Does the defined service area affect GBP rankings?

[VicolasSEO]

Hi everyone,
I’ve been curious about something regarding Service Area Businesses in Google Business Profile.
When you define multiple service areas, does that actually influence rankings in those cities, or does Google mainly rely on other signals like proximity, reviews, and website relevance?
I’d love to know what others here have observed in real situations. Looking forward to hearing your insights.

 

[whitespark]

The service areas do not have any impact on rankings. All they do is show the user where you're willing to travel to. Setting them in GBP will not help you rank in those areas.

 

[VicolasSEO]

The service areas do not have any impact on rankings. All they do is show the user where you're willing to travel to. Setting them in GBP will not help you rank in those areas.

Thanks for clarifying that, that actually helps a lot.
‎So if service areas themselves don’t influence rankings in Google Business Profile, would you say the better approach for Service Area Businesses is strengthening other signals like the website, reviews, and overall brand authority?
‎For example, I’ve noticed that when businesses build stronger online visibility (through content, mentions, and reviews), they sometimes start appearing more often in nearby searches on Google Maps even without changing their service areas.
‎Curious if others here have seen similar results or if there are other strategies that work better for SABs.

 

[whitespark]

Thanks for clarifying that, that actually helps a lot.
‎So if service areas themselves don’t influence rankings in Google Business Profile, would you say the better approach for Service Area Businesses is strengthening other signals like the website, reviews, and overall brand authority?
‎For example, I’ve noticed that when businesses build stronger online visibility (through content, mentions, and reviews), they sometimes start appearing more often in nearby searches on Google Maps even without changing their service areas.
‎Curious if others here have seen similar results or if there are other strategies that work better for SABs.

See attached for how I answered this in my Reddit AMA. You might want to review the rest of the Q&A. There’s lots of gold there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/whitespark/s/seDqVsMiw0

 

[VicolasSEO]

See attached for how I answered this in my Reddit AMA. You might want to review the rest of the Q&A. There’s lots of gold there.
https://www.reddit.com/r/whitespark/s/seDqVsMiw0

Thanks for sharing this, I appreciate it. I’ll definitely take some time to go through the AMA and the rest of the Q&A on Reddit. Sounds like there’s a lot of valuable insight there.