Whilst Google does not explicitly tell us exactly how much each factor influences their rankings, they have published enough for everyone to make an educated assessment.
Add to that the myriad of data and analyses that have been produced by those who do local SEO testing on thousands of websites, and then we can be relatively sure about the importance of each factor.
Here are those that should take priority:
1) Quantity And Authority Of Inbound Links:
Backlinks from other high authority websites are a big signal to Google about the importance and relevance of the website they are linking to. Obviously, the more there are, the more this comes in to play, which is why a strategy of building backlinks should be a part of any local SEO plan.
2) Domain Authority:
This a factor that will influence a website’s ranking in the overall SERPs, but it plays an even bigger role when it comes to ranking websites for local searches. Lots of factors can determine domain authority scores, which means there are many opportunities to increase it.
3) Inbound Link Diversity:
Google rewards websites whose link building seems natural as opposed to contrived, and one of the ways this is identified is with a diverse array of inbound links. This means you want the links to your local business website to come from a variety of sources such as blogs, news sites, directories, and social media sites.
4) Topical Keyword Relevance:
This is simpler than it sounds. It refers to any keyword used for a search and the content on a page being relevant to it. The purpose of this factor in Google’s eyes is that they want their search engine results to be as useful to its users as possible, so they will rank higher those pages which it believes is most closely relevant to a search term.
5) Mobile-Friendly Website:
Walk down any busy street, and it’s almost certain you’ll see at least one person using a mobile device. These have become an intrinsic part of our lives, and Google knows that. That is why it has been giving mobile responsive websites higher ranking than those that do not for some time. If you want your local business website to compete for local ranking you need to make sure it is mobile-friendly.
6) Geographic Relevance:
You must be aware that people will search for locations in different ways. For example, they could use the state, the city, the borough, county, district and even the street if that is where they are standing and searching using their mobile device. Optimising for each of the possibilities in your local area is preferable to doing it for just one.
7) Anchor Text in Backlinks:
As important as backlinks are, it is not enough to merely have them as raw URLs pointing back to your website. For local ranking, you should be using relevant anchor text which can relate to the products or services you offer, and various geographical terms for the local area that you want to rank for.
