UK SEO and Internet Marketing Forums
Google Local Ranking Question

Hello Everyone!

Does anyone know what criteria Google uses to rank the Google Local results? Sometimes, it seems like the physical location is a big part of it, but sometimes it seems like location is not the most important factor.

If you are search for "realtor new york city", how does Google decide which one should go first, given the city is huge?

Thanks!

_____________________

Don't think they are.

My business site consisently ranks top of the lists for alot of phrases.

Not sure exactly how but think Google must take inbound links into the equation imo

I think you all most probably have a look here: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

i've spent a bit of time reading into the Google local listing.. i think that i posted a similar thing up here asking the same question!

the google local listing tend to aggregate lots of info together.

One of our clients is a B&B in derbyshire, their Google local listing has reviews pulled in from trip advisor, pics and info from other sites such as laterooms etc.

someone said that it was a really good idea to have the business address and phone number on the homepage somewhere as it helps Google gather information from directory sites

someone else mentioned that its important to keep updating your business listing and fill in as much info as possible - using keywords in the descriptions

Excuse ME sir! Please stop hijacking threads. That means stay on topic or let it be.

Thanks.

Yes, "proximity to centroid" was considered an important factor a few months ago. The consensus now seems to be that Google has compensated for that and it's now less important. Remember that searchers are now getting more familiar with the interface, so rather than searching for "beauty salon in Sheffield" they're now more likely to use things like postcodes or suburb-names. Better to stick with your real local address

Cheers, Jon

i have just read this:

"The <address> tag should NOT be used as describing a postal address, unless it is a part of the contact information."

http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/tag_address.asp

I think google measures the importance of a page through its inbound links and the keywords used to represent these links. Also, think google gives more wait on keyword positioning in a single line and its position in a whole page as while. So in a query like "realtor new york city", "realtor" receives the highest point in a row followed by supporting keywords "new york city". Now, google lookup to its indexed and checked those sites links that as well shows "realtor" as its priority keyword followed by the rest supporting keywords to narrow down the result to the most related pages or links. Based on keyword prominence, a page shows that a keyword or set of keywords are important if it is mostly located near the top of the page section. That is why title tag is somewhat important because it appear near the top of the page and gets read by SE bots first before the content.