The Most Important Factors Impacting Your Local Search

Rankings In 2013

Chris Heiler

40+ SEO ExpertsParticipants were asked to rank the top 20 factors of a possible 104 overall ranking factors that they believe drive Google's Local Search algorithms. Participants were asked to rank the positive factors based on the following question:

“When Google ranks a business in its Local Search results, I believe this is the ____ overall most important factor in those rankings.”

David Mihm

“Local” vs. “Universal” Search

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations (#11)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)#6: Quantity of structured citations (#5)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)#6: Quantity of structured citations (#5)#7: Domain authority of website (#4)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)#6: Quantity of structured citations (#5)#7: Domain authority of website (#4)#8: Owner-verified Google+ Local page (#12)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)#6: Quantity of structured citations (#5)#7: Domain authority of website (#4)#8: Owner-verified Google+ Local page (#12)#9: City, State in Google+ Local landing page title (#6)

#1: Proper category associations on your Google+ Local page (#2)#2: Physical address in city of search (#1)#3: Consistency of structured citations (#11)#4: Quality/authority of structured citations (#8)#5: Website NAP (name, address, phone) matching Google+ Local page NAP (#10)#6: Quantity of structured citations (#5)#7: Domain authority of website (#4)#8: Owner-verified Google+ Local page (#12)#9: City, State in Google+ Local landing page title (#6)#10: Proximity of address to city centroid (#3)

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)#14: Quantity of citations from locally-relevant domains

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)#14: Quantity of citations from locally-relevant domains#15: Physical location (searcher-to-business distance)

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)#14: Quantity of citations from locally-relevant domains#15: Physical location (searcher-to-business distance)#16: Quantity of citations from industry-relevant domains

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)#14: Quantity of citations from locally-relevant domains#15: Physical location (searcher-to-business distance)#16: Quantity of citations from industry-relevant domains#25: Quality/authority of unstructured citations (newspaper articles, blog posts, etc) Quantity of these citations is #39

Bonus:

#11: Quality/authority of inbound links to domain (#14)#12: Quantity of native Google+ Local reviews (#7)#14: Quantity of citations from locally-relevant domains#15: Physical location (searcher-to-business distance)#16: Quantity of citations from industry-relevant domains#25: Quality/authority of unstructured citations (newspaper articles, blog posts, etc) Quantity of these citations is #39

The impact of social signals is still pretty low. Factors like Facebook shares, +1s, etc begin appearing in the #50s.

1. Claim/update your Google+ Local Page http://www.google.com/places/

2. Get a free listings scan• http://www.landscapeleadership.com/listings-scan• http://www.landscapeleadership.com/worksheet--local-business-directories

3. Ensure consistency between all directories/citations• Name, address, phone, URL, category

4. Encourage reviews from customers (for Google+ specifically)

5. Inbound links from locally-relevant and industry-relevant websites

Next Steps…

Before you go…(800) 681-9169chris.heiler@landscapeleadership.comwww.LandscapeLeadership.com

Local Search Ranking Factors report: http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

Resources:

http://www.landscapeleadership.com/listings-scan

http://www.landscapeleadership.com/worksheet--local-business-directories