Have you noticed that a lot of local pack results don’t seem to make sense these days? Almost every time I search Google for a local search term, the pack results leave me wondering, “Why are these businesses ranking?”
For example, take a look at the results I get for “plumbers”:
(Searched in an incognito Chrome browser on PC in Edmonton)
Here’s a quick summary of the basic local ranking factors for the businesses in this local pack:
Notice that:
- None of the businesses have claimed/verified their Google listing.
- None of the businesses have any Google reviews.
- Only one of the businesses even has a website!
Surely, Google, there are more prominent businesses in Edmonton that deserve to rank for this term?
Here’s the data table again with one additional point added: proximity to the searcher.
These business are all so close to me that I could walk to them in about 8 to 15 minutes. Here’s a map of Edmonton with pins for my location and these 3 businesses. Just look at how close they are to my location:
After analyzing dozens of queries that my colleagues and I searched for, I am going to make a bold statement:
"Proximity to searcher is the new #1 ranking factor in local search results today." - Darren Shaw
For most local searches these days, proximity appears to be weighted more than links, website content, citations, and reviews in the local pack rankings. Google doesn’t seem to value the traditional local search ranking factors when determining which businesses to rank in the local pack. The main consideration seems to be: “Which businesses are closest to the searcher?” I have been noticing this trend for at least the last 8 months or so, and it seems to have intensified since the Possum update.
Evidence of proximity-based local rankings
Whitespark has team members that are scattered throughout Edmonton, so four of us ran a series of searches from our home offices to see how the results differ across the city.
Here is a map showing where we are physically located in Edmonton:
On desktop, Google doesn’t actually know exactly where we are. It guesstimates it based on IP, WiFi, and mobile data. You can figure out where Google thinks you’re located by doing the following:
- Open an incognito browser in Chrome.
- Go to maps.google.com.
- Search for a local business in your city.
- Click the “Directions” button.
- Enter “my location” into the top field.
In order to give you directions, Maps will drop a circle on the spot that it thinks you’re located at.
Here’s where Google thinks I am located:
As a team, at approximately the same time of day, all four of us searched the same 9 local queries in incognito browser windows and saved screenshots of our results.
The search terms:
Non-geo-modified terms (keyword):
plumbers
lawyers
coffee shops
Geo-modified terms (keyword + city):
plumbers edmonton
edmonton plumbers
edmonton lawyers
lawyers edmonton
coffee shops edmonton
edmonton coffee shops
Below are the mapped results for 9 local queries that we each searched in incognito browsers. Rather than dumping 24 maps on the page, here they are in a Slideshare that you can click through:
Proximity is the New Top Local Search Ranking Factor from Darren Shaw
As you click through, you'll see that each of us get completely different results, and that these results are generally clustered around our location.
You can also see that proximity impacted non-geo-modified terms (“plumbers”) more than the results for geo-modified terms (“edmonton plumbers”). The differences we’re seeing are likely due to relevancy for the geo-modified term. So for instance, the websites may have more anchor text targeting the term "Edmonton plumbers," or the overall content on the site has more references to Edmonton plumbers.
How does proximity impact local organic results?
Localized organic results are the blue links that list businesses, directories, etc, under the local pack. We’re seeing some very minor differences in the results, but relatively consistent local organic rankings across the city.
Generally, localized organic results are consistent no matter where you're located in a city — which is a strong indication of traditional ranking signals (links, reviews, citations, content, etc) that outweigh proximity when it comes to local organic results.
Here are screenshots of the local organic results:
Proximity is the New Top Local Search Ranking Factor from Darren Shaw
Some observations
- Non geo-modified searches (keyword only) can pull results from neighboring cities. In the new local packs, proximity to searcher is not affected by the city you are in, but by the radius of the searcher. This does not appear to be the same for a geo-modified term — when you add a city to the search. This tells us that the #1 local search ranking factor from the Local Search Ranking Factors survey, “Physical address in city of search,” may no longer be as important as it once was.
- Results sometimes cluster together. Even though there may be businesses closer to the searcher, it seems like Google prefers to show you a group of businesses that are clustered together.
- Google would rather show a smaller pack than a 3-pack when there is a business that’s too far away from the searcher. For example: I only get a 2-pack of nearby businesses here, but I know there are at least 5 other businesses that match this search term:
- Probably obvious, but if there aren’t many businesses in the category, then Google will return a wider set of results from all over the city:
Why is Google doing this?
Why is Google giving so much ranking strength to proximity and reducing the impact of traditional local search ranking factors?
To sell more ads, of course.
I can think of three ways that this will increase ad revenue for Google:
- If it’s harder to get into the organically driven local packs, then businesses will need to pay to get into their fancy new paid local packs.
- Back in the day, there was one local pack per city/keyword combo (example: "edmonton plumbers"). Now there are thousands of local packs across the city. When they create a new pack every mile, they drastically increase their available “inventory” to sell ads on.
- When the results in the 3-pack aren’t giving you what you want, then a click into “more places” will bring up the Local Finder, where Google is already displaying ads:
- (Bonus) And have you noticed that the new local ad packs focus on “nearby”? The local ads and the local pack results are increasingly focused on how close the businesses are to your physical location.
Though I don’t think it’s only for the additional ad revenue. I think they truly believe that returning closer businesses is a better user experience, and they have been working on improving their technology around this for quite some time.
Way back in 2012, Whitespark’s Director of Local Search, Nyagoslav Zhekov, noted in the 2012 Local Search Ranking Factors survey that proximity of business location to the point of the searcher was his top local ranking factor. He says:
“What really matters, is where the searcher is physically located and how close the potentially relevant search results are. This ranking factor is getting further boost by the importance of local-mobile search, where it is undoubtedly #1. For desktop search the factor might not be as important (or not have any significance) if searcher's location and the location for which the search is intended differ.”
It is interesting to note that in today’s results, as we can see in the examples in this post, proximity is now a huge ranking factor on desktop as well. Google has been going “mobile-first” for years, and I’m starting to think that there is no difference in how they process mobile and desktop local results. You just see different results because Google can get a more precise location on mobile.
Furthermore, Bill Slawski just published a post about a recently approved Google patent for determining the quality of locations based on travel time investment. The patent talks about using quality measures like reviews (both user and professional) AND travel time and distance from the searcher (time investment) to rank local businesses in search results.
One excerpt from the patent:
“The present disclosure is directed to methods and apparatus for determining the quality measure of a given location. In some implementations, the quality measure of a given location may be determined based on the time investment a user is willing to make to visit the given location. For example, the time investment for a given location may be based on comparison of one or more actual distance values to reach the given location to one or more anticipated distance values to reach the given location. The actual distance values are indicative of actual time of one or more users to reach the given location and the anticipated distance values are indicative of anticipated time to reach the given location.”
The patent was filed in May 2013, so we can assume that Google may have been experimenting with this and incorporating it into local search for at least the past 3 to 4 years. In the past year, the dial seems to have been cranked up on this factor as Google gets more distance and travel data from Android users and from users of the Google Maps app on other mobile platforms.
These results suck
It seems to me that in most business categories, putting so much emphasis on proximity is a pretty poor way to rank results. I don’t care if a lawyer is close to me. I am looking to hire a lawyer that’s reputable, prominent in my city, and does good work. I’m perfectly happy to drive an extra 20 minutes to go to the office of a good lawyer. I’m also looking for the best pizza in town, not the cardboard they serve at the place down the street. The same applies for every business category I can think of, outside of maybe gas stations, emergency plumbers, or emergency locksmiths.
In my opinion, this emphasis on proximity by Google seriously downgrades the quality of their local results. People are looking for the best businesses, not the closest businesses. If this is the new normal in Google’s local results, I expect that people will start turning to sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Avvo, Angie's List, etc. when searching for businesses. I already have.
So what about local rank tracking?
Most local rank trackers set the location to the city, which is the equivalent of setting it to the centroid. It is very likely that the local pack and local finder results reported in your rank tracker will be different from what the business or client sees when they search. To get more accurate results, you should use a rank tracker that lets you set the location by zip/postal code (hint hint, Whitespark’s Local Rank Tracker).
You should also realize that you’re never going to get local rank tracking reports that perfectly match with what the person sitting in the city sees. There are just too many variables to control for. The precise proximity to the searcher is one thing a rank tracker can’t exactly match, but you’ll also see differences based on device used, browser version, personalization, and even time of day as results can and do change by the hour.
Use your rank tracking reports as a measure of general increases and decreases in local visibility, not as an exact match with what you would see if you were searching from within city.
How does this affect local SEO strategies?
Local SEO is not dead. Far from it. It’s just more competitive now. The reach your business can have in local results is smaller than it used to be, which means you need to step up your local organic and optimization efforts.
- Local search practitioners, if you’re seeing traffic and rankings going down in your local SEO reporting and you need to answer to your clients on this, you’re now armed with more info on how to answer these questions. It’s not you, it’s Google. They have reduced the radius that your business will be shown in the search results, so you’re going to be driving less traffic and leads from local pack results.
- If you want your business to rank in the pack or local finder, you will need to crank up the dial on your optimization efforts.
- Get on those local organic opportunities (content and links). There is less pack real estate for you now, but the localized organic results are still great city-wide opportunities. The local organic results are currently localized to the city, not the searcher location. We can see this in all the terms.
- Look for outliers. Study the businesses that are getting pulled into the local rankings from a far distance from the searcher. What are they doing in terms of content, links, reviews, and mentions that helps them appear in a wider radius than other businesses?
- Diversify your local optimization efforts beyond Google. Make sure you’re on Yelp, BBB, TripAdvisor, Avvo, Angie's List, etc, and that your profiles are claimed, optimized, and enhanced with as much information as possible. Then, make sure you’re driving reviews on THESE sites rather than just Google. If the local pack results are crap, a lot of people will click Yelp’s 10 Best XYZ list, for example. You want to be on that list. The more reviews you get on these sites, the better you will rank in their internal search results, and as people desert Google for local business recommendations because of their low-quality results, you’ll be ready and waiting for them on the other sites.
The tighter radius might mean less local search pie for the more dominant businesses in the city, but don’t despair. This opens up opportunities for more businesses to attract local search business from their local neighborhood, and there is still plenty of business to drive through local search if you step up your game.
Have you also noticed hyper-localized local pack results? I would love to hear about your examples and thoughts in the comments.
Great observations and study!
You're right that these results suck! The closest businesses to my location are not necessarily the best. It makes sense if I'm just looking for the nearest ATM or café or supermarket, appending "near me" (or whatever) to my search query. But when I'm searching generally for just a local service provider in my town, the local pack results don't particularly fill me with as much confidence as before. I want to see the businesses with star ratings and reviews come up first.
Ranking based on proximity is a good idea... but this is just overboard. Proximity has too much weight now.
I'm mentally preparing myself for sponsored local listings.... Everything the past few months has been pointing toward this happening sometime this year. I hope I'm wrong...
Totally agree. How am I supposed to trust this when I'm in a new city. Do I see the best results or just the ones that are closer to me?
Off the top of my head, if I Google "Currency Exchange Places" near the railway station, an airport or some tourist attraction it will probably show me the words option first, because that where shady places with bad rates are usually located.
Will be interesting to see how long it stays this way, I suspect that the proximity weighting will be adjusted. It's certainly a very important ranking signal, and should remain so, but there needs to be a floor, you can't have absolute poor quality results beating the ones that are within a reasonable distance : 5-10km would be my estimate.
Something to think about: If google could evaluate if the searcher regularly travels by CAR or public transport, then expand the 'reasonable' distance. If the searcher regularly walks to their destinations - then fair enough... show closer results. :)
Hey Brendon,
Yes, I think they'll start turning down the dial on this over time. The screenshots in this post were taken in October 2016, and it just took me this long to get the post organized and written.
I'm actually starting to see proximity ease up a little already, with more prominent businesses coming into the pack. For example, back in October I was particularly disturbed to see that Duchess Bake Shop, which is unquestionably Edmonton's most famous bakery (#4 on Buzzfeeds best in the world list), and is only 2.5 miles from my house, did not rank in the local pack. They were ranking #9 in the local finder for me (you can see some data collection here). Now, they are appearing in the #2 spot, so perhaps Google has been tinkering with the dials a bit since I collected the data for this post. Let's hope so.
Hopefully they turn down the dial on "keyword in the GMB business title" as well, as that is a particularly effective spam technique at the moment.
I'm confused by people in the comments saying this is a smart move on Google's part. There are very few scenarios where I would search for a local business and want the closest as opposed to the best.
Like Darren says, it's a smart move FOR Google, because it will increase demand for ads, but it's a terrible move for users. As both a marketer and a frequent personal user of Google to find restaurants and other local businesses, this is a very frustrating move.
I am absolutely with you. But (my post is still under investigation cause of a link) in europe there are still results where some venues are a 10 hour walk away. But I am also confused that Google shows Business without any opening hours, which is a disadvantage for every Business that shows opening hours when closed - nobody will talk on their answering machine cause the lazy Business will receive the call. Google should give more weight on the quality of results and put in more dynamic. In the end - it is all a preparation for showing more AdWords.
Love this article Darren and I couldn't agree more! Proximity to searcher was my #1 pick for the Local Search Ranking Factors survey :)
A little sneak peak into the survey results: it's not just my speculation in this post, you and enough others are seeing this too, and it actually does become the new #1 factor in the survey.
Wow!
Hey Darren - Thanks to you and your team for putting in the work on this! Very interesting. Generally agree that proximity is a very strong factor. On the other hand, in highly competitive SERPs, we still tend to see traditional factors (read links) outweighing. Curious about what's causing difference for us. In fact, anecdotally as I write this, pulled out phone, chrome incognito, attorney search, several closer proximity listings losing to more distant listings. I see Joy's with you, so I suspect maybe I'm in the minority here. Interested to hear what others are finding too.
Hey Gyi,
Maybe it's stronger in Canada? On desktop, in chrome incognito, I just searched for lawyers, attorneys, coffee shops, and electricians, and all the results are super close to me.
Can't wait for those survey results!!!
I did the same search as you, icognito. Top results were .02 miles / 1.1 mile / 1.3 miles - all for "Lawyers" - Proximity is very strong. So much so, as if I were opening up a business, I would look at the population demographic before choosing a location.
Hi Darren,
The patent that you point at that I wrote about may boost businesses in search results based upon people actually seeing those listed in search results and choosing to visit them. If someone searches for "seafood cafe" and sees three listed, and decides to visit the third, even though it might be further away than the other two, that decision to visit the third cafe may boost it in search results. So, places aren't ranked by how long it might take to get to them, but instead by how much time people might be willing to travel to them (the "time invested"). It also tells us that a place that people might be willing to walk to (and spend more time doing so) may be boosted over other places that may be closer, and may take less time to get to, if people do actually visit that place after seeing it in search results.
So yes, distance is important; but if a person is willing to travel further to get to a place, such (user-behavior) decisions could be more important than distance.
Right. Thanks for clarifying that, Bill. The way I wrote this into the article, it sounds as though I'm saying that this patent is specifically about ranking by proximity to searcher, whereas it's about tracking the distance people are willing to travel to get to a place, and factoring that into rankings. For example, if they see a lot of driving directions to a particular bakery in the city from long distances around the city, then it's a positive quality indicator for this particular bakery that people are willing to travel to it. I suppose the one value in mentioning that patent is that it shows that Google has been looking at distance calculations for local search since at least 2013.
@Darren: @Bill: I was very interested to read your comment Darren that you noticed that Google could be "dialing down" proximity from your more recent observations. I haven't sensed that yet...but frankly I don't have a screen shot from months ago with my location noted...so I can't do a comparison over time. You could do that with the examples you used above. It would be interesting indeed if tests show that this aspect does get dialed down. Whoa. That would keep us on our toes...wouldn't it?
As to Bill's comments above and that comment about a google patent on which he wrote: Bingo. It grabbed my attention and he and I engaged a bit about it.
Consider this though: This is a type of metric that almost everyone would have a difficult time measuring. Honestly as a business operator, would I know if x number of my customers searched for me on google, evaluated our offerings, evaluated the offerings of competitors who are both closer and between the customers and us, AND decided to by pass the competitors to purchase our services.
It would be virtually impossible for me to assess that. In fact the ONLY entity that might be able to measure that metric is google itself via measuring precise customer location by the location access on their mobile phones!!!
Imagine: A ranking measure that is impossible for any outside entity to assess and measure (and GAME or manipulate) BECAUSE only Google has the data.
BTW: I've read through a number of patents on local that Bill has published for now over a decade. I've been fortunate to discuss some of these with him, and also try and assess whether they are being implemented and their relative impact on rankings. In many cases we do see the impact of new patents played out in rankings. So I think its valuable to review the messages and points from the patents and they try and ascertain if they are being played out in the rankings.
Back to this post, Darren, and the imminent publication of the study on local rankings. Oh my oh my. Wouldn't it be something if the latest report suggests that proximity is extremely important...and then we find that Google dials down that impact? Oh my. But then again it would simply mirror the way google has altered what is considered important for local rankings as it has so often done over the years.
Hi Darren,
Wonderful research!
Truly with the phrase "it's not you, it's Google" you make my day.
I had been wondering what was going on with a couple of clients and a pro bono, I was really embarrassed due to the drop in local visitors.
As recommended, we will have to focus on reviving the old listings, which we set aside to get those customer comments on Google.
Thanks for the post and the effort.
Great 'experiment' and information. I have thought about it a few times but never tried to know more seriously about this.
For local seo, marketing agencies or local businesses, how can we benefit from this characteristic without opening 20 offices or stores? Because if I'm looking for a seo agency I don't care if they are 500m far from home or 500km.
My theory is that businesses that are weak on relevancy and prominence can only rank in a small radius around their business, while other businesses that are strong on relevance and prominence factors can expand their radius. So, all is not lost.
I agree with you Darren. Thank you very much for sharing this information.
Dude, brilliant work done by all four of you - Darren, Jessie, Nick, Brianna. Congratulations and I really appriciate.
I know it takes so much time and efforts to gather all these information and also the way you have put all these together is just "Awesome".
I guess, Google is doing what a business should do - "Making their customers satisfied and making profit by delivering better service/results". I don't think anybody can beat this now as it all depends on the searchers location, so how could we rank our client for a particular search term? Make sense?
So, either we should run behind only those queries which includes city/location name, even though we will have chance to generate some leads from "organic" results. Seriously, it gonna be tough for we all marketers.
Thank you again Darren for this outstanding peace of work !
Hi Darren,
I really liked this post, trully :)
Some of my clients are very local-focused and, with this change, the market changes a lot, you know, in some cities with really high rent prices, with this type of factors, it's really hard to be competitive, specially for small business, but, you know, every industry the trend is the same: Be good with the big guys, and I think Google it's just doing the same, what do you think about that?
In my tests, it seemed like this emphasis on proximity was a good thing for the little guys. Before, the biggest players in the city dominated the local results everywhere in the city. Now, smaller local businesses are given the chance to rank in the local pack within the smaller radius around their business. Before they got nothing, and now they get a small piece of the pie.
Amazing work, Darren. Great study and great analysis.
You've tapped into something that we've all known, but didn't have any proof of. In the past year we knew that location was important, especially with the rise of "near me" search queries. But seeing these search results side by side was extremely eye opening. Thank you for the different tips on getting a business to show up in the local pack.
I thought it was great to see that organic listings weren't impacted by the location through the city. Obviously these would never fluctuate as much as the local pack, but they are extremely consistent no matter the location. So if you're struggling to get a business placed in the local pack, you can simultaneously create a strategic plan to dominate the organic search results to help improve chances of a clickthrough. This way, you will dominate both the organic AND local pack when you eventually get your business listed in there as well.
Thanks again for taking the time to piece this all together.
I am seeing mixed results - some close - some not so close - Local is such an elusive creature
Hey Andy,
Yes, there's definitely some variation. I'm not saying proximity is the ONLY factor, I'm just saying that proximity's influence over rankings appears to be the strongest factor. When you see some results that are farther away, those are interesting outliers to look closely at. My theory is that businesses that are weak on relevancy and prominence can only rank in a small radius around their business, while other businesses that are strong on relevance and prominence factors can expand their radius.
I actually started doing some more in-depth data collection on distances, but got busy doing other things like the new Local Search Ranking Factors survey, new Local Search Ecosystems, and preparing three presentations for Mozcon Local. :) You can see some preliminary data collection here.
Agree 100% - I'm looking forward to all the cool info you and your team discover - thanks Darren :-)
If you're searching from a location outside of the target city (i.e. searching for hotels in TX from FL) you'll most likely see much different results than someone searching within the target city/area. From our experience "proximity as a ranking factor" only seems to really come into play when the search is for a business/category within the city you're located in/searching from.
It also increases keywords, as the rankings are not the same for 'lawyers' with the option near me, and you are located in boston; vs searching for 'lawyers in boston'.
Which option would be more interesting in your opinion?
Great write-up! Your research matches what we've been seeing for a lot of our local clients. One of the more frustrating cases is our vacation homes rental client in the Outer Banks, NC. All of their traditional local ranking factors are objectively better than the competitors who are outranking them. We've been running in circles trying to diagnose their problem and are now coming to terms with the fact that Google is just screwed up right now. They only show up for their head terms ("outer banks vacation rentals," "vacation rentals outer banks," etc) when you search within the city where they have an office -- and no one who lives in the OBX is going to be searching for a vacation rental home there. Once you leave the proximity, they fall off.
Here's to hoping there are more algorithm adjustments coming sooner rather than later!
A question ... I've told clients there are 3 things that determine the local pack: geography, relevance (includes links & reviews that match up to search phrase) and popularity. Popularity was how popular was your location, i.e it's next to the best bar in town not you were elected Homecoming Queen. Do you think the popularity of your location still matters?
Hi Julie,
Yes, popularity definitely still matters. What I have said in other comments is: "My theory is that businesses that are weak on relevancy and prominence can only rank in a small radius around their business, while other businesses that are strong on relevance and prominence factors can expand their radius.
Mike Blumenthal hypothesizes that the 3-pack is a bit of a mixed bag. One business is ranking because they are close, another because they have strong relevancy (content/reviews), and another because they have strong prominence (links/mentions). Possibly!"
As with all Google, the answer is always possibly!
I'm torn as to whether or not I agree that "these results suck". As mentioned in the other comments, it makes sense for SOME searches. If I'm just looking for the nearest gas station or grocery store, then sure, proximity is the most important factor. However, if I'm looking for a specialized service provider (plumber, artist of some kind, lawyer, etc.) then I want results based on quality, NOT distance.Also, I'm curious to see how this affects businesses that do a majority of their transactions via their website/phone, but are still "local" (framers, sign manufacturers, printers, etc.).
I wonder if it's as simple as adding a prominent "sort by" button in your local pack results box to give users the option (though, we all know eventually Google would just watch behaviors until it could make that decision for us).
Thank you Darren for this excellent blog post. Very informative. Earlier this morning I was doing my own local comparison and wanted to share my results. They seem to be opposite from your research with plumbers. The company I work for has a hotel in Uvalde, TX an hour and a half west of San Antonio. I recently discovered through my keyword data that in we show up for "hotels near Garner State Park" amongst other variations of that phrase. This park is about 23 miles North East of Uvalde in Concan, TX.
I opened up a Chrome private browser and I am based here in Miami, FL. So I search "hotels near Concan TX. Well my map pack shows be 3 hotels in Uvalde. When I click through to the "More Places" link I then see the two paid ads at the top of maps and then other hotels. What was puzzling is in Concan, there are 3 cabin style lodging options. The part that would make sense is if Google doesn't see the cabin lodging as a relative "hotel" option.
Another observation is when you search "hotels near Concan, TX" using Google Maps, on the map portion itself it shows you the 3 lodging options in Concan, and highlights 2 hotels in Uvalde. The rest are hidden from view unless you zoom in on the map. Though in the list on the left of maps shows some of the hotels that are hidden from the map view.
Open to hear others thoughts on my observation compared to Darren's.
Thanks so much for this blog post. You have saved my good 4-5hrs :)
Here is one more factor you should take into your consideration. If any google business listing has exact match keyword in their business listing name then they tend to rank higher in Google local map searches even if they don't have any review or even website.
I believe exact match google business listing name has taken the place of exact match domain to rank. Eew :(
Google is indexing the changes in the business listing names way faster than you may think (pick any google business listing which is more than 3 years old and change the business name to XYZ (business name) - Carpet Cleaning. You will notice that your listing would get listed in google map local listing within 1hr or less (In my case it happened in 30 mins).
*Note - You must have done some link building for the same keyword you are trying to rank your google listing. Also, I am not sure if it will happen for everyone but it happened in my case.
Sadly, this is true. The GMB business title is given way too much weight in the local search algorithm. I remember back in 2007 I used to think "local search is so easy. Just put your keyword in the business name!" It seems that while Google has advanced in many ways, they have gone back to the dark ages on this one.
Darren, I agree with you. I think they need to figure out a better way to rank businesses based on website quality, online reviews and proximity to person searching for the business industry. Its not only Google doing the bad job here yelp is doing same thing.
FYI, my clients are small businesses so Yelp is more important than Google.
Great job, great analysis. Make sense to consider proximity as a top ranking factor (to many business to only three positions).
Local search is very important to small business today, like organic search.
I think this is the type of post that needs to happen to mix things up. Personally when I am on Google I am trying to find something close to my proximity and with good reviews. Now I am used to finding locations close then doing my own due diligence to find the best business, but Google doing this is in some way better serving the user and if they would put an option when searching to query out the results in either proximity or reviews that would make the experience even better.
The other observation was the importance of needing to have the other main citations filled out to ensure the client is appearing there as well (Yelp, TripAdvisor, ect). Good article and interesting changes in the Local SEO atmosphere.
What a great study! Do you know when this change went into affect? I'm going to start searching from all over Sacramento to find out what I see.
I've been noticing the influence of proximity for at least a year, and I think it intensified with the Possum update.
Great post ! thanks! How do you think results are affected if the client is a SAB ? How are their listings determined to be relevant? By the hidden address, by the radius they have submitted, by the zip codes they have submitted? Or are they excluded more often from local searches now?
Hi Shonda,
In my examples, I didn't notice any difference between SABs with hidden addresses and SABs with addresses visible. I don't believe that hiding your address has any negative impact on your rankings. Google still knows the actual address of the business and factors it into the rankings. You might notice that in some of my screenshots the address was hidden, and you might be wondering how I was able to map these businesses. There's a trick to find the actual address.
Great study. I've been noticing the same thing in the last few weeks with a few clients. Do you think that a well optimized local could still out-rank a closer location? PS: Love the 'Why is google doing this? To sell more ads!"
Absolutely, a well optimized local business could outrank a closer location. I see it all the time. My theory is that businesses that are weak on relevancy and prominence can only rank in a small radius around their business, while other businesses that are strong on relevance and prominence factors can expand their radius.
Mike Blumenthal hypothesizes that the 3-pack is a bit of a mixed bag. One business is ranking because they are close, another because they have strong relevancy (content/reviews), and another because they have strong prominence (links/mentions). Possibly!
What an amazing and thorough post! I also agree with the statements made and confirm similar results across our client base. A clients expectation for great Local Pack results must be dealt with head on and work/time investment into building even better organic search results is an absolute must!
I've never been a big fan of "distraction engines" like Yelp, Yell, TripAdvisor etc when they appear high in SERPS - but now we have to re-focus more attention in these areas so as to ensure that clients are not left high and dry when Google makes changes such as these which deliver close results instead of quality results.
thanks for the article, it was a very worthy read!
Thanks for your kind words!
I'd love to see what would happen if Google was able to integrate it's search capabilities into my vehicle's GPS.
Superb article that has mirrored what I have been thinking for quite some time. The once mighty Google (library), has now seen the $$$. (Jealousy of FB maybe?). I've often thought that Google loved road testing certain ventures in the vain hope of getting a response from the public whilst they fine tune their bank accounts.
I wonder how many suckers will full for the new box green ad logo that appears to have no local relevance whatsoever (locally). And then give up with using Google. Couldn't agree more and thank you once again for the article.
Great article..G has so much animosity towards FB regarding local; it's becoming a joke. Stacking shit/paid for ads that are not relevant to local queries signifies that $$$ are more important to G than what they originally set out to do in the first place. Black Hat will now thrive because the "back team/marketing" department at good old G can't even tie their own shoe-laces. A bunch of wealthy nerds who think/know they can manipulate. Over-paid idiots with too mant share opitions.
Great Post - Thanks for the work and insight.
I think Google is really missing the point on local and not being nearly sensitive enough to Categories. You may be at work when you are searching for a plumber but that plumber needs to come to your home. How far you are from that plumber at the moment you search doesn't really matter for that category. It may do for "Coffee Shop" but not most home based services. In that case you are simply looking for the best provider - not the closest.
Hopefully the fact that the results suck will eventually drive users away and Google will adjust.
Hey Darren.
Late to the party on this one but let me start by saying good work on the analysis and research of this. While I dont completely agree that proximity is the #1 ranking factor, I do believe G cranked up the dial on it. I see in your comments, you are thinking G dialed it back a bit from your initial analysis. I'm still seeing links as the strongest factor but it could depend on vertical as well (because SEO's ruin every good trick there is).
An example, scholarship campaigns worked great for lawyers for years...until every lawyer began doing them. Now links from .edu, etc are devalued in legal. There are ways to get scholarship campaigns to work well but it is more difficult than before. Perhaps there are different dials for particular niches that G cranks up....
Just a thought. Thanks for the post.
Hey Brian,
I'm not saying it's the only factor, just that it seems to be the one that's given the most weight in the local algorithm these days. While other factors are definitely still considered, I think you'll be surprised at the lack of links in some results. In that first example in the post, two of the businesses didn't even have websites, and if you don't have a website you don't have any links. In other searches you'll see links, or reviews, or content playing into the results. It's just that overall, in my opinion based off of observation, proximity to searcher seems to be #1 these days.
Hello, thank you for the article! It really works. I have a question. Which indicator has more factor, the business location (its proximity to you) or the local value in Google Maps reviews? It is really important because that could show you up a bad result in local SERPs. Thank you
It could be that Google prioritizes distance for urban areas, since transportation is a bigger obstacle there. Doing a similar set of searches outside Edmonton might be interesting as a comparison.
Great write up on this Darren...very accurate to what we're seeing in the states. We've noticed that in order for Google to get a precise location on a desktop/laptop, the machine has to have a WiFi card (turned on), if not they are primarily using the location of your IP address, which can be highly inaccurate. We have some older desktops in our office without WiFi cards, and Google will locate searches on them in a zip code across town.
Hi Darren
Great article and thanks for bringing this to the attention of others via Moz, it's something similar to what we shared last year when we looked at "lawyers near me" , here's the post we did, https://goo.gl/stp7mi
It seems that Google acts different in Austria (Europe). On the Screen you can see, that there is one company listed in the top results but ist a 10 hour walk away (right). So other signals like Backlinks to the owners page and the rankings of the website for the information, seems to have stronger influence then to be closer.
Link: Google Local SERPS which do act different then the article says - but it's Europe
Great research!
I agree with you that the search results suck. If a company can't even be bothered to have a website and have zero reviews why should they even be considered to get my business? Just because they 1,000 feet from me but I can't look at their site, or read what other people think of them I'm not going to do business with them.
Great Job Team Darren!
I've been noticing and saying for years that Local is changing and not for the better, my point was proven when G removed the right column ads and pushed organics down below the page fold. Yes, this sucks!
That's Super Awesome Post, Darren. You have solved so many queries of mine. Thank you so much. I am looking for more such posts again from you.
I noticed this proximity SERP a lot when I was in London, UK back in November for a couple weeks. Everytime I'd run a search for something I forgot where it was, I'd get a local SERP that was off and Google would ask me if I wanted to add "Near Me" as a suffix to my search term. Local packs are changing even more now that Google wants to add a paid ad in some of them instead of 3 local rankings.
Personally I think there is always scope for good sites those have been building good no. of citations, review, and referrals.
Apart from this, the sites can be a generate the good amount of traffic those have fixed the technical errors, especially user point of view including speed, responsiveness, navigation that includes address, phone no. inquiry form. I know Google wants to show more prominent sites not only local wise but also the site those are good for audiences. Finally Google will show non only nearby sites but also look another aspects that help to real users
Thank you very much for contributing your knowledge !! I'll keep it in mind for my project.