Local Search Ranking Factors.

Volume Two of  David Mihm’s “Local Search Ranking Factors” is a must-readfor any business interested in learning more about increasing their on-line visibility. Even if you rely on a local Marketing  firm or Agency to manage this process for you, it’s a very interesting and timely survey which includes responses from 27 prominent bloggers and practitioners. 

Mr. Mihm states “It is my hope that this study will help small business owners confused by Local Search, or those strapped for time, to prioritize their marketing efforts“. 

The results include a ranking of the most important factors, listed in order, below. The entire survey may be read here.  

1. LBL Address in City of Search
2. Citations from Major Data Providers
3. Association of Proper LBL Categories
4. General Importance of Claiming LBL
5. Product/Service Keywords in LBL Title
6. General Importance of Off-Page Criteria
7. Volume of Customer Reviews
8. General Importance of Customer Reviews
9. General Importance of On-Page Criteria
10. Full Address on Contact Page
11. Proximity to Centroid
12. Quality of Inbound Links
13. HyperLocal/Web Crawl Citations
14. Product/Service Keywords in LBL Description
15. Location Keywords in Inbound Anchor Text
16. Customer Reviews at Search Engine
17. Location Keywords in LBL Title
18. Product/Service Keywords in Inbound Anchor Text
19. Inclusion of City, State in Title Tags
20. Customer Reviews at 3rd-Party Websites
21. Location Keywords in LBL Description
22. Quantity of Inbound Links
23. City, State in Contact Page Title Tags
24. Product/Service Keywords in URL
25. Product/Service Keywords in LBL Custom Fields
26. Association of Marginal LBL Categories
27. Location Keywords in URL
28. LBL Phone Number with Local Area Code
29. Association of LBL Videos
30. Local Phone Number on Contact Page
31. MyMaps/User Generated Content
32. High PageRank Homepage
33. Association of LBL Photos
34. Creation of KML File
35. Positive Customer Ratings
36. Location Keywords in LBL Custom Fields
37. Address in hCard Microformat on Website
38. High PageRank LBC Landing Page
39. Age of LBL
40. Association of Coupon with LBL
41. Participation in Local PPC