Local SEO Research

Welcome to this year’s Local Consumer Review Survey! We’ve compiled the latest trends in online reviews for businesses, giving you all the statistics you need to develop your online reputation management strategy for local businesses. When we first released this report way back in 2010, we could never have imagined how important reviews would become… Read More

Rosie Murphy
December 7th, 2018

The mobile-first index should have come as no surprise to local businesses. Google announced its plans for mobile way back in 2016, and its slow rollout has given businesses plenty of time to adhere to the new expectations. In July, many local businesses received notifications that mobile-first indexing was now enabled for their sites. And… Read More

Rosie Murphy
November 9th, 2018

It’s official: review signals are becoming even more important to local SEO rankings. We know Google values trustworthy businesses, and frequent and positive reviews are one way to assess who comes out on top. And while plenty of other review sites exist, Google reviews’ visibility in search results is helping make Google the fastest-growing reviews… Read More

Rosie Murphy
October 31st, 2018

Welcome to the Local Services Ads Click Study! Local Services ads, or ‘Local Services by Google’ as they’re more formally known, are Google’s latest in-SERP advertising option for local and Service Area Businesses (SABs). With Google launching LSAs in more and more locations and for more types of businesses, we wanted to find out: What impact… Read More

Rosie Murphy
October 19th, 2018

With reviews becoming ever more commonplace for local businesses, we wanted to uncover the ways that those in charge of marketing for local businesses saw, used and prioritized online reputation management solutions. We asked the attendees of the Local Business Marketing Summit a series of questions on online reputation management in 2018. Thank you to the… Read More

Rosie Murphy
September 27th, 2018

In the world of local SEO, citations have long been established as a necessity. But, what effect do citations have on SEO today? To find out, we asked a panel of 22 of the biggest local search experts to share their experience, knowledge, and insights into how citations affect local businesses today. Our expert panel… Read More

Rosie Murphy
September 7th, 2018

Recent research from BrightLocal has revealed that the average local business ranking 1-3 in Google Local has an average of 85 local SEO citations, and that there is a correlation between higher numbers of citations and higher rankings in Google Local. (These findings are based on 122,125 local businesses found using 18,580 related keywords.) This… Read More

Jamie Pitman
August 24th, 2018

In local search, local SEO citations are an incredibly important piece of the puzzle. Keeping your name, address and phone number (NAP) consistent across the internet helps Google decide where a business should rank in local search results, and impacts consumers’ trust in a business. While it’s clear that consistent citations are a necessary foundation for… Read More

Rosie Murphy
August 16th, 2018

Google My Business is one of the most useful tools local businesses have in their arsenal. But while it is undoubtedly a must-have tool for businesses wanting to connect with customers, it’s not without its challenges. Following our recent poll exploring which fixes our users want from Google, we wanted to drill down into the… Read More

Rosie Murphy
July 5th, 2018

Google is the unmistakable boss of the SEO industry, but as we all know, great power brings with it great responsibility. With SEOs having to jump at every new change that Google implements, it only makes sense to uncover the niggles that are making their jobs more difficult. To help Google decide what they need to… Read More

Rosie Murphy
May 24th, 2018