2023 Survey: Local search ranking factors

Whitespark has surveyed dozens of local SEO experts to compile what they believe are the most important ranking factors for local search.

The 2023 local search ranking factors survey is now out, it is a survey of what local SEO experts rank the most important ranking factors are for both ranking in the Google local pack and also in the Google organic local results.

More survey details. This survey was conducted by Whitespark and surveyed 44 different local SEO experts. It asked these local SEO experts to rank 149 potential local search ranking factors in order of importance across both the local pack and organic rankings.

Local pack factors. The local pack findings showed that these were ranked the most important ranking factors for Google’s local pack:

• Primary Google Business Profile category
• Keywords in your Google Business Profile title/name (which may be against the Google guidelines)
• Proximity of address to the point of search
• Physical address in the city of search
• Removal of spam listings through spam preventative mechasims
• High numerical Google ratings
• Additional Google Business Profile categories
• Verification in Google Business Profiles
• and more

Local organic factors. The local organic ranking factors showed these these were ranked the most important ranking factors for Google’s local pack:

• Dedicated page for each service
• Internal linking across website
• Quality and authority of inbound links to the domain name
• Geographic keyword relevance of domain content
• Keywords in Google Business Profile landing page title
• Quantity of inbound links to domain from locally relevant domains
• Topical keyword relevance across entire website
• Volume of quality content on service page
• and more

Disclaimer. Search ranking factor studies can and have been somewhat controversial over the years. This study asked local SEOs to rate what they think are the most important factors for ranking well in Google’s local results. So keep that all in mind and make sure to read the study in full before just accepting these results as is.

Why we care. While there may be a lot of debate between SEOs and local SEOs as to what are the most important ranking factors, going through a survey like this may help you think about areas that you may not have thought about prior. So give it a read and hope you come up with some new ideas to implement for your clients.