Searching for a salon in Malay or Thai can show a different top 3 than the English search. In Reach’s 7 October 2026 benchmark, Kuala Lumpur’s Malay query kept 1 of the 3 English top-3 salons, and Bangkok’s Thai query also kept 1 of 3. Jakarta kept all 3.
Distance, review and photo medians for every city are on the salon benchmark hub. This page covers only the language finding and what to do with it.
How much did the language change the results?
We searched Google Maps for “salon” from the centre of each of 11 cities, then repeated it with a local-language phrase in the three cities where we tried one. For each, we counted how many of the English top 3 were still in the top 3.
| City | Local-language query | English top 3 kept |
|---|---|---|
| Kuala Lumpur | Local-language querysalun rambut | English top 3 kept1 of 3 |
| Bangkok | Local-language queryร้านทำผม | English top 3 kept1 of 3 |
| Jakarta | Local-language querysalon | English top 3 kept3 of 3 |
Jakarta is a control rather than a contrast: Indonesian spells the word the same way, so the local query was the English query and the same three salons came back. The two real tests both lost two of three.
English alone moves the results too. Searching “hair salon” instead of “salon” kept all 3 in Delhi, 2 of 3 in eight cities, and 1 of 3 in Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur. One extra word changed the top 3 in 10 of 11 cities.
Why does this matter to a salon owner?
A customer in Kuala Lumpur who types “salun rambut” is shown a different shortlist from one who types “salon”. A salon can hold a top-3 spot for one phrase and be invisible for the other, and you will not see it if you only ever search in the language you write in.
The same goes for services. “Bridal makeup”, “rebonding” or “nail art” each pull their own results, and customers search them in whichever language they use at home.
How do I check my own salon?
- Write down five phrases a customer might type: your main service in English, the same in the local language, and one or two specific services.
- On a phone, search each phrase in Google Maps while standing at or near the salon. Note which three salons come first and whether you are among them.
- For every phrase where you are missing, open the top three and compare the category, the Services list and the wording of the description with yours. Add what is true for your salon; use the category guide to pick categories and the description guide for the text.
- Repeat the same searches from the same spot after your edits, and keep the table so you can compare. The rank tracking guide shows how to do it with a grid.
Worked example: a Kuala Lumpur hair salon
Illustrative: a hair salon in Kuala Lumpur checks its phrases
The salon ranks 2nd for “salon” and assumes it is doing fine. It then searches “salun rambut” and finds three other salons in the top 3, two of which describe their services in Malay.
It adds its Malay service names (potong rambut, warna rambut, rawatan rambut) to the Services list and a Malay sentence to the description, and sets Hair salon as the primary category. A week later it repeats both searches from the same corner and records the result next to the old one.
The point is the habit, not a guaranteed result: Google decides the ranking, but the salon now knows which phrases it is and is not visible for.
What else did the salon benchmark find?
Top-3 salons were closer to the search point (median 0.20 km, against 0.63 km for ranks 4 to 20), and 65% of the salons we counted had no additional category. The full tables, with review, photo and reply figures, are on the salon hub.
We searched from one point per city on one day, so rankings will differ with the searcher’s location. The methodology page lists the exclusions.
See what your profile is missing
The free GMB audit tool reads your public salon listing and lists missing categories, services and details to compare against the competitors you found.