Best of Long Island Lists: Why Your Competitor Shows Up

If you run a business on Long Island, you’ve probably tried it yourself. You search for what you do in your town, like “best [your service] near me” or “best [your service] on Long Island,” scroll past the ads, and there’s your competitor again. They’re in the map results, on best of Long Island lists from websites you’ve never heard of, and maybe in a local magazine’s winners roundup too.

You do good work. Your customers are happy. So why are they on every list and you’re on none?

The short answer is that Google can’t measure who is the best. It looks for signs that other people think a business is worth recommending, and your competitor has more of those signs sitting where Google can find them. Here’s what those signs are, which ones are earned, which ones are bought, and what you can do about it.

What Does Google Show When Someone Searches “Best” Plus Your Service?

Look closely at the results for a search like “best [your service] Long Island” and you’ll usually see three kinds of things.

The map results. A handful of local listings with star ratings and review counts.
List articles. Pages titled something like “The 10 Best [Your Service] Companies in Nassau County,” written by local publications, directories, review sites, or marketing companies.
Review and directory pages. Category pages that rank businesses by rating or by who paid for a featured spot.

Notice that most of those results aren’t the businesses’ own websites. They’re other people’s pages that mention the businesses. That’s the first thing to understand: when someone searches “best,” Google often leans on what the rest of the internet says about you, not what you say about yourself.

Google says this out loud. For local results, one of the main factors is prominence, which Google describes as how well known a business is, based partly on how many websites link to it and how many reviews it has.¹ Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.¹ So the competitor who seems to be everywhere usually got there by being mentioned in a lot of places over a long stretch of time.

Long Island contractor sitting in his work truck, frowning at his phone while searching 'best [your service] long island'

Why Does My Competitor Keep Landing on Best of Long Island Lists?

When we look at the businesses that show up on every “best of” page, they tend to have the same handful of things going for them. None of it is magic. Most of it is just time and effort spent outside their own website.

They get mentioned on other local websites

A sponsor page for a school fundraiser. A chamber of commerce member directory. A “where to eat in Huntington” roundup. Each mention is small, but together they tell Google that real people and organizations in the area know this business exists.

They have a steady stream of reviews

Writers who put together list articles often start by sorting businesses by rating and review count. A business with a few hundred recent, detailed reviews is an easy pick. A business with 14 reviews from three years ago is easy to skip, even if the work is just as good.

They’ve been in the local news

A short story in a community paper about a business’s 25th anniversary or a charity project gives that business something lists love: a credible outside source saying it’s legitimate.

They enter awards and show up at events

Reader’s choice contests, business journal honors, and community awards all create a page with the winner’s name on it. That page often stays online for years.

Sometimes, they paid for it

This is the part most owners suspect, and they’re not wrong. Some lists are pay-to-play. That brings us to the next question.

Are Some of Those “Top 10” Lists Paid For?

Yes, some are. Not all, and often you can’t tell from a quick glance. A few patterns are worth watching for:

The company that published the list ranks itself first.
Words like “sponsored,” “partner,” or “featured” appear near certain entries.
There’s no explanation of how the businesses were picked.
You’ve been emailed an offer to “claim your spot” on the very same list.
The title says “2026,” but the list looks identical to last year’s.

There are rules here. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides say that when there’s a connection between a business and the person or outlet recommending it, such as a payment, and the audience wouldn’t expect it, that connection should be disclosed clearly.² Plenty of paid lists don’t do this well.

Google may also be cooling on certain lists. In February 2026, Search Engine Land reported on research by SEO strategist Lily Ray suggesting that sites leaning heavily on self-promotional “best of” articles, where the publisher ranks itself first, lost significant search visibility after Google’s December 2025 core update.³ Google hadn’t confirmed anything, and the article noted other factors may have played a part.³ Still, a spot you rent on someone else’s list can disappear when that list stops ranking.

That doesn’t mean you should never pay for a listing. It means you should know what you’re buying. Ask whether the placement is labeled as paid, how many people see the page, and whether it links to your website. (This is general marketing guidance, not legal advice. If you’re unsure about a specific arrangement, talk to an attorney.)

What Can a Long Island Business Owner Do About It?

You can’t force your way onto a list, but you can become the kind of business that list writers, reporters, and Google keep running into. Here’s where we’d start.

1. Search like your customers and write down what you find

Search “best [your service] Long Island,” then try it with your town and county. Open every list, article, and directory on the first page. Write down which ones mention your competitors and how each one seems to choose its businesses. That spreadsheet is your target list, and it tells you which gaps matter most in your market.

2. Ask for reviews the right way

Ask every satisfied customer, make it easy with a direct link, and reply to the reviews you get. What you can’t do matters just as much. Google’s Maps policy doesn’t allow businesses to offer discounts or other incentives for reviews, or to ask only happy customers.⁴ The FTC’s rule on consumer reviews, effective October 21, 2024, bans buying fake reviews and paying for reviews that express a particular sentiment.⁵ For the rest of your Google Business Profile and listing basics, our guide on how to improve Google Maps rankings for your Long Island business covers it step by step.

3. Give local reporters a reason to call you

Local newsrooms are short on staff and always need sources. A milestone anniversary, a community project, a big local job, or a useful seasonal tip (“what Long Island homeowners should check after a nor’easter”) can all turn into a story. Send a short, friendly email to the reporter who covers your town or industry. One article can lead to the next.

4. Show up where your community already gathers

Join your chamber of commerce and make sure your member listing is filled out. Sponsor the Little League team or the 5K your customers run in. Join your trade association. These groups put your name on local websites, and those mentions and links are part of what Google calls prominence.¹

5. Go after awards that are earned

Look for honors based on nominations, reader votes, or community impact. Before you enter, ask who picks the winners, whether there’s a fee to enter or to be listed, and what winners get, such as an article, a badge, or an event.

Here’s an example close to home. In 2018, our founder, Fred Pesce, was one of the honorees at the Kings of Long Island awards, an event run by SCNG Events, a division of the Long Island Press’s parent company, which recognized local business leaders for their work in their professions and their communities.⁶ The Long Island Press write-up naming the honorees is still online years later. You can read more about it in our post on Fred Pesce being honored as a King of Long Island. That’s the kind of lasting, local mention that a single ad can’t buy.

Long Island small business owner shaking hands at a local chamber of commerce networking event, with a framed community award on the wall behind them

6. Make your website back it all up

When a list writer or customer lands on your site, they should see the proof right away: reviews, award names and years, press mentions, and photos of real jobs in real Long Island towns. Google’s own guidance on helpful content asks whether a page shows first-hand expertise, the kind that comes from doing the work.⁷ A page full of your own project photos and specifics shows that far better than adjectives do.

The same reputation signals also shape which businesses AI tools mention, which we covered in our post on how to get your business found in ChatGPT.

7. Keep at it

Many lists are refreshed once a year, and reporters remember the people who were helpful last time. The competitor you’re frustrated with probably didn’t land on every list in one season. They kept collecting mentions, reviews, and coverage until they became the obvious pick.

Being Good Isn’t the Same as Being Known

Your competitor isn’t necessarily better than you. They’re better known online, and that’s fixable. Once your business is mentioned, reviewed, and covered in the places Long Island customers and Google already trust, those “best” searches start to look a lot different. If you suspect the problem runs deeper than lists, our post on why so many Long Island businesses are invisible on Google is a good next read.

At Pesce MediaWorks, we help Long Island businesses find out where their competitors are getting mentioned and build a plan to earn that same visibility the honest way, through local SEO and AEO services, content, and reputation-building that holds up over time. Let’s talk about getting your business on the lists your customers are reading. Get a free quote and we’ll take a look at what’s showing up for your service and your town.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my competitor show up when people search “best” plus my service on Long Island?

Often it isn’t their website that’s ranking at all. It’s someone else’s page, like a list article, a directory, or a news story, that happens to mention them.

Click into those results and look at who published them. If most are third-party pages, you’re not competing with your rival’s website so much as with their reputation across the web. That changes the fix. Rewriting your homepage won’t put your name on someone else’s page. Getting reviewed, covered, and listed where those pages pull from will.

How do businesses get onto “best of Long Island” lists on Google?

Usually through one of four doors: an editor or writer finds them, readers vote for them, they’re nominated for an award, or they pay for a featured spot.

Find the lists that matter in your industry and read each one’s “about” or “how we chose” note. If it’s editorial, a polite email to the writer with a few specifics about your business is fair game. If it’s reader-voted, tell your customers the contest is open and check the contest rules first. If it’s paid, ask what you get and whether the placement is labeled before you spend anything.

Are “top 10” lists on Google paid placements?

Some are and many aren’t. The only reliable way to know is to check the page for a disclosure or ask the publisher directly.

Scroll to the bottom of the list and look for words like “sponsored,” “partner,” or “advertising.” Check whether the site sells listing packages. If you’re pitched a spot, ask in writing whether it’s paid, how it will be labeled, and how long it stays up. A list you’re on for free because a writer chose you tends to carry more weight with readers than one you rented.

Should I call my business “the best” on my website to show up for these searches?

You can, but the word by itself won’t move you onto those results. Specific proof does far more than the label.

People searching “best” are looking for evidence, so give it to them: your review count and rating, years in business, the name and year of any award, and real project photos with the towns where you did the work. “Rated 4.9 by 300 customers across Suffolk County” says more than “Long Island’s best” ever could. Google’s helpful content guidance also asks whether page titles avoid exaggerating.⁷ Keep your claims to things you can back up.

Do local “best of” awards help my business show up on Google?

They can, but mostly in an indirect way. The value comes from the winner’s page, the press coverage, and the links that come with it, not from the badge.

After you win, ask the organizer to link your name on their winners page to your website. Add the award, with the year, to your site and your Google Business Profile updates. Send a short note to local reporters, since some will mention local winners. An award that sits in a drawer does nothing for your search visibility. One that’s mentioned in several places online keeps working for years.