- Joined
- Aug 9, 2012
- Messages
- 392
Hey Bobby,
I think we all agree with your premise that "location authority, and prominence can in fact influence and improve rankings for a location that's further out on the radius spectrum / outer regions of a city. " Absolutely. 100%. I think we all also recognize that it's not an easy feat to accomplish. Getting a client to rank in a super wide radius is kind of like the holy grail of local SEO.
My take on this is that the work you did to increase location authority and prominence is what increased your rankings. I suspect that you would have had the same effect with or without adding the service areas. I suspect this, because I have personally tested adding/removing service areas a few times, on locations that had authority, and I didn't see any impact.
But my tests are just a tiny drop in the pool of possibilities. I am not 100% convinced that there is no impact (I'm about 98% convinced). If you have data to the contrary, then I would LOVE to be proven wrong. If the industry is holding assumptions that are wrong, and you present evidence to show that these assumptions are wrong, then that's a major win for everyone. I love it when that happens. It's the best.
So yes, please, let's do the test I suggested. If we take out the service areas and we see a drop in rankings, then that will be some evidence that the service areas were providing some benefit. If we take out the service areas and rankings don't change at all, then I will remain at 98% convinced that they have no impact.
FYI, according to Google, the reason for setting the service areas is simply to show your customers on the map what area you serve. The purpose of setting them is so that Google can draw this map on your listing:
Looking forward to testing this with you!
I think we all agree with your premise that "location authority, and prominence can in fact influence and improve rankings for a location that's further out on the radius spectrum / outer regions of a city. " Absolutely. 100%. I think we all also recognize that it's not an easy feat to accomplish. Getting a client to rank in a super wide radius is kind of like the holy grail of local SEO.
My take on this is that the work you did to increase location authority and prominence is what increased your rankings. I suspect that you would have had the same effect with or without adding the service areas. I suspect this, because I have personally tested adding/removing service areas a few times, on locations that had authority, and I didn't see any impact.
But my tests are just a tiny drop in the pool of possibilities. I am not 100% convinced that there is no impact (I'm about 98% convinced). If you have data to the contrary, then I would LOVE to be proven wrong. If the industry is holding assumptions that are wrong, and you present evidence to show that these assumptions are wrong, then that's a major win for everyone. I love it when that happens. It's the best.
So yes, please, let's do the test I suggested. If we take out the service areas and we see a drop in rankings, then that will be some evidence that the service areas were providing some benefit. If we take out the service areas and rankings don't change at all, then I will remain at 98% convinced that they have no impact.
FYI, according to Google, the reason for setting the service areas is simply to show your customers on the map what area you serve. The purpose of setting them is so that Google can draw this map on your listing:
Looking forward to testing this with you!