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Sphinn Home » SEO
Do Directories Really Matter Anymore for Local Search Rankings in Google?
SEO News Source: http://www.thunderseo.com
Published: Mar 08, 2011 - 11:50 pm
Story Found By: maxthomas 444 Days ago
Category: SEO
This is the result of a recent research analysis we conducted for Google Place Pages and factors that might "predict" rankings in map results on Google.com. It takes into account Google Place Pages information, along with citations (using Whitespark's Local Citation Finder Tool), anchor text (using OpenSiteExplorer) and city/vertical relevancy of the inbound linking URLs. One of the more interesting observations is that citations (focus on Name, Address & Phone) aren't really a conclusive predictor of map rankings. Exact-match anchor text, overall URL authority (e.g., quanlity inbound links) and links from URLs about the business city and industry...these appear to be the largest predictors of rankings. This all makes sense given the "blended" search results Google shows for local/regional searches.
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from estetik 442 Days ago #
Votes: 0

I agree with you that citations are not a predictor of map ranking.

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from brentbarnhart 440 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Very interesting, very in-depth. Well-optimized, SEO-friendly directory listings can do a world of good, though. I do agree that citations alone won't do the trick.

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from workoutmods 437 Days ago #
Votes: 0

This is good information, I guess I will go back and try to optimize my google place listing as well.

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