2013 Results of Local Search Ranking Factors Survey Revealed
The results of the yearly survey conducted by Moz for Local Search Ranking Factors have been revealed. The results summary shows around 4 major factors and 4 minor factors that influence overall local search rankings and are mentioned below.
Major factors include…
- Place Page Signals – These include Keywords in business titles, categories, proximity, etc.
- External Loc. Signals – These include citation volume, IYP/aggregator NAP consistency, etc.
- On Page Signals – These include keywords in titles, presence of NAP, domain authority, etc.
- Link Signals – These include linking domain authority and quantity, inbound anchor text, etc.
Minor factors include…
- Review Signals – These include review velocity, quantity, and diversity, etc.
- Social Signals – These include Facebook likes, Google+ authority, Twitter followers, etc.
- Behavior/Mobile Signals – These include mobile clicks to call, clickthrough rate, check-ins, offers, etc.
- and finally, Personalization.
The survey results indicate that Google does not have a sole algorithm for local anymore. The new signal of Personalization was added in this year’s survey since it should be considered as a bigger factor for mobile results.
Compared to earlier results, the results for 2013 too seem to reveal similar factors. These include searching of physical address in cities, right category associations, citations from trusted and relevant sources that command high authority, displaying clear NAP information on your site, location being same as keyword in your headlines and title tags, good reviews of your site on Google and other sites, and inbound links of high quality.
The survey also revealed that Google seemed to still give low importance to social signals. However, reviews given by reviewers with high authority seemed to play an important role that could make a lot of difference. The survey also revealed that negative practices such as keyword stuffing and call tracking numbers were not appreciated by Google.
