Local Searches done from outside of local area better than searches from within local area

[Nick_Ker]

Here's a strange one:

I am working on a site for a local business and targeting local searches. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Various keyword position tools show the site ranking very well for searches like "Anytown Widget Store".

Doing the same Google search from a browser in Anytown, the site shows up much lower.  So I tried changing the location in Google to other cities, using a variety of browsers and it comes up much higher out of town than in town.

I have seen plenty of geographic discrepancies before, but usually they went the other way - searches from the actual local area did slightly better than the same searches done elsewhere, which would make sense.

Any thoughts on why this would happen?

[Nick_Ker]

I am using results from a variety of "location-neutral" keyword position trackers like Rank Tracker, SEObook, and of course SEOMoz among others, and comparing them to multiple non-logged in browsers on multiple devices that area actually in the Anytown area. The discrepancies between the various trackers are minor and I would attribute those to datacenter differences.

I considered the personalization possibility, but usually that works in the other direction, unless Google is now using a "you already looked at this enough and we are showing you something else to broaden your horizons" calculation.

I used "500 miles" kind of generically. I tried entering all sort of different locations into the Google settings and it seems the closer I got to Anytown, the lower the ranking went.

I am thinking it is something that recently changed in the way Google handles local search. My theory is that within a certain radius of the specified location, the algorithm is a little different.  Once outside of a certain radius, traditional non-localized algorithms kick in so a site optimized for Anytown Widgets might rank a little better than it would when google sees that the searcher is actually in Anytown.  I am going to take a closer look at some other local SEO projects and see if anything similar is happening, then see if I can find some common traits.

Not a huge issue as it is a relatively minor drop for some keywords that aren't high volume. But I am a little obsessive and curious.  I was hoping someone would chime in with some info about a documented change in Google's local search.  I know Places has been evolving a little more lately. Every time I look a my own listing it looks different.

Thanks again.

[Sebes]

Two things come to mind:

a) are you searching in- and outsinde of Anytown with completely different computers from different IPs etc? Personalization could skew your results.

b) I know, that the datacenter you are queriyng plays a role. For example: I have 2 different webbased services tracking keywords for a local service: seomoz and a german based company called keywordmonitor.de. Both have discrepancies for certain "Service in Anytown" results, stemming from the fact that there are 2 different datacenters involved. You said "500 miles away" so this might be the reason.

PM me if you want to talk about it without divulging your client.

BTW, the ultimate seo advice applies: you need more and/or better links

[Nick_Ker]

Thanks for the reply.

I forgot to mention that this particular site ranked higher in the local local searches previously. The out of town searches are about where they all used to be, while the same searches done locally have dropped.  Other keywords - some with "Anytown" and some not specific to locality - have mostly improved when searched locally or from elsewhere.

As for local links, the local link profile is equal to or better than the sites that now rank higher. Regional focus is pretty good too.

The puzzling thing is that searching for "Anytown widgets" from 500 miles away shows great results, while searching the same thing while actually in "Anytown" shows the site much lower.  The only thing I could think of is maybe content-wise it looks like it is from Anytown, so searching from elsewhere it comes up very nicely. When searching from the Anytown area, maybe some sort of local search filtering kicks in and brings other sites into the mix a little more and they may be slightly more locally linked or use "Anytown" in their content more.

I know it is hard to diagnose without knowing the site so thanks. I was hoping for one of those "Google just rolled out a new local search product" answers. A little frustrating because I have an otherwise near 100% success rate for local SEO.  I can't tell a client "Yes I know it looks like you are number 12 for Anytown Widgets, but people on the other side of the country see  you as the #1 seller of widgets in Anytown".

[Sebes]

Assuming that the offered service of this store has a strong regional focus I's say you need more local links (Links google can attribute to Anytown).

Potential sources could be:

• Businesspartners in Anytown
• Customers in Anytown
• If they do charity / support a club -> their pages
• Local portals (i.e. Anytown-news.tld)
• Local exposure in the media
• Local Bloggers

Also check your Google business page, see if the store is in pages like yelp / qype etc. Get local ratings and so on.