Another year, another increase in the complexity of Local search results at Google.
Last year’s survey was released almost simultaneously with the announcement of Google+ Local (which, according to the experts, has affected rankings surprisingly little), and this year’s edition follows close on the heels of widespread reports of Carousel results and the release of the new Google Maps.
Two constants over the course of the past year, however, have been the continued appearance of Localized Organic results and the ever-increasing percentage of searches coming from mobile devices.
Combine all those data points together, and it becomes very clear that there’s no longer a single “Local algorithm” at Google anymore—if, indeed, there ever was one.
So in putting this year’s survey together, I re-examined how best to attack my original goal behind its creation: “to help small business owners confused by Local Search, or those strapped for time, to prioritize their marketing efforts.”
The net result is a format that diverges considerably from previous years, but is one that I hope will be more actionable as we attempt to bring clarity to the ever-murkier waters of a Social-Local-Mobile world.
The Survey
I. General Ranking Factors
In this section, I asked participants to identify the influence of eight thematic clusters of ranking factors across the three primary types of Local results (localized organic, pack/carousel, and maps) for both desktop and mobile searches. In each case, they assigned a percentage of influence to all eight thematic clusters, totaling 100%. Businesses consistently ranked behind their competition in each of these types of results can use this section to prioritize their marketing efforts by theme.
II. Specific Ranking Factors
In part A of this section, I asked the experts to pretend they were working with a brick-and-mortar business just getting started in Local Search. They were asked to rank the top 20 individual ranking factors (out of a total list of 104) that would benefit this client the most.
In part B of this section, I asked them to rank the top 20 factors from the same list, only this time to pretend they were working with a business that already had a solid foundation in Local Search—defined as a good job with 65-75% of the factors from part A.
Results were then tabulated via inverse scoring, where the #1 ranked factor received the most “points” for that question, and the lowest-ranked factor received the fewest points. (The factors ranking outside the top 20 for all respondents ended up with zero points.)
III. Negative Ranking Factors
In this section, I asked the experts to rank 30 negative factors in order of most damaging to most benign.
8 Overall Ranking Factors
Place Page Signals (Categories, Keyword in Business Title, Proximity, etc.) 19.6%
On-page Signals (Presence of NAP, Keywords in Titles, Domain authority, etc.) 18.8 %
External Loc. Signals (IYP/aggregator NAP consistency, Citation Volume, etc.) 16%
Social Signals (Google+ authority, Facebook likes, Twitter followers, etc.) 6.3%
Behavioral/Mob. Signals (Clickthrough rate, Mobile clicks to call, Check-ins, Offers, etc.) 6.1%
Foundational Ranking Factors
1 Proper Category Associations
2 Physical Address in City of Search
3 Consistency of Structured Citations
4 Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
5 HTML NAP Matching Place Page NAP
6 Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
7 Domain Authority of Website
8 Individually Owner-verified Local Plus Page
9 City, State in Places Landing Page Title
10 Proximity of Address to Centroid
11 Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
12 Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text)
13 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title
14 Quantity of Citations from Locally-Relevant Domains
15 Proximity of Physical Location to the Point of Searchn(Searcher-Business Distance)
16 Quantity of Citations from Industry-Relevant Domains
17 Local Area Code on Local Plus Page
18 City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags
19 Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews
20 Page Authority of Places Landing Page URL
21 Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain
22 NAP in hCard / Schema.org
23 Product/Service Keywords in Reviews
24 Product / Service Keyword in Website URL
25 Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)
26 Location Keyword in Business Title
27 Primary category matches a broader category of the search categoryn(e.g. primary category=restaurant & search=pizza)
28 City, State in Places Landing Page H1/H2 Tags
29 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Locally-Relevant Domains
30 Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
31 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain
32 Diversity of third-party sites on which reviews are present
33 Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc)
34 Presence of properly implemented rel=author on website
35 Overall Velocity of Reviews (Native + Third-Party)
36 Geographic Keyword in Website URL
37 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
38 Location Keywords in Reviews
39 Quantity of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)
40 Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
41 Velocity of Native Google Places Reviews
42 GeoTagged Media Associated with Business (e.g. Panoramio, Flickr, YouTube)
43 Association of Photos with Local Plus Page
44 Loadtime of Places Landing Page URL
45 Numerical Percentage of Local Plus Page Completeness
46 Location Keyword in Local Plus Page Description
47 Product / Service Keyword in Local Plus Page Description
48 Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
49 Authority of +1’s on Website
50 Matching, Public WHOIS Information
51 Authority of third-party sites on which reviews are present
52 Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains
53 High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5)
54 Click-Through Rate from Search Results
55 Presence of properly implemented rel=publisher on website
56 Velocity of Shares on Google+
57 Authority of Shares on Google+
58 Velocity of New Inbound Links to Domain
59 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
60 Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
61 Bulk Owner-verified Local Plus Page
62 Marginal Category Associations
63 City, State in Most/All H1/H2 Tags
64 Quantity of Native Google Places Ratings (no text)
65 Authority of Shares/Likes on Facebook
66 Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
67 High Numerical Ratings of Place by Google Users (e.g. 4-5)
68 Number of Shares on Google+
69 Age of Local Plus Page
70 Number of circles in which author is contained
71 Popularity (# of Views) of MyMaps References to Business
72 Number of +1’s on Website
73 Positive Sentiment in Reviews
74 Volume of Testimonials in hReview / Schema.org
75 Velocity of Third-Party Reviews
76 Authority of Followers/Mentions on Twitter
77 Quantity of MyPlaces References to Business
78 Volume of Check-Ins on Popular Services (e.g. Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter)
79 Driving Directions to Business Clicks
80 Number of circles in which Plus page is contained
81 Number of Shares/Likes on Facebook
82 Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
83 Volume of HTML Testimonials
Competitive Difference Makers
1 Quality/Authority of Structured Citations
2 Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain
3 Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc)
4 Consistency of Structured Citations
5 Quantity of Citations from Industry-Relevant Domains
6 Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text)
7 Domain Authority of Website
8 Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)
9 Quantity of Citations from Locally-Relevant Domains
10 Page Authority of Places Landing Page URL
11 Association of Photos with Local Plus Page
12 Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews
13 Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
14 Product/Service Keywords in Reviews
15 Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain
16 Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
17 Overall Velocity of Reviews (Native + Third-Party)
18 Diversity of third-party sites on which reviews are present
19 Click-Through Rate from Search Results
20 Authority of third-party sites on which reviews are present
21 Quantity of Unstructured Citations (Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)
22 Presence of properly implemented rel=author on website
23 Location Keywords in Reviews
24 NAP in hCard / Schema.org
25 Velocity of Native Google Places Reviews
26 Marginal Category Associations
27 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Locally-Relevant Domains
28 GeoTagged Media Associated with Business (e.g. Panoramio, Flickr, YouTube)
29 Local Area Code on Local Plus Page
30 Presence of properly implemented rel=publisher on website
31 Physical Address in City of Search
32 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
33 Positive Sentiment in Reviews
34 Location Keyword in Local Plus Page Description
35 Proper Category Associations
36 City, State in Places Landing Page H1/H2 Tags
37 Age of Local Plus Page
38 Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains
39 Authority of +1’s on Website
40 Product / Service Keyword in Local Plus Page Description
41 Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
42 Primary category matches a broader category of the search categoryn(e.g. primary category=restaurant & search=pizza)
43 High Numerical Ratings of Place by Google Users (e.g. 4-5)
44 Individually Owner-verified Local Plus Page
45 Velocity of New Inbound Links to Domain
46 Number of Shares on Google+
47 High Numerical Ratings by Authority Reviewers (e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Places Reviewers, etc)
48 Location Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
49 Velocity of Third-Party Reviews
50 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title
51 Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain
52 HTML NAP Matching Place Page NAP
53 Number of circles in which author is contained
54 Authority of Shares on Google+
55 Matching, Public WHOIS Information
56 Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
57 Product / Service Keyword in Website URL
58 Quantity of MyPlaces References to Business
59 Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
60 Loadtime of Places Landing Page URL
61 Proximity of Physical Location to the Point of Searchn(Searcher-Business Distance)
62 Quantity of Third-Party Unstructured Reviews
63 Numerical Percentage of Local Plus Page Completeness
64 Quantity of Native Google Places Ratings (no text)
65 Number of +1’s on Website
66 Popularity (# of Views) of MyMaps References to Business
67 High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5)
68 Volume of Testimonials in hReview / Schema.org
69 Authority of Followers/Mentions on Twitter
70 Velocity of New Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
71 Velocity of Shares on Google+
72 Clicks to Call Business
73 Matching Google Account Domain to Places Landing Page Domain
74 Association of Videos with Local Plus Page
75 Volume of Check-Ins on Popular Services (e.g. Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter)
76 Diversity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
77 Authority of Shares/Likes on Facebook
78 City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags
79 Volume of HTML Testimonials
80 City, State in Places Landing Page Title
81 Number of circles in which Plus page is contained
82 Geographic Keyword in Website URL
83 Driving Directions to Business Clicks
84 Proximity of Address to Centroid
85 Location Keyword in Business Title
86 Quantity of Inbound Links to Domain
87 City, State in Most/All H1/H2 Tags
88 Location Keywords in Local Plus Page Custom Attributes
89 Velocity of Shares/Likes on Facebook
90 Bulk Owner-verified Local Plus Page
91 Velocity of authorship circles
92 Number of Shares/Likes on Facebook
93 Quantity of Inbound Links to Places Landing Page URL
94 Velocity of +1’s on Website
95 Author proximity to authority Google+ accounts
96 KML File on Domain Name
97 Inclusion of Offer on Local Plus Page
