in the county. Martinsburg results were the most mixed: 10 of 19 had Martinsburg addresses and 11 of 19 were in Berkeley County.
- Hagerstown · Plumbers
- Hagerstown · HVAC
- Martinsburg · Plumbers
- Martinsburg · HVAC
- Charles Town · Plumbers
- Charles Town · HVAC
“Town” means the town name in the listing’s Google address, not official town limits. Source: Rural Ranking Experts analysis of public Google Places listing data, collected October 2, 2026. Top 10 results per search; observational sample, not a ranking study.
Overlap between markets. 8 businesses appeared in two different markets’ results, and every one of those overlaps involved Martinsburg: 5 shared with Charles Town and 3 with Hagerstown. No business appeared in both the Hagerstown and Charles Town results. 3 Maryland-addressed listings appeared in Martinsburg results, while no West Virginia business appeared in Hagerstown results.
| Market | Different businesses | Median reviews | Has a website | Address in the town | Address in the county |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hagerstown, MD | 18 | 190.5 | 94% | 13 of 18 | 17 of 18 |
| Martinsburg, WV | 19 | 115 | 79% | 10 of 19 | 11 of 19 |
| Charles Town, WV | 19 | 42 | 53% | 5 of 19 | 18 of 19 |
Plumbers vs HVAC companies. Counting each business once, HVAC listings had a higher median review count than plumbers (136.5 vs 62.5), and more of them linked a website (85% vs 65%).
| Trade | Different businesses | Median reviews | Median rating | Has a website |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers | 26 | 62.5 | 4.75 | 65% |
| HVAC companies | 26 | 136.5 | 4.8 | 85% |
- Hagerstown · Plumbers median 138
- Hagerstown · HVAC median 208
- Martinsburg · Plumbers median 97
- Martinsburg · HVAC median 137.5
- Charles Town · Plumbers median 32.5
- Charles Town · HVAC median 69.5
The highest and lowest individual listings are intentionally not shown. Source: Rural Ranking Experts analysis of public Google Places listing data, collected October 2, 2026. Top 10 results per search; observational sample, not a ranking study.
What service businesses can take from this
These are practical readings of the patterns, not guarantees. Nothing in this data shows what causes a business to rank.
- Compare yourself with your own town, not a national average. A plumber with 40 reviews would sit above the median of the plumber results we collected for Charles Town, but well below the median for Hagerstown. “Enough reviews” depends on where your customers are searching. Our Google Maps guide for plumbers and guide for HVAC companies go into what to check first.
- Expect to be measured against the county, not just your town. Most plumbing listings returned for Charles Town weren’t addressed in Charles Town, and Martinsburg results included Maryland companies. If you serve several towns, your service area settings and your coverage in each town matter. Our pages on Hagerstown, Martinsburg and Charles Town cover each market.
- Don’t count on your star rating to stand out. When almost everyone is rated 4.5 to 5.0, a high rating is the baseline, not an advantage.
- Make the basics complete. Most listings in every market had a website and hours, but in the smaller markets more of them did not. A complete profile is the easiest gap to close, whatever it does or doesn’t do for rankings. Our Google Business Profile setup guide walks through it.
- Check your results from more than one place. The same searches returned noticeably different competitors in three neighbouring towns. Here’s how to check where you show up in each town you serve.
Methodology and limitations
Collection. On October 2, 2026, at about 10:30 PM Eastern, we ran six searches against public Google Places business-listing data: “plumber” and “HVAC,” each combined with “Hagerstown, MD,” “Martinsburg, WV” and “Charles Town, WV.” Each search returned 10 businesses, giving 60 results. For each business we recorded review count, star rating, address, whether a website, phone number and opening hours were listed, Google business type and business status.
Deduplication. Businesses were identified by Google Place ID. The 60 results represent 48 unique businesses; repeats are counted once in every market, trade and overall total. Figures for an individual search describe all 10 results in that search.
Locations. “Address in the searched town” means the town name in the listing’s Google mailing address, which is not the same as official town limits. Counties were assigned from those town names.
What this study can show: what the top Google local-business listings for these six searches looked like at one point in time, and how those listings compared across three markets and two trades.
What it cannot show:
- It is not a measure of Google Maps rankings. Results vary with the searcher’s location, device, exact wording, personalization and time, and the order in which this data was returned is not necessarily the order a customer sees in Google Maps or the local map pack.
- It does not establish what causes rankings. Where we note that earlier results tended to have more reviews, that is an observed pattern in this sample, not evidence that reviews, websites, addresses or any other measured factor determine rankings.
- The samples are small: 10 results per search and 48 businesses in total, not every plumber or HVAC company in these towns. One unusually large listing can move a single search’s figures noticeably, which is why we report medians.
- It reflects Google’s data at collection time; review counts change daily. Review recency, review quality and owner responses were not analyzed.
Privacy. We report aggregate patterns only. We don’t name, rank or single out any individual business, and the underlying business-level records are not published.
We plan to repeat this study with the same method so changes can be tracked over time.
See where your own listing sits
If you’d like to see how your own Google Business Profile compares with fields like these, the free GBP Visibility Snapshot is a no-cost place to start. No card or sales call required.
Want a closer, town-by-town look at your profile and competitors? The optional $100 Google Maps Visibility Diagnostic goes deeper.