Have you ever wondered how the search engines’ algorithms rank sites within local search? Or better yet, what criteria are the algorithms considering and how important is each? I know my team members and I have talked about it before and have speculated and hypothesized what ranking variables the search engines consider and which the search engines find more important.

Recently, Search Engine Land came out with a blogpost that summarized the results of a recent survey taken by some local search marketing professionals about which variables they feel influence local rankings and results in the Google and Yahoo Local “Universal” search algorithms.

The local search marketing professionals were asked to rank the importance of 47 criteria in respect to how it influences local listings. Below is the scale that was used:

Out of the 47 criteria that were analyzed, the marketing professionals came back with 41 positive factors and six negative factors that influence the actual local rankings.

Here are some of the most significant positive and negative factors decided on from this survey along with their average scores:

Significant Positive Factors

1. Local Business Listing (LBL) address in city being searched (4.13)
2. Proper categorization of LBL (4.00)
3. Product / service keyword in LBL title (3.78)
4. Proximity of business address to city centroid (3.59)
5. Validation of business information with third-party providers (3.57)

Harmful Factors

1. Multiple LBL’s with same address (-2.11)
2. Multiple LBL’s with same phone number (-2.07)
3. Multiple LBL’s with same business name (-0.73)
4. Negative customer reviews (-0.64)
5. 800 number as primary LBL phone (-0.63)

There will be more granular discussion on this subject along with presentations and panels at the SMX Local-Mobile conference in San Francisco, July 24-25.

To view all of the results or get more detail on this survey, visit: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml