The Moz.com 2015 Local Search Ranking Factors

Each year Moz.com, the authority in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), publishes their findings on what factors influence Google Search rank on the search results page.  These aggregate data sets are polled from the top SEO experts.

Learn more about Moz.com Local Search definitions here.

For 2015, the results are in.  And, here they are…

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Moz.com Quick Takeaways…

The Algorithm for Google Local search is Maturing

Don’t expect great swings in the future with way local search ranks.  Google continues to reward businesses based on quality and authority.

The influence of Google+ on local results is all but done

After Google severed links between Google Plus and Maps, Google Plus for business may have become irrelevant social media time-waster.

Individual user behavior signals are increasingly important

Local rank may be taking a look at what happens beyond the click-through.  There are indicators that local rank is also based on user time spent on a website after clicking through.

Rank weight of citations is dropping — and focus should be on quality and consistency

Still in the top 5 factors for local search ranking, it’s criteria weight has dropped from 15.5% to 13.6% from last year.  The quantity of citations is what’s become less important.  And, thin content on citations is no longer acceptable.

Local links are more important

How your business or organization is integrated within the local community has become important for local rank.  Google is now looking at links and back-links for locally-relevant organizations.

Pigeon’s shift to the user as centroid has “stuck”

“Centroid” is Google’s arbitrary definition of where a person, business or landmark is in relation to the city center.  The location of a business has been a long time ranking factor.  With the Google’s ability to better detect the location of people, places and things, proximity to centroid has become a lot less important in rank.

Conversely, business proximity to a user of Google Search has increased in significance.

Take a look at the full results