1.
Local Search Ranking
Factors
41 Signals & Ranking Factors
for Local Search
(Yes, TL;DR Blog Post)
Presented by Bruce Clay

2.
• Google is in the business of making money
• Google does not care if WE rank (or not)
• Google cares only that there is a quality site that answers the query
to the total satisfaction of the searcher first time every time
• And that every searcher clicks on an ad
Google Local

3.
1. Branding – Attract traffic and mentions – be trusted as a reference.
2. Domain Names – Properly represent your brand and business without
spam or looking fake – avoid EMD penalty.
3. Optimal Landing Page – Proper information always helps.
Housekeeping Signals

4.
4. Hosting (*) – Speed, availability, maintained software, AMP/PWAs
5. CMS
• WordPress is 72% of all recent installs and 10x closest rival
• Plugins matter (1,864 plugins for “local”)
• SEO plugins are for SEOs, not content authors or editors
6. Compatibility – Mobile first, browsers, voice search (!!!)
7. @Domain – Use your domain as the email address (not @gmail).
Housekeeping Signals

5.
8. Keywords & Content Gap Analysis – Know your KPI keywords, ROI
keywords, CPC keywords, and persona/community keywords, then
match them to your competition and your own content and expand.
9. Detailed Competitive Review – What is your competition doing in every
area of this presentation? Then do it better (least imperfect).
10. Content Creation – Siloing / Themes / Hierarchy - content that informs,
educates or entertains readers will improve your engagement
Keywords & Content Signals

6.
11. Testimonials – Need them, earn them, add them, localize them, and
identify the author when possible.
12. Content Creation Strategies – Attract local expert links, be the expert
and authority, tell local stories, and express your opinion.
13. Create Local Videos – Build as additional Landing Pages to attract links
and mentions.
Keywords & Content Signals

7.
14. Local keyword optimization - Include local keywords (name of your
city, state, or region) to solidify Google’s understanding of your location
and help you rank for local keyword queries.
15. Schema - According to Searchmetrics, pages with schema markup rank
an average of four positions higher in search results.
• https://www.schemaapp.com/
• https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool
• And Gary emphasized schema this morning as important for local
Keywords & Content Signals

8.
16. Schema NAP+W
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">
<p itemprop="name">Bruce Clay, Inc.</p>
<p itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<p itemprop="streetAddress">2245 1st street, Suite 101</p>
<p itemprop="addressLocality">Simi Valley </p>,
<p itemprop="addressRegion">CA</p>
<p itemprop="postalCode">93065</p.
<p itemprop="telephone">1-805-517-1900</p>
<meta itemprop="latitude" content="34.2694 N" />
<meta itemprop="longitude" content="118.7815 W" />
</div>
<a href="https://www.bruceclay.com" itemprop="url">bruceclay.com</a>
Keywords & Content Signals

9.
17. HAWK Update – Places as well as organic ranking (August 2017)
have removed “same address” filtering.
18. Add a Google Map to your
Contact Page/Footer
Keywords & Content Signals

10.
19. Long-tail rankings - Use locally relevant content to rank higher in
searches around the Local Pack. Examples would include posts like “The
5 Best Restaurants in Las Vegas”.
20. Local relevance - Use locally-focused content to improve your
reputation, reach and reviews in your region.
21. Information in the Local Pack – Proper addressing, NAP+W data
accuracy, and proximity to the searcher matters.
Keywords & Content Signals

11.
22. Technical On-page SEO (*) – Comprehensive. Critical. Same as non-local
organic SEO.
A. City in Title
B. Schema and others
C. Do not stuff
D. Reading level & complexity
On-Page Signals

12.
23. Local Link Building (*) – You cannot rank in the city without city links.
Unique IP’s, unique domains, unique whois but for your local area.
Citation and trust flow is important (Penguin carryover). Quality content
and readability scores.
• Inbound anchor text
• Linking domain is a local authority
• Linking domain quality
Linking Signals

13.
24. Social & Site Citations (mentions) – A mention, even if nofollowed,
shows engagement and interest in your business – and in turn that
interest influences rankings.
• https://www.georanker.com/
Linking Signals

14.
25. External Links – To local expert resources to establish your community
connection. Direct to pages, not always articles.
26. Local Directories – Sometimes geo-targeted directories for services.
27. Competitor Backlinks – If a link to the competition then get a link to
you (earn it).
Linking Signals

15.
28. NAP+W consistency (*) - Name, Address, Phone Number, Website
• http://www.yext.com/ (free test)
Local Pack Signals

16.
29. Google My Business (GMB) Optimization (*) for service areas and
physical businesses
• Encourage reviews – should be frequent
• Google posts – 7 days, images or < 300 words, call to action
• https://posts.withgoogle.com/us
• Profile views and usage – Important
• Complete information
• Use a business address that matches your website schemas and NAP+W
directories
Local Pack Signals

17.
29. Google My Business (GMB) Complete Information
• Add a unique description - long, formatted correctly and includes domain website
links (400+ words)
• Add your open business hours
• Select the best categories for your business
• Add as many photos as possible plus a single high-resolution profile cover image
• Use a local phone number (not toll free number)
• http://blumenthals.com/Google_LBC_Categories
Local Pack Signals

18.
30. Add your site to Google Maps - Used on Contact Us page, plus
navigation systems
31. Better Business Bureau (BBB) – Make sure you are listed, manage your
ratings, display on website, make sure that there is a proper matching
NAP+W in use.
32. Local business listings - Your business is included in Yelp, Thomson
Local, Angie’s List, Yellow Pages, Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon, Open Table,
Merchant Circle, Foursquare, non-profits, etc.
Local Pack Signals

19.
33. Citation Building (mention) & Reviews
• Absolute happiness vs. absolute misery (Reputation Management)
• Review quantity and sentiment
• Review sites include: Facebook Ratings & Reviews, Google My Business, Yahoo!
Small Business, Yelp, Bing Places for Business, DMCA, local chambers, etc.
• Citation and Mention sites – Reddit, WSJ, etc.
• Add a page to your website with instructions on how to provide reviews and
feedback
Local Pack Signals

20.
• Citation Building (mention) & Reviews
• https://www.freereviewmonitoring.com/
• https://www.getfivestars.com/
• https://whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/
• https://moz.com/learn/local/citations-by-city
• https://moz.com/learn/local/citations-by-category
Local Pack Signals

21.
34. Location pages - Create a page on your website that is dedicated to
each location – do not “stuff” locations everywhere.
• Services then City
• Laundry lists and wild card content is your enemy
35. Press Release – Tell others that you exist.
Local Pack Signals

22.
36. Social (*) – Mentions and Content Marketing – Top-of-Mind recall
• Google engagement
• Facebook/LinkedIn engagement
• Twitter engagement
• YouTube channel
• Pinterest
• Profile pages matter!
• Social signal – when shared or liked
Social Signals

23.
37. Touch your followers – Help them stay in the know, clippings, alerts
38. Become the local expert / teacher (*) – Local expertise, authority and
trust
39. Offer local discounts - $300 off if a member of…, or accept AAA
discounts, etc.
Social Signals

24.
40. Online and Offline Conversion Tracking / Analytics – get it right since
not counting progress is a failure
• Click-through rate
• Bounce rate
• Mobile clicks to call
• Appointments
• Online sales
Success Signals

25.
41. Ranking in the Local Pack – 5 keywords but test more for rankings
• Manual viewing – “near me” exercises
• https://authoritylabs.com/
Success Signals

26.
• Google is now certifying and guaranteeing services at
the top of the page (Pinkerton criminal investigations)
Risk: Google Home Services

27.
• NOT Local Pack
Risk: Google Home Services

28.
1. Google Home Services/Shopping
2. PPC Ads
3. Local Pack
4. Organic Rankings
So we are not just fighting for rankings,
even PPC is not assured
So the display order is…

29.
• 78% of local mobile searches result in offline purchases
• 76% of local searches result in a phone call
• 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more
• 50% of local smartphone searches led to a store visit < 1 day
• 50% of local mobile searchers look for business information like a local address
• 33% of mobile searches occur just before a store visit
• 18% of local mobile searches resulted in a sale < 1 day
• 11% of users think HTML is a Sexually Transmitted Disease
Statistics

30.
www.bruceclay.com/blog/
Bruce Clay, Inc.
California, Japan, Switzerland, India and UAE
1-805-517-1900
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