SEO is all about reverse engineering Google’s ranking factors. And that’s a moving target. Andrew Shotland’s lifelong mission has been to follow that target, and his latest data is the biggest sample yet at demystifying the algorithm. His latest invention: the mapmoji.
Key Takeaways
- Among all of the ranking factors in local search – citations, authority, proximity, etc. – the latest to gain momentum is what Andrew Shotland calls grid rank.
- This is a form of proximity, but is structured into geographic grids. And a business’s proximity to a searcher (or geo-modifier) is more influential than ever in rankings.
- In some cities, you have to be within half a mile to make it into the top 3 SERP results; and 6/10 of a mile to be within the top 20 results.
- This indicates that location and proximity are more important than they’ve ever been for the algorithm.
- Though there’s varying density in different cities (and categories), the “rank radius” was fairly consistent in principle in Shotland’s measurements.
- All the above comes from SEMRush, and will be an ongoing area of study.
- Shotland will be back in an article in Localogy Insider to go deeper on all the above
- Meanwhile, the next local fad to look out for is Shotland’s latest invention: mapmoji … You heard it here first.
