There are few people who would argue the importance of establishing an online presence in local listings for a brick and mortar store. Local listings have become king in terms of mobile search. This is statistically evident according to numerous reputable sources. But what drives search engines like Google to position one business over another in this type of listing? For two businesses which are roughly the same distance from the spot where the search has originated, how does Google determine which gets listed first? If both businesses have optimized listings, the answer is unclear.
Speculation in the SEO community regarding what factors Google is taking into consideration when listing one business over another is rampant. Having stated that Relevance, Prominence and Distance are the quantifying elements utilized by the determining algorithm; some of what Google is drawing on is fairly obvious. The Distance of a business from a search location is what it is. Nothing can be done on the part of the business to affect it. Relevancy is established through site optimization; once your website and other online pages are properly categorized and keyword rich, maximum relevancy has likely been achieved. This just leaves Prominence.
What arbitrates a listing’s prominence? Despite documented complaints by Google regarding its inability to effectively crawl the pages of social networking giant, Facebook; it seems as though Google has overcome that hurdle and is in fact, counting a given listing’s popularity on that platform. Another component which appears to bear weight is the number of check-ins accrued by a location. This includes user interaction on programs like foursquare and other check-in services. It’s not surprising that Google would look favorably on this kind of data; being that it’s nearly impossible to manufacture. While only Google knows for sure, industry experts suggest that both the number of people who check-in and the number of check-ins themselves carry weight in the area of Prominence.
No one thing in and of itself is enough to catapult your business to the top position on the local search engine results page; rather, it is a number of things which indicate to Google that your business is relevant and popular. If you haven’t provided special offers and promotions for those customers who frequent check-in service platforms, now is the time to start. Granted, there’s no guarantee that doing so will boost your position in local listings; but incentives like these are likely to attract new customers to your store. Since garnering new clientele is the goal of any internet marketing campaign, the addition of these small perks is well worth the effort.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
