Search engines, and more specifically Google, strive to deliver results that are the most relevant for a user's search. And one of the factors that is relevant to a large number of searches is location.
Let's use a legal services search example. If a user searches for a law firm, in many instances, they may want to find one near them. In order to deliver results that have a location component, search engines use location-based customization. In other words, they tailor relevant results base upon the location of the searcher.
Google uses an auto-detected location for users based upon the following:
There are varying reports of the accuracy of the use of IP addresses for determining location. Nonetheless, if your target audiences (prospective clients) look for you locally, you need to think about how location-based results might impact your visibility.
Of course, IP address isn't the only factor that Google uses to deliver location-based results. In fact, merely changing the location setting on a result page can have a huge impact on the results.
Let's look at a specific example. Here's a search for the term [injury lawyers] with my location set to Chicago, IL:
As you can see, Google is doing a pretty nice job of serving up relevant results that include various injury law firms located in Chicago.
Now let's look at this same search for [injury lawyers] when my browser's location is set for Waukegan, IL:
A much different set of results. And as you might suspect, the results include injury attorneys located in Waukegan.
Naturally, the questions becomes, how do I optimized for local search for my target audience?
Here are some tips:
While you can influence some local search ranking factors, there are others that are more difficult to change. Here are David Mihm's top 5 local search ranking factors:
1. Physical Address in City of Search
2. Proper Category Associations
3. Proximity of Address to Centroid
4. Domain Authority of Website
5. Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
While you can update your category associations, domain authority and citations fairly easily, it's going to prove much more challenging to change your firm's physical address and distance to the centroid.
While you might be tempted to "game" local search results to get visibility in larger markets, it's not worth it. You're more likely to harm your local search visibility than to gain some perceived advantage.
Follow the Google Places Quality Guidelines. Focus on the ranking factors that you can actually influence. Track you local search results.
Here's a recent Google SERP for "๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ." Ads? โLSAs? โLocal Pack? โLinks? โ ๐ท AI Overview? โ 6 firms listed. Only one tiny ๐. Click the ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ button? ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]
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If youโve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โup and to the rightโ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโs not just the agencies celebratingโ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
