SEO continues to evolve as search changes to accommodate new consumer behaviors and platforms. And ranking has become more challenging and complex over time, including in local search.
For the past nine years the Local Search Ranking Factors has surveyed leading local SEO practitioners to understand the variables that are most important to ranking in local results. Developed originally by David Mihm, it’s now presented by Moz and curated by Darren Shaw of Whitespark.
This week LSA hosted a webinar with Darren and Britney Muller of Moz, providing an overview of the 2017 report. Here are just a few of the many interesting takeaways from the webinar:
- The new #1 local search ranking factor is “proximity of address to the point of search.”
- For local rankings, Google ignores the suite number. These numbers are for display purposes only.
- Links and reviews are the major “competitive difference makers” for local rankings.
- Loading Google My Business titles with keywords boosts rank but exposes a business to penalties and is “spammy.”
Below is the full webinar recording, which includes a roughly 30 minute Q&A session. The duration of the recording is 90 minutes:
For access to all of LSA’s past webinars, visit http://bit.ly/LSAwebinars.