Google on Local Search: “Always changing how we determine relevancy”

A great interview by Greg Sterling with Google’s Carter Maslan vocalized what I think many of us are thinking in Local Search:

The results that appear among the top 10 local listings are based off how relevant we think the listings are to the search terms. Of course, we’re always changing how we determine relevancy.

I like to think about the field of Local Search as what SEO was like at the very beginning. Lots of wondering, lots of real experimental testing, lots of changes and improvements, and of course lots of tricks to rank better!

Some other gems from the interview:

1) If you’re not at a physical location, the best you can do is to have a PO Box.

SEL: What about cases where people want to appear in results for areas where they don’t have a physical location (e.g., a “service area”). Is Google going to address that scenario?

CM: Yes, we will. We currently don’t allow for service areas, but we recognize that many businesses don’t have physical locations and are working to accommodate those businesses. We recommend that businesses without a physical location register themselves as a single business listing using a PO Box.

2) Use a Geo Sitemap, called a KML file. How to create a Geo Sitemap KML file, and more on Geo Sitemaps

3) If you think what you are doing is spamming, you may want to think twice because of the potential “indefinite” consequences:

I can say, however, that spamming Google Maps is a surefire way to remove your listings from the top 10 indefinitely.

Hat tip to Mike Blumenthal on covering the interview, particularly in regards to KML files.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Local SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Google on Local Search: “Always changing how we determine relevancy””

More Link Juice from Inbound Links in Local Area | CityMarketer.com Says:
June 4th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

[…] al. have more “location data” based on IP address and even more detailed data like from KML files, they should basically be able to say “this website is at this location” by now. It […]

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