Do Service Areas Impact Local Rankings? Darren says YES, Joy says NO

[Durandl]

Two very interesting articles/videos came out on the same day from the most respectable local SEO gurus I know.

According to @JoyHawkins Service areas do not impact rankings:
https://www.sterlingsky.ca/does-the-service-area-in-google-my-business-impact-ranking/
According to Darren Shaw @whitespark they do
https://whitespark.ca/blog/do-service-areas-impact-rankings-on-google-in-2023/

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Interested to hear what everyone thinks

 

[JoyHawkins]

I think Justin nailed it here with this reply and the ranking fluctuations Darren shows are related to hiding and showing the address, which we have seen historically, does have an impact on ranking.

 

[keyserholiday]

Service areas have zero impact on rankings whatsoever. I agree with Joy this study is about showing and hiding the address.

 

[RobSEO]

I'd love to know more how best to optimize for SAB - for example say you're trying to help an electrician rank for his SAB - if you've hidden his address, does adding more service areas help them rank? Or is a smaller number of service areas better? SAB for Google Business Profile is such a confounding topic.

 

[JoyHawkins]

adding more service areas help them rank? Or is a smaller number of service areas better? SAB for Google Business Profile is such a confounding topic.

We've found adding more doesn't make an impact. The strategy for ranking an SAB is really the same as a non-SAB. You can rank further for keywords that aren't as competitive but for the competitive keywords there is generally a max radius you can rank for which starts at the pin where you verified your listing.

 

[RobSEO]

We've found adding more doesn't make an impact. The strategy for ranking an SAB is really the same as a non-SAB. You can rank further for keywords that aren't as competitive but for the competitive keywords there is generally a max radius you can rank for which starts at the pin where you verified your listing.

Thanks @JoyHawkins! So I imagine it's next to impossible to rank for the KW "electrician" as a SAB if the original hidden address is say 20 miles away?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Thanks @JoyHawkins! So I imagine it's next to impossible to rank for the KW "electrician" as a SAB if the original hidden address is say 20 miles away?

Yes, this is likely impossible unless there is no competition in the market. You could accomplish this organically though!

 

[Durandl]

I think Justin nailed it here with this reply and the ranking fluctuations Darren shows are related to hiding and showing the address, which we have seen historically, does have an impact on ranking.

Makes a lot of sense. Thanks Joy

 

[Claudia]

With all the new updates that are going on, I think we need to monitor this more.

 

[whitespark]

Two very interesting articles/videos came out on the same day from the most respectable local SEO gurus I know.

According to @JoyHawkins Service areas do not impact rankings:
https://www.sterlingsky.ca/does-the-service-area-in-google-my-business-impact-ranking/
According to Darren Shaw @whitespark they do
https://whitespark.ca/blog/do-service-areas-impact-rankings-on-google-in-2023/

​

Interested to hear what everyone thinks

Hey @Durandl! Just saw this thread. Yeah, I think I got this one wrong. It’s not the service areas that have any impact, it’s the hiding vs showing the address. My current theory is:


Hide address = expanded ranking radius.
Show address = tighter ranking radius.

I asked Jimmy to try leaving his address hidden, and remove the service areas. See how that impacts rankings, if at all. So far, no ranking change, which indicates that it’s not the service areas, it’s the hiding/showing.

I plan to do a follow up video.

Cc @JoyHawkins @keyserholiday

 

[JoyHawkins]

Thanks for the update Darren!!

 

[Tony Wang]

@whitespark your "current theory" still makes this finding very interesting. Hide address = expand ranking radius, this could be huge for certain businesses!

 

[whitespark]

@whitespark your "current theory" still makes this finding very interesting. Hide address = expand ranking radius, this could be huge for certain businesses!

Agreed!

 

[JS Girard]

I envy Darren. He ran into the same bug we've been having for one of our clients, but for Darren the result is exactly what the client actually wants.

 

[whitespark]

Oh hey everyone. I figured I should update this thread with the latest info on this case. Here you go:
https://whitespark.ca/blog/2023-do-service-areas-impact-rankings-for-local-seo/

 

[JS Girard]

Oh hey everyone. I figured I should update this thread with the latest info on this case. Here you go:
https://whitespark.ca/blog/2023-do-service-areas-impact-rankings-for-local-seo/

Between your case and mine, Darren, my theory is that the likely cause is moving a SAB to a new address while the original address is still hidden. What do you think?

 

[whitespark]

Between your case and mine, Darren, my theory is that the likely cause is moving a SAB to a new address while the original address is still hidden. What do you think?

I don't follow what you mean.

 

[JS Girard]

I mean that if you switch the address by entering the new address directly onto a GBP where the address is hidden seems to be a key element to this bug. At least it sounds like that's what was done in your client's case

If I ever have to move a SAB again, I'll try making sure to display the original validation address first to see if the bug can still happen in that case.

 

[whitespark]

I see. Well, it's not possible to edit an address on a SAB. You can either have an address on the listing, or you can remove the address. Here's the history with this case:

1. There was no address on this listing when it was created. But, to receive a postcard for verification, an address had to be entered. This was the address in Draper, higher up on the map in my video.
2. Later, the business moved south to Saratga Springs, but no change was made to the GBP because it was already set up as a SAB with no address on the Profile.
3. On a whim, Jimmy thought he'd test to see what happened if he showed his address. So he entered his NEW Saratoga Springs address. Rankings in the service areas he was tracking dropped, because now Google was situating his business location down in Saratoga Springs.
4. When he removed the address from the listing, Google then defaulted back to the address it was originally verified at, so his rankings were now based on the address up in Draper.

It makes sense why this was happening. Google's local ranking proximity is defined around the address of the business, and if there is no address set on the Profile, it will use the address that the Profile was verified at.

 

[JS Girard]

I see. Well, it's not possible to edit an address on a SAB. You can either have an address on the listing, or you can remove the address. Here's the history with this case:

1. There was no address on this listing when it was created. But, to receive a postcard for verification, an address had to be entered. This was the address in Draper, higher up on the map in my video.
2. Later, the business moved south to Saratga Springs, but no change was made to the GBP because it was already set up as a SAB with no address on the Profile.
3. On a whim, Jimmy thought he'd test to see what happened if he showed his address. So he entered his NEW Saratoga Springs address. Rankings in the service areas he was tracking dropped, because now Google was situating his business location down in Saratoga Springs.
4. When he removed the address from the listing, Google then defaulted back to the address it was originally verified at, so his rankings were now based on the address up in Draper.

It makes sense why this was happening. Google's local ranking proximity is defined around the address of the business, and if there is no address set on the Profile, it will use the address that the Profile was verified at.

In our case, it we acquired a SAB we were told was validated on the North Shore (it was ranking there for a while too!). When it started inexplicably ranking in Laval, we actually revalidated it at the desired address, and we've had this discrepancy ever since: correct rankings while address is shown (she has 57 reviews and there is literally no other realtors with an address in this municipality!), which shift over to Laval (a tougher proposal because that's her agency office with stiff competition) as soon as we hide the address...