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Google Local citation & review data study

With Google Local results taking up more and more space in the search results local search is becoming (at least for Branded3) one of the key things we focus on for clients with multiple locations.

The Google Local algorithm isn’t the same as the main search algorithm but it does have similarities such as citations & reviews which work on the same principle as PageRank & links.

Tom at Distilled has done some Google Local research around hotels in Seattle to find out how the raw numbers of reviews & citations are correlated with rankings and found that (as you might expect with Google) the algorithm is a lot more complex than just looking at raw numbers. Reviews from certain sites appear to count much more than others.

I’ve included a brief summary below but Tom has also published the data in an Excel file which you can get via his post.

1) – The raw number of reviews is not the only ranking factor.

We can see this by comparing for example the Renaissance Seattle Hotel and the Hilton Seattle Hotel – the Renaissance has WAY more reviews but still doesn’t rank.

2) – The raw number of citations is not the only ranking factor.

We can see this because the Grand Hyatt Seattle Hotel has an obscene number of citations compared to any other hotel in Seattle.

3) – The combined number of citations and reviews is not the only ranking factor

Although we’re getting warmer here (the sum column, E) this isn’t the whole story. If we look at the average sum of the top 7 ranking hotels we see that there are 3 hotels that don’t rank which have a higher sum than average – Renaissance, Grand Hyatt and the Crowne Plaza.

BY Patrick Altoft AT 1:51pm ON Tuesday, 1 December 2009

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3 and has worked in the SEO industry for over 10 years. With experience across some of the worlds largest brands as well as startup businesses Patrick is well known in the industry and speaks regularly at the major SEO conferences and events. Follow Patrick on Twitter or Google+

Comments

  • http://www.tag44.com tag44

    Thanks Patrick for sharing the very useful information regards to Google Local search, nice post.

  • http://www.infoservemarketing.com InfoserveMarketing

    Great data, thanks for sharing it!

    I wonder if more and more Local SEO services will start popping up?

    Probably….

  • http://bykeywordstrategy.com Ray

    Loved the data on Local Search Ranking.

    To respond to InfoserveMarketing, there is no question that Local Search is going to grow and really fast.

  • http://happycalmfocused.com/resources/bsr-review.php Focus Factor

    I really love your posting. It really interest me and I enjoy reading it because I’ve learned a lot of things. I already bookmarked your website and I will recommend it to my friends. Can you recommend also some sites that give more information about it?

  • http://elevatedcreativity.com Dan Doromal

    A lot of people talk about the importance of citations and local rankings, however have you ever wondered how to get your citations listed? I have created several google local accounts and have submitted each one to 15+ directories, but for some reason, when I look under the google local profile, none of the directories come up as a citation. Could you explain why?

  • http://losangelesbailbondscommunity.com/feed/rss2 Daryl

    A lot of people talk about the importance of citations and local rankings, however have you ever wondered how to get your citations listed? I have created several google local accounts and have submitted each one to 15+ directories, but for some reason, when I look under the google local profile, none of the directories come up as a citation. Could you explain why?

    I second this and would like to know how….

  • http://www.ionadas.com Brian Combs

    Dan and Daryl,

    Just my opinion, but it seems that Google doesn’t show all citations within the Google Places listing. I believe they are a subset not unlike the backlinks shown with the link: command.

    There does also seem to be some analysis of the quality of any particular citation (likely using one of Google’s trust analysis methods), but I believe most any citation can help (especially if you have a good base of quality citations).

  • http://www.squidoo.com/overnightprintsdiscountcode Al

    Very helpful post. Thanks. What’s the difference between a review and a citation?

  • http://www.ionadas.com Brian Combs

    A review is placed as a review directly with Google, or pulled in via syndication with CitySearch, Zagat, TripAdvisor or the like.

    A citation is a page that lists the company’s name, phone number and/or address that Google trusts well enough to view as a vote as to the importance of the company.

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