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:

Does the Service Area in Your Google Business Profile Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

Sterling Sky's Colan Nielsen tests whether setting a service area in your Google My Business listing affects your organic or maps ranking. Read on to find the scoop!

www.sterlingsky.ca

According to Darren Shaw @whitespark they do

Interesting Case Study on Service Areas

Interesting new case study on service areas. What is going on?

whitespark.ca

​

Interested to hear what everyone thinks

 

[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:

Does the Service Area in Your Google Business Profile Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

Sterling Sky's Colan Nielsen tests whether setting a service area in your Google My Business listing affects your organic or maps ranking. Read on to find the scoop!

www.sterlingsky.ca

According to Darren Shaw @whitespark they do

Interesting Case Study on Service Areas

Interesting new case study on service areas. What is going on?

whitespark.ca

​

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]

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.

 

[whitespark]

Oh hey everyone. I figured I should update this thread with the latest info on this case. Here you go:

Do Service Areas Impact Rankings for Local SEO in 2023?

Here's some NEW and surprising information on how your business address can impact your rankings.

whitespark.ca

 

[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]

Okay, so if an SAB client has moved but wants to rank at the new address, is there anyway around this short of showing the address?

Right now we have very little info on this bug because we have only two known instances.

• Does it always happen? We don't know
• Does it happen if you show the address first, then move it, then hide it again? We don't know
• Is it a temporary bug that Google has already fixed without telling anyone? We. Do. Not. Know. And by god I wish we did!

All we know it this is a situation that can happen, but what exact conditions cause it are unclear at best.

 

[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.

 

[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!

 

[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.

 

[Marcin Karwowski]

All of this sounds absurd in all honesty. Why not just show all of the results? My thought is because Google loves to "prioritize" those profiles that advertise. It's all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$!

That's what the ranking is for, you can't show all the results. Always one auction is rated higher than another. From what I can see, also @keyserholiday directed you what could be a problem in your case and why your competitors are higher.

 

[JS Girard]

Update: I have discovered two more clients of ours that display this exact bug after a SAB move. I'm now 100% convinced this is the source of the problem.

 

[keyserholiday]

Update: I have discovered two more clients of ours that display this exact bug after a SAB move. I'm now 100% convinced this is the source of the problem.

Yes, Google has an issue when a SAB moves. This all started once Google cleared the address in the backend. You used to be able to see the address with the API. The only to fix it is to create a new business profile and move the reviews from the original business profile to the new one.

 

[keyserholiday]

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

 

[SeoSaur]

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.

 

[SeoSaur]

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?

 

[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.

 

[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!