Importance of Local Search Factors
for Your Business
Optimizing
Google Business Profile
A Google Verified Business page is necessary for any business looking to improve its online presence. Ensuring your business has the correct main category, keywords in the business title, and a complete listing with all details can significantly improve your chances of being discovered by potential customers.
Address and Proximity
Reviews
and Ratings
High-ranking Google ratings and many native Google reviews with text and images can help your business stand out. Continuously adding new reviews, responding to them regularly, and ensuring they are fresh can positively impact your local search rankings.
Website Optimization
Your website should be mobile-friendly, responsive, and have proper internal linking. Additionally, it should have separate pages for each service, be SSL certified, and have a fast loading time. Topical keyword relevance and consistent use of keywords in titles, headings, and meta descriptions can also help improve your local search rankings.
Inbound Links and Citations
A good quantity of inbound links from locally-relevant and industry-relevant domains and regular and consistent citations on major search engines like Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Apple Maps can improve your online visibility. The quality and authority of these inbound links also matter, so build relationships with expert sources.
User
Engagement
Clicks from search results, the number of messages through Google My Business messaging, and the number of bookings through the Google Business Profile booking feature are all important factors for local search. Encourage customers to engage with your business on Google and other platforms.
Continuous Improvement
Regularly update your Google Business Profile, add new content to your website, and maintain a consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) across all your online listings. This will help your business stay relevant and visible in local search results.
The 125+ Local Search Ranking Factors to Get You on Page One
of the factors
we need your help
We will work on 90% of the factors which will help in ranking
your business
The 411 Locals Difference
Regarding local search rankings, we don’t leave anything to chance. In fact, we work very hard on over 125 factors that contribute to your online visibility. You might be surprised at the level of detail and expertise involved in our process. You may have heard of some factors, while others may be completely new to you. While we take care of the factors highlighted in white, you could help us with the ones highlighted in blue. But trust us, each one is crucial in its own way.
| Factors | Rank |
|---|---|
| A Google Verified Google Business page | 1 |
| Main Google Business Page Listing Category | 2 |
| Main Keywords in the business title of the Google Business Profile Listing | 3 |
| Actual Physical Address in City of Search | 4 |
| Closeness of the Google Business Page Listing Address to Centroid | 5 |
| Closeness of the business Address to the Point of Search | 6 |
| Is the GBP Listing complete with all details | 7 |
| Major Keywords in title of the GBP Landing Page | 8 |
| High Ranking Google Ratings, the more the 5 Stars the better | 9 |
| Total number of Native Google Reviews complete with text and Images | 10 |
| Continous additions of new Google Reviews each week | 11 |
| Continous and regular response to each of the Google review | 12 |
| Placement of the Map Pin correctly | 13 |
| Deletion of spam listings through spam fighting | 14 |
| Freshness of the Google reviews | 15 |
| Supplementory listing Categories Google Business profile | 16 |
| Seperate Page for Each Service | 17 |
| How old is the Google Business Profile | 18 |
| Proper Internal Linking of all the web pagesin the Website | 19 |
| Good quantity of Inbound Links to Domain from Locally- industrty relevant Domains | 20 |
| Keywords in Native Google Reviews | 21 |
| Number of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant Domains | 22 |
| Regular and consistent Citations on major Search Engines (Google Maps, Bing Maps, Apple Maps) | 23 |
| Internal Links TO GBP Landing Page from Other Pages of Website | 24 |
| Quality/Authority of Inbound Links to Domain | 25 |
| The Authority of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL | 26 |
| Quantity of Inbound Links to Landing Page URL from Industry-Relevant Domains | 27 |
| The presence of positive sentiment in the text of a Google review | 28 |
| Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL | 29 |
| Total searches for the Business Name | 30 |
| Topical keyword relevance on the website | 31 |
| Number of Messages Through Google My Business Messaging | 32 |
| Presensce of good Quality and substantial Content on Service Pages | 33 |
| Number of Native Google Ratings without text | 34 |
| The variety of inbound links to a domain | 35 |
| The extent to which a website is focused on a particular niche. | 36 |
| Keywords in Anchor Text of Inbound Links to Domain | 37 |
| Number of Positive Google Review Attributes | 38 |
| How many photos are there on the Google Business Page | 39 |
| Mobile-friendly/Responsive Website | 40 |
| The business title appearing in the anchor text of inbound links to the URL of a Google Business Profile landing page. | 41 |
| Correct categorization associations on aggregator and Tier 1 citation sources. | 42 |
| Number of Citations from Locally-Relevant Domains | 43 |
| Number of Bookings Through GBP Booking Feature | 44 |
| Authority of Third-Party Sites on Which Reviews are Present | 45 |
| The variety of incoming links to the URL of a Google Business Profile landing page. | 46 |
| The number of engagement signals on a Google Business Profile, such as scrolling through the listing, clicking on photos, reading reviews, reading Q&A, clicking on posts, and so on | 47 |
| Click-Through Rate from Search Results (General) | 48 |
| Involvement in Google's paid products such as AdWords, AdWords Express, Hotel Finder, or other similar offerings. | 49 |
| Significant presence on crucial industry-relevant domains. | 50 |
| Consistent use of Keywords in Titles in the website | 51 |
| GBP Landing Page Loadtime | 52 |
| The amount of high-quality content on the entire website. | 53 |
| Business Clicks on Driving Directions | 54 |
| The uniformity of citations on important sites such as Yellowpages, Yelp, D&B, and CityGrid. | 55 |
| Call Business Clicks | 56 |
| Keywords in Headings (H1, H2, etc) Across Entire Website | 57 |
| SSL secuirty certification on the website | 58 |
| Number of Inbound Links to Domain | 59 |
| The uniformity of mentions on data aggregators such as Infogroup, Localeze, Foursquare/Factual. | 60 |
| The variety of anchor text used in inbound links to the URL of a Google Business Profile landing page. | 61 |
| Number of references from industry-relevant domains | 62 |
| Number of Services Performed visible Google Reviews | 63 |
| Quantity of Inbound Links to GBP Landing Page URL | 64 |
| High numerical ratings from influential reviewers, such as Yelp Elite or Google Local Guide | 65 |
| The variety of anchor text used in inbound links to a domain. | 66 |
| Quality/Authority of refernces from Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts, Gov Sites, Industry Associations | 67 |
| Use of Main Keywords in GBP Landing Page URL | 68 |
| The amount of content present on a Google Business Profile landing page. | 69 |
| Domain Authority of Website | 70 |
| The appearance of website mentions as justifications in local search results. | 71 |
| Use of Keywords in Domain Name | 72 |
| Number of references from relevant Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts | 73 |
| Number of Reviews on Industry-Specific Sites | 74 |
| Loadtime of all the apges of the website | 75 |
| Authority of GBP Landing Page URL | 76 |
| Number of relevant photos on GBP | 77 |
| Continous Impovements and Completeness of references | 78 |
| The accurate setting of business hours on a Google Business Profile | 79 |
| The variety of third-party sites on which reviews are available. | 80 |
| Number of Third-Party Traditional Reviews (e.g. Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yellowpages, etc) | 81 |
| Continous additions of Links oevr regualr intervals of time | 82 |
| Number of Third-Party Reviews e.g. blogs, newspapers, magazines | 83 |
| Number of Structured refernces for example on IYPs, Data Aggregators | 84 |
| Presence of Business on Expert Curated Best of and Similar Lists | 85 |
| The number of photos with Google Vision-AI labels that match relevant keywords. | 86 |
| High Numerical Third-Party Ratings (e.g. 4-5) | 87 |
| Use of Keywords in URLs in the website | 88 |
| The appearance of "Provides" justifications in local search results. | 89 |
| Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers (e.g. Yelp Elite, Google Local Guides, etc) | 90 |
| NAP in Schema/JSON-LD on GBP Landing Page URL | 91 |
| Presence of Local Area Code on GBP | 92 |
| Use of Main Keywords in Third-Party Reviews | 93 |
| Keywords in Text Surrounding Links to GBP Landing Page | 94 |
| Regular references on Other Citation Sources | 95 |
| Consistency of fresh content over regular time intervals | 96 |
| Number of Inbound Links to the Domain from Industry-Relevant Domains | 97 |
| Keywords present in the text surrounding links to a domain. | 98 |
| Length of Dwell Time on GBP | 99 |
| Use of Main Keywords in GBP Services | 100 |
| Mentions of location-specific entities on a Google Business Profile landing page | 101 |
| The existence of outbound links to authoritative sites that are topically relevant. | 102 |
| A Google Map integrated into the landing page of a Google Business Profile to display the location. | 103 |
| Consistent use of Keywords in Image ALT attributes in the website | 104 |
| BBB Accredition available | 105 |
| Use of Keywords in GBP Landing Page Meta Description | 106 |
| Use of Keywords in GBP Products | 107 |
| Number of Bookings Through Google Booking Partners | 108 |
| Is there an XML Sitemap | 109 |
| Aligning the domain of the Google account with the domain of the landing page for Google Business Profile | 110 |
| Keywords in Image Filenames on GBP Landing Page | 111 |
| Setting correct Service Areas in GBP | 112 |
| Internal Links FROM GBP Landing Page to Other Pages of Website | 113 |
| Use of Keywords in Meta Descriptions in the website | 114 |
| How often Google posts have been posted. | 115 |
| Availaibility of Appointment URL | 116 |
| Use of Keywords in Google Posts | 117 |
| Number of Videos on GBP | 118 |
| Total number of Google Posts added | 119 |
| The booking feature for GBP has been activated | 120 |
| Geo-tagged Photos on GBP | 121 |
| How many transactions have been identified through credit card partnerships | 122 |
| GBP Messaging Feature is Enabled | 123 |
| Use of Keywords in Google Q&A | 124 |
| Keywords in Owner Responses to Reviews | 125 |
| Keywords in GBP Description | 126 |
| Number of Questions Asked in Google Q&A | 127 |
