There are many local SEO ranking factors. Local SEO helps businesses appear in local search results, like “coffee shops near me.” To rank higher, you need to focus on your Google Business Profile, customer reviews, local keywords, and a mobile-friendly website. This article will explain the important local SEO ranking factors that can help your business get noticed locally.
8 Types of Local SEO Ranking Factors:
Now, let’s look at the main local SEO ranking factors, which are grouped into eight key categories.
1. Google Business Profile:
This group of factors includes everything related to the Google Business Profile (GBP), except for reviews, which we’ll cover separately. If you’re new to Google Business Profiles, check out this detailed tutorial. Three key GBP factors that can affect rankings are:
- Business Title: Including part or all of the search terms in your business name can impact rankings. For example, a business named San Rafael Electric Car Mart may rank higher in the search “electric cars San Rafael” compared to a business called Jim’s Auto Lot.
- Categories: You can choose up to ten categories for your GBP. Selecting relevant categories, like “electric vehicle charging station,” makes it more likely your business will show up in related searches compared to a less relevant category like “gas station.”
- Website URL: Linking your GBP to a strong, authoritative webpage can improve rankings. For instance, linking to a homepage with many backlinks and good authority is better than linking to a low-authority page.
Other GBP features, such as photos, posts, Q&A, bookings, messaging, and hours, might not directly impact rankings but are essential for improving customer engagement and driving sales. Ongoing studies aim to determine if these elements influence rankings, so testing them in your market may help.
2. Citation factors:
Online mentions of a local business’s NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) come in two types: structured and unstructured citations, both of which are important for improving local search rankings.
- Structured citations: These are formal business listings on platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Nextdoor.
- Unstructured citations: These are informal mentions of your business on blogs, news sites, or other non-directory websites.
Google considers both types, but structured citations are thought to have a stronger influence on local rankings. Key factors for citations include:
- Accuracy: Does your contact information match across all platforms and your website?
- Distribution: How many platforms are citing your business?
- Quality: Are the platforms citing your business authoritative and trusted?
- Relevance: Are the platforms relevant to your industry or location?
To explore more, check this tutorial on the local search ecosystem or use the Moz Check Presence tool to analyze your citation health for free.
3. Behavioural Factors:
Behavioral factors refer to how people interact with your online listings and website, and they can influence your local and organic rankings. Key actions that may signal to Google the value of your online presence include:
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): How often people click on your listing or webpage when it appears in search results.
- Dwell Time: How long visitors stay on your page after clicking on it.
- Clicks-to-Call: The number of people using the “call” button on your listing to contact you.
- Clicks-for-Directions: How many users click the “directions” button to find your location?
- Clicks-to-Site: The number of visitors clicking through from your listing to your website.
Google may also consider interactions with features like photos, reviews, posts, Q&A, and menus, as well as user behavior on your website whether visitors explore more pages, stay longer, or leave quickly. While not all these factors directly affect rankings, they are essential for understanding how customers engage with your business online.
4. Link Factors:
Like citations, links are categorized into two types: internal links and inbound links, both of which play a vital role in local and organic SEO rankings.
- Internal Links: These are links within your website that connect one page to another. For example, a page about EV charging rates could link to another page listing the locations of your stations.
- Inbound Links: These are links from other websites pointing to yours. For instance, if a news article mentions your EV charging station and includes a link to your website, that’s an inbound link.
Key factors for links include:
- Domain Authority: Links from high-authority websites provide a bigger ranking boost than those from low-authority sites.
- Page Authority: The strength of the specific page linking to your website matters, not just the site’s overall authority.
- Quantity: The number of inbound links you’ve earned and how many internal links point to specific pages on your site.
- Relevance: Links from sites relevant to your business, like a green energy blog linking to an EV station, are more valuable than links from unrelated sites.
- Diversity: A wide variety of relevant websites linking to you is better than all links coming from just a few platforms.
- Anchor Text: The clickable text of the link matters. Descriptive text like “award-winning EV charging station in San Francisco” is more effective than generic phrases like “click here.”
Both internal and inbound links are essential for boosting your local SEO rankings. To learn more about link-building strategies, check out Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to Link Building, or analyze your link profile for free with Moz Link Explorer.
5. On Page Factors:
On-page factors are key website elements that help improve a business’s visibility in both local and organic search results. These include:
- Domain Authority (DA): A score predicting how likely a website is to rank in search results. Higher DA increases the chances of better rankings.
- Page Authority (PA): Similar to DA, but measures the ranking strength of a specific page. Linking a Google Business Profile to a high-PA page boosts rankings.
- NAP Consistency: Ensure your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) is visible on your website and match your Google Business Profile details.
- Keyword Optimization: Use relevant keywords in your website’s content, tags, and internal links. For example, an EV dealer targeting “electric vehicle prices” should optimize a dedicated page for that search term.
- Content Quality: Publish high-quality, error-free content that is useful and authoritative to rank higher.
- Technical and Security Factors: Make your website mobile-friendly, secure (HTTPS), and accessible across devices. Ensure proper setup of robots.txt, and redirections, and eliminate issues like malware to maintain trustworthiness.
6. Review Factors:
Reviews are customer-written feedback about their experiences with a business, and they significantly impact search rankings. Google considers three types of reviews:
- Google-based Reviews: Reviews and star ratings left directly on your Google Business Profile.
- Third-Party Review Sites: Reviews on platforms like Yelp or professional review sites like Zagat.
- First-Party Reviews on Your Website: Testimonials and reviews published directly on your website.
Several factors influence how reviews impact rankings:
- Recency: Are the reviews recent or outdated? New reviews are more likely to be prioritized.
- Velocity: How often is the business receiving new reviews? Regular fresh reviews can boost visibility.
- Diversity: Are reviews spread across different platforms, or are they concentrated in one place?
- Authority: Reviews from professionals or trusted sources, like Google Local Guides, may carry more weight than those from casual users.
- Format: Are the reviews text-based, or just star ratings? Text reviews are often more impactful.
For more details on how reviews influence SEO, check out this comprehensive tutorial on reputation management.
7. Personalization Factors:
While personalization factors are generally not a major focus for local SEO rankings, one key exception is searcher location. Google’s local results are strongly influenced by where the searcher is located at the time of the search, known as user-to-business proximity or distance.
For example, if you’re searching for an electric vehicle dealer on your phone while standing near a dealership, Google will prioritize results closer to your current location. This behavior is noticeable whether you’re using a mobile phone or desktop.
However, there’s little businesses can do to change how location impacts search results. If your competitor’s dealership is closer to a potential customer’s location, they may have an advantage simply because of proximity.
While you can’t control location-based ranking factors, it’s important to recognize that they play a significant role in local search outcomes.
8. Negative Factors:
While many factors can improve local search rankings, several actions and issues can harm a local business’s visibility. These negative factors include:
Google Business Profile Issues
Violating Google’s guidelines, such as creating listings for ineligible locations or stuffing business titles with keywords, can hurt rankings. Miscategorizing a business or having fake listings that aren’t removed can also negatively affect search visibility.
Review Problems
Violating review guidelines, such as paying for reviews, posting fake reviews, or using review gating programs, can lead to penalties or the removal of reviews. Additionally, reviewing spam by others can hurt a business’s reputation and local ranking.
On-Page Problems
Websites that are hacked, contain malware, lack security, or are poorly optimized can face ranking barriers. Low-quality content and incorrect technical configurations can also hurt local SEO efforts.
Citation Issues
Inaccurate, conflicting, or duplicate citations can negatively impact rankings. A lack of citations on relevant, high-quality platforms can put a business at a disadvantage compared to competitors.
Link Building Problems
Engaging in spammy link-building practices, like buying links or participating in unnatural link exchanges, can lead to penalties and lower rankings. A lack of strong internal linking also weakens a website’s SEO potential.
Behavioral Factors
Inactive Google Business Profiles or low-quality websites lead to poor visitor engagement, which signals to Google that the business is not relevant. This can negatively impact local rankings.
Personalization Problems
Businesses located on the outskirts of a city or beyond mapped city borders may struggle to rank for searchers located in more central or mapped areas, even if they offer the same services.
Local SEO Strategies:
Keyword Research:
Keyword research is essential to target the right search terms that potential customers are using. For local SEO, focus on the following:
- Location-Based Keywords: Incorporate city, state, or regional names into your keywords. For example, “electric vehicle charging station in San Francisco.”
- Industry-Specific Keywords: Use keywords related to your business type or niche, such as “auto repair” or “vegan restaurant.”
- Long-Tail Keywords: These are more specific, lower-volume search phrases that capture more precise customer intent, like “best electric car charging stations near me.”
Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Yelp Suggest, and Google Suggest help find relevant keywords, which can drive targeted traffic and improve local rankings.
On-Page Optimization:
On-site optimization ensures that your website is search-friendly and relevant to local searches. Key on-page factors include:
- Location-Based Keywords: Incorporate these in title tags, meta descriptions, and headings.
- Optimized Content: Include location-specific keywords naturally in the website content, making it more relevant to local queries.
- Schema Markup: Use local business schema to provide search engines with structured data about your business (e.g., name, address, phone number), enhancing your chances of appearing in local search results.
- Mobile Optimization: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as many local searches are done on mobile devices.
- Page Speed: Optimize your website’s loading times to improve user experience and ranking.
By aligning your website’s content with local search behavior and optimizing for relevant keywords, you increase your chances of being visible to potential local customers and boost local SEO rankings.
FAQs:
What are the ranking factors of local SEO?
Local SEO ranking factors include a well-optimized Google Business Profile with accurate NAP details, positive reviews, consistent citations, relevant backlinks, location-based keywords, and mobile optimization. Website performance, user behavior signals like CTR and dwell time, and proximity to the searcher also influence rankings.
What are the ranking factors in SEO?
SEO ranking factors include content quality, keyword optimization, backlinks, website structure, mobile-friendliness, page load speed, user experience, internal linking, domain authority, and technical elements like secure connections (HTTPS) and crawlability. Additionally, social signals, user engagement (CTR, bounce rate), and site authority play crucial roles in determining rankings.
How is local SEO measured?
Local SEO is measured through factors like Google Business Profile visibility, online reviews, local citations, keyword relevance, website optimization (mobile-friendliness, page speed), user engagement, and local backlinks. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Moz help track performance and rankings.
What is a local search ranking?
Local search ranking refers to how a business ranks in search engine results for location-based queries. It determines the visibility of a business in local search results, such as Google Maps or localized organic search results, based on factors like relevance, proximity, and prominence.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, local SEO is essential for businesses looking to attract customers in their area. By optimizing key factors like Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, and on-page content, businesses can improve their visibility in local search results. Focus on location-based keywords, mobile optimization, and user engagement to boost your local rankings and drive more traffic.
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