Local Search Marketers Share Ranking Factors

Nearly three dozen local search marketers from around the world have shared their opinions on what matters most this year when it comes to ranking well in Google Maps, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. David Mihm has published the results of the 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors survey. The survey asks local search marketers to […]

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Nearly three dozen local search marketers from around the world have shared their opinions on what matters most this year when it comes to ranking well in Google Maps, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local. David Mihm has published the results of the 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors survey.

The survey asks local search marketers to estimate the positive or negative impact of things like claiming a local business listing, having a keyword in your business name, the value of user-generated content such as Google’s “MyMaps” service, and dozens of other potential factors. The respondents surveyed believe these are the strongest factors that help a local business rank better:

  1. Claiming your business listing
  2. Having your business address in the city being searched
  3. Proper categorizing (of your business listing)
  4. Number of citations from major data providers and Internet yellow pages sites
  5. Off-page / off-listing factors

Perhaps just as valuable as the statistical data is the commentary that goes along with each of the survey results, many of which show the difficulty of trying to deconstruct how local rankings work.

This is the third consecutive year that David Mihm has published the Local Search Rankings Factor survey.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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