What drives the position of the local pack in a google SERP?
-
I have noticed that sometimes search results appear above the local pack, and sometimes the local pack is right at the top. What causes this? is there a way to induce it?
-
HI Mike...
I'd love to discuss with you a couple of my findings, any chance you're on Skype?
-
In general we have found that if a local site has a significantly higher PA or DA and no Local places account it will rank above the Maps.
-
I believe distance from the city center has also become extremely important. It seems this took a back seat for a while, but may have made a comeback.
-
Local ranking factors has a lot in common to regular search ranking factors including quality and quantity of links, content LDA score, and several other metrics.
However, there are lot of other metrics that Google generally looks at to rank a site locally.
-
local place page with correct information ( address, correct category, phone # , map icon)
-
Profiles on local directories ( superpages, citysearch.com, angielists ..)
-
Local citations (links from local directories and sites like chamber of commerce, BBB, local small business groups)
-
reviews (Google and other local websites like Yelp, citysearch, judysbook)
Here is a link to a website that provides extensive research work on local ranking factors.
Here is another links to awesome SMX Seattle 2011 breakaway session on local ranking factors.
-
-
Hmm I'm curious about this too..
One of things I've noticed is that Google more often shows the local pack first when it's a singular search term, like "hair salon miami" and search results first when it's a plural search like "hair salons miami" I've seen this pattern a lot, so I think that might be one of the factors.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Places for Business - multiple accommodation listings
Hi there I have a client who runs a holiday rental accommodation business in Australia. The business model is: a single brand (+ website) with multiple holiday homes (each with their own physical address). So, I have two questions: 1 - She currently has her Google Places for Business configured where there is one 'brand' Places account with an individual listing for each holiday home. How is it best to link the Google Places account to a (yet to be created) Google+ profile? 2 - Google's quality guidelines are a little grey around 'rental accommodation'. She does not run a real estate company but the properties are technically being rented which I fear contravenes Google's quality guidelines for Google Places. Does anybody experience in this area (the competition is doing it left, right and centre). Thanks in advance! Laurie
Image & Video Optimization | | turnbullholdingsltd1 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
Reasons for store not showing up on Google?
Hi my client has a store which is not showing up on Google search results. E.g. if you looked up store name and store location on Google, all the stores in that particular city show up except one. Also even if you click the: More results near CITY, and State the stores listing still doesn't show up. So for some reason Google has excluded the store from Google search. But if you go to Google Maps directly, and type in the same keyword "STORE NAME CITY" the store is displayed and there. Does anyone know any reason why the store has been excluded from Google search results, but is listed successfully on Google Maps.
Image & Video Optimization | | MBASydney0 -
Any tips for optimising for Local Search/Google Places
I have a client that used to come up on Google Places consistently for some very competitive keywords - when they ranked quite low for them through their normal website - places would see them above all the organic results in normally number 2 position - whereas they would rank between 16 - 26 normally We have optimised the site and have 'A' grade keywords for the ones we are interested in google placing for and just recently we are out of it all together, even though we have improved their optimisation for that word with SEO Someone said that their phone number on the website had to match perfectly with google places and so does their address. Is this true? Is there anything else that will help them keep their position in places ? ie. setting up a Google + page etc., Any advise would be appreciated thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | intermingle0 -
Is city name really a no-no in Google+ Local description field?
I know that adding one's city name in the business name and category tags for Google+ Local is a no-no. And Google says so in its quality guidelines. But what about in the business description? I don't see that in Google's guidelines. Can anyone clarify?
Image & Video Optimization | | HammerandHand0 -
Google+ Local/Places isn't displaying my suite #. Should I leave it out of NAP on other directories, too?
HI All, For some reason Google is not displaying the suite # for a client of mine in Google+ / Places. I've entered the suite # in the back-end of Google+ / Places and it shows there when I log in, but the public version of the listing omits it. So the question is, should the NAP in other directories omit it as well? Google knows it exists, but is choosing not to publish it... Thanks! Zack
Image & Video Optimization | | HammerandHand0 -
Google Local Result - wrong decription
A client's description in their Google Places result is incorrect. It looks as though it may have been cached several months ago with incorrect data. Note: By description I am referring to the text that appears directly under the URL and directly above the "places page" link on a results page, not the local listing "description". Any suggestions as to how this can be fixed? All the information on their local page is correct. The website's meta-description is correct. The organic results listing has the correct description. Any tips would be awesome. Thanks,
Image & Video Optimization | | OptioPublishing
Jason0 -
Google Places weblink advice
In your Google Places listing on the website link option should this point to a specific location based page for your business? For example my company have several locations in different towns and cities, at present they all point back to the homepage, but should they point back to a specific location based page on the website as I am sure Google looks at the website link for location based text and it its pointing at the homepage which has generic title and h1 tags etc and does not cover location based text then the Google Places listing ranks lower as it displays the meta title in the places result? This is the only thing I can think of because the listings that appears top 2 have no additional info, no photos, no reviews etc while my listing has a description, images, video etc and the centroid location is nearer to the centre of the city than many of the others so I am at a loss again to work out why Google is ranking this so poorly in Local Search?
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0