Local Search Ranking Factors, Vol. 2
MIHMORANDUM NO. 326 | May 26th, 2009
Earlier today, I published the results of the 2009 Local Search Ranking Factors survey. Some of you may recognize last year’s edition, but particularly with all of the changes at Google Maps in the last 12 months, I felt it was time to re-assess what the world’s top experts in Local SEO felt was most important for ranking well.
This year, we had 27 experts take part, including a handful of gurus from Canada and Europe. The questions remained more-or-less the same as a year ago, as a means of gauging how the algorithm(s) might have changed over the course of the past year. I did include a couple of new ones aimed at trying to tease out a little of what we think we learned from Mike Blumenthal’s study last summer.
Of course, some of the “changes” may just reflect a different (better?) understanding of the Local Search algorithms–which would be a great discussion topic, in my opinion.
I was particularly struck by the following responses this year:
- The power of Distance from Centroid as a ranking factor has diminshed, but many folks are still seeing clear evidence of its importance, despite Carter Maslan’s claims to the contrary last summer. It’s becoming even more important, though, to have a physical location for your business within the city which is being searched.
- The importance of links in the Local search algorithm(s) seems to be on its way down, while the importance of citations, particularly those from major data providers and industry/location-specific directories, was deemed to be increasing in importance. HyperLocal citations (from blogs or other businesses in your area) are becoming more important, too, but not at the same rate. The quality of links seems much more important than quantity, which speaks to the idea of Location Prominence as a central algorithmic factor.
- When it comes to reviews, though, it’s the exact opposite–at least in terms of rankings. Nearly every expert felt that positive customer experiences dramatically increased clickthrough and conversion, but that volume of reviews is what makes the difference in ranking. Ian Lurie’s concept of review “velocity” is an interesting one to consider.
Thanks again to all the experts for participating & I look forward to the upcoming discussion.
David Mihm is a
May 26th, 2009 at 9:21 am
As 1 of 2 participants from Canada, I really enjoyed reading through the compiled stats on the different factors. Thanks again for your tireless work on putting this together in such a professional format.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I’ll have to echo Dev here, except for the part about being from Canada. You have really done a great service to the local search community. It might be a bit overwhelming but I think it would be cool to have a comment section for each factor.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:57 am
No news here, but the search community owes a huge debt of gratitude to you for putting this together. I don’t even want to guess how long it took you to compile everything. Very nice work! Thank again for taking the time to put this togeter.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:17 am
And when I say no news here it does NOT mean that there is now news in the new report :) I mean it’s no news that the search community owes a debt of gratitude for your efforts. Just want to make sure there is no confusion in my comments. Again, great work, David.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Congratulations, David!
I just love the commenting portion of LSRF. It’s like getting to sit at a table with all the folks who are most interested in Local, and getting to hear what they think about each of the factors. For me, that’s the most rewarding part of this survey. So enjoyed participating again this year and I really thank you for all of the excellent hard work, David!
May 26th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
What a great piece of work David, and excellent presentation of the info. @Miriam, you’re right, all the comments are the best part of it. I too, as Canadian #2, am happy to have taken part in it. The coming discussions will be interesting.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
David, great work in providing a valuable resource. I enjoyed it last year, and I enjoy it even more this year seeing that there was a lot of changes. It is obvious that a lot of the community’s feedback is getting to the search engines, and they seem to be listening (to some of it at least). Great stuff!
May 26th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
What a great resource for the small business owner. I agree with @MiriamEllis and @Stever -the comments are my favorite part. They are both fun and interesting to read. Getting the perspectives of people who are deep into local search all in one place is super valuable.
I enjoyed participating in the survey, and appreciate the way you pulled all of this together David!
May 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
What an excellent local search resource! Thanks to all the contributors’ comments and debate. It is interesting to hear other SEO professionals theories and facts of local search best practice.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Definitely a great resource, David. Big kudos to you for putting this together. It will deservedly be recommended to many.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Thanks for putting this all together! In regards to the “review velocity” notion, I completely agree that getting a large number of reviews plays a huge factor in the local listings. Of course, getting my clients to really take action in regards to getting their customers to submit reviews is easier said than done.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hi David,
This was my first time on your blog and like every part of it. Your blog is full of useful information for online marketer who are seriously looking to rank in local search. I liked the way you have compiled the survey and given them number to state their importance that way we can easily remember the factor with high importance. Its great getting to know about you and learn about things you have been doing. Wish you all the best. And keep sharing your experiences with your fans. Thanks a lot!
May 27th, 2009 at 1:02 am
Great work in providing a valuable resource. What a great resource for small business owners.
I enjoyed participating in the survey, and appreciate the way you pulled all of this together.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Thanks for all the comments guys…
Carlos, I assume by participating you mean reading? I just don’t want to confuse people.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:04 am
David:
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to contribute. It is very interesting to see the breadth of commentary. I also believe that contingent on the types of local listings one follows one can see some very different results. I suspect algo’s for Google Maps are a moving target, in part due to the relative youth of the process and in part due to existing problems that have cropt up in Google Maps over the last 2 years. I suspect we will continue to need updates.
Excellent work.
Dave
May 27th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Nice work, it’s a great resource
May 27th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Hi David,
Excellent post! Your blog is a must read for everyone in the local search and SEO space.
Thank you for sharing with the community.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:01 am
I think it is always important to focus on having a well diversified group of links pointing to your website. Whether it is a local or national approach having links from various platforms is key.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Thanks for inviting me to participate again this year, David. This report is a huge contribution to the community!
May 27th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
David:
I just finished reading the survey results in their entirety. Excellent report. Also you included a wide variety of people, some of whom weren’t included last year, some of whom have gained some “fame” as being consistent or famous/infamous commentators with regard to some of the “craziness” with regard to rankings in Google Maps.
First congratulations on putting this together, crunching the numbers and providing the report.
It appears there is a significantly greater level of “agreement” on factors this year as opposed to last year. Is that so in your review? If so, and I sense it, having rereviewed last year’s report….it would seem we have greater levels of experience with regard to Google Maps.
I still think these algos are going to continue to evolve. That would be consistent with how google’s organic algos evolve over time. Assuming that is the case I look forward to next year’s study. :D.
In any case, Job well done.
Dave
May 28th, 2009 at 11:22 am
What makes this such a good resource is that for the 41 questions asked, only 15 or so were in low agreement. This is often an issue with survives of this sort. SEO isn’t absolute, and it involves a ton of gray area because of what will work for one client will not always work for the next.
But, that high of at least a moderate agreement level is a good thing for all the local SEO and those taking away from this survey
May 29th, 2009 at 12:45 am
To David and the whole team,
On behalf of small business everywhere you Guys have done a great job in sorting the Wheat from the Chaff in plain english. Small business can compete and get results against the portals and directories, if they utillise the tools and methods simply.
Cheers, Brendan
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 am
David, I can truly say that the survey has been very informative, for both years. I hope you continue with this survey for years to come so more insight can be gained on local search ranking factors.
Keep up the great work.
June 8th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
thank you so much for this comprehensive, incredibly well-organized assessment. it has been extremely helpful to me in decoding the concept of local search as distinct from “regular” SEO.
June 14th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Fascinating stuff, once again. I found the conclusions on the importance of numbers of reviews for a local business very interesting, as well as the data on proximity and quality of links for local search results. Clearly, things are being fine-tuned compared to last year’s results. Good stuff!
John
June 18th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Great Work on this David! This will truly be set in stone as a guideline for anyone looking to increase their local search rankings. Also we should thank the experts who were involved for their priceless contributions to making this come together will valuable data. I am curious David…do you have any projections on the future of LBLs and where they are heading. Could this be the nail in the coffin of IYP and to a smaller degree…strongly SEO’d sites? I am liking the new dashboard put into place since the release of this data (though I do not see any relevancy to this article) but I am curious….why is it that sooooo many people are “requesting directions to your business” on listings for plumbers, roofers and what not? I cannot see the reasoning behind that therefore I must deduce that Google has categorized anyone who looks at the map and expands it within the listing…has therefore asked for “directions”. Thoughts?
June 19th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Joe,
I do not necessarily see LBLs as a nail in the coffin for smart IYPs — see my advice to them at the end of my most recent SEL column. IYPs still provide tremendous value within Google rankings, and if they transition to a service model where they’re helping SMBs figure out the online world, rather than just selling their own products, I think they can be successful.
Agreed that driving directions seems like a useless stat for some companies. From my experience with service-based clients, EVERYONE calls or emails first to set up an appointment…it’s much more prevalent (and useful) in retail- or hospitality-oriented industries.