2012 Local Search Ranking Factors is out find it here: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml
David Mihm’s initial reaction:
http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/google/local-search-ranking-factors/comment-page-1/
Many of the fundamentals have not changed.
It’s still important to:
- Have an address in the city that’s being searched
- Associate your business with complete and proper categories.
- Have an address close to the Centroid (sad to say)
- Ensure your data is accurate and complete across the Local Ecosystem–especially on authoritative citation sources
- Work on getting your customers to review you at the new Google +Local
All five of those factors were rated in the top ten way back in the first instance of the survey in 2008, as well as this year.
My Comment:
Sad, but true… the fundamentals of local SEO have not really changed much. In fact, I often feel that so many people are missing how heavily weighted those fundamentals are. Thanks again for doing this. I know it’s a lot of work. Your efforts are appreciated.
There is some relief in that Google’s Local hasn’t changed much, but they have made great improvements. Remember the days when all you had to do was claim a business page and within an hour you ranked?