Google Local Search
-
I have a customer who is frustrated that Google local search seems to favor businesses that are closer to the center of the city. He wants to be on the local results area on the SERP with his (keyword + city, state).
His website is optimized, Google+ is using the keywords, more reviews than his competition and his MOZ local rating is 88.. It seems the only problem is his business is on the edge of town(same zip code). Google fills the local search area with businesses that are "downtown".
Is there a way to overcome this?
-
Citations are much better than most and maybe equal to a couple of others.
-
Yes...relation to the centroid of the search area is very important still (see the 2013 Local Search Ranking Factor Survey here at moz from David Mihm) as we well know...
And yes, we've had clients with the same issue too. One way that we handled that issue was to open up a "sub-office" for the client via a hot-desk at an Incubator site located across the street from city hall - ie AT the centroid! Took awhile for the updates to resolve...but the move up the Local search results happened...and they (and us too of course) were happy with the results.
Oh - they actually 'do' use the hot-desk - it's staffed by a marketing dept person every day and they 'award' the seat to a diff person each week as a sort of 'bonus'....ie the telecommuting opportunity as a reward. Works, it does!
-
How are his citations, relative to the competition?
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
-
How do I rank for a different business categories on google local?
Hello, How do I appear on the local listings for google in different categories or services that I offer? For instance, we're a physical therapy clinic by trade but we specialize in orthopedics, sports medicine, and lower back pain. Thus, how do I rank on google local for these types of services? Currently, we rank for physical therapy but we also miss out on a big part of our business by not ranking for these listings on local. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Scott
Local Listings | | scottgray06200 -
Local SEO for E-commerce
Hi there I am running an ECommerce site that supplies products globally! We have 2 administrative offices - the UK and Ireland. When setting Google my business, do you suggest setting 2 listings - one for the UK and one for Ireland? Both listings will link to the same E-Commerce homepage but with different phone numbers. Please give me advice=)
Local Listings | | Insightful_Media0 -
Best Tips to Get In the Local Pack
Apart from making sure your business information is 100% accurate, etc., what are your best tips to get a company ranking in the local pack? Do they need to rank well organically to be considered for the local pack or is it solely based on the consistency of their GMB page?
Local Listings | | BlueCorona1 -
Google My Business - duplicate and previous owner uncooperative
Hi there, One of my SEO clients, a summer camp, is having a problem with their GMB listing. They have two listings: the one they set up, with the correct address and other business info, and the one the previous camp owners set up, with an incorrect NAP. When we try to edit the duplicate listing, we're unable to verify that we own it because it's connected to the previous owner's phone number. They've passed away and their sons are now the contact, but they're not interested in helping out. Any suggestions on how to close the duplicate listing without being able to verify that it's your own business? Thanks, Susannah
Local Listings | | SusannahK.Noel0 -
Yahoo Local
Hello, I'm wondering how to add a business to Yahoo Local. I've tried searching for the URL to add it, but keep getting redirected to https://www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/advisor . Has Yahoo outsourced their business listings, or am I just not finding the page I'm looking for? Shauna
Local Listings | | shauna70840 -
How can I rank for keywords Locally?
For this test I am using google's "Ad Preview and Diagnostics" tool in adwords. And I took some screen shots to show you my problem. My company name is PhillyDoors, Inc. and the website is phillydoors.com Keyword: garage door repair.
Local Listings | | phillydoors
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 1 2) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 2 Keyword: garage door repair.
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 3 4) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 4 I have done some link building in the past that is helping me rank number 1 organically. I am also using moz local and my score is 86%. (pic 5) I simply do not understand why I am ranking so well organically but my local rankings are pretty terrible. While the listing "Garage Door Repair Service" is ranking at the top of the list. I understand that it is against Google's policy to name the listing something like this when your company name and website name is completely different. What can I do to rank better locally for more keywords and more cities rather than just a single zip code? hrsZZfF TTFr1rQ aDJSwWV BnyZP BnyZP0 -
Local SEO Benefit
Hi Our company is looking to increase our local SEO footprint and wondering what is the industry average for traffic increase to quantify investment. Can’t really find anything online. I understand this can be very subjective in relation to market size, competition, localization, etc but just trying to get a sense of opportunity if we cross our t’s and dot our i’s, what's the potential? Context: We’re a national brick and mortar with eComm. We’ve already done a lot of leg work in optimizing our NAP but very little citation building/claiming. Please provide resources for stats Thanks for any input. Cheers
Local Listings | | WMCA0 -
Can we use different names in Google places for each location of a business?
I have a client who has several locations for their business. The company and the original location have one name - let's call it "National Clinic". Then, they have a series of urgent care clinics, named with the structure "National Clinic Urgent Care: Main St." and "National Clinic Urgent Care: Central Plaza". The When I'm creating my directory listings, for the urgent care locations, which option would you use for the name? a) National Clinic
Local Listings | | irapasternack
b) National Clinic Urgent Care
c) National Clinic Urgent Care: Main St.0