Reason Competitors Ranking in Local Pack & Top-3 from Miles Away

[dteb]

I have a dental client in a city about 7 miles wide (in a valley). There are competitors that are ranking in the top three from 7 or so miles away, even in the area near my client's business.

My client's number of reviews/score is on part with competitors, as is his GBP optimization overall. His site has a comparable or better DR and organic rankings overall. Also his # of citations is on par or better than competitors.

Anything in particular that people are doing to rank well far away geographically, even after the Vicinity Update?

Thank you for any input!

 

[seosemsocial]

I have a dental client in a city about 7 miles wide (in a valley). There are competitors that are ranking in the top three from 7 or so miles away, even in the area near my client's business.

My client's number of reviews/score is on part with competitors, as is his GBP optimization overall. His site has a comparable or better DR and organic rankings overall. Also his # of citations is on par or better than competitors.

Anything in particular that people are doing to rank well far away geographically, even after the Vicinity Update?

Thank you for any input!

I'm going to say it again: reviews are far less meaningful for rank than people continue on about and Barry had a comment from Muller on his website several months back, questioning 5 star aggregate profiles.

The answer you're looking for is customized, targeted location/city pages. However, typically, they take TIME to work. Think two to six months. That's been my experience: after they settle in.

 

[dteb]

I'm going to say it again: reviews are far less meaningful for rank than people continue on about and Barry had a comment from Muller on his website several months back, questioning 5 star aggregate profiles.

The answer you're looking for is customized, targeted location/city pages. However, typically, they take TIME to work. Think two to six months. That's been my experience: after they settle in.

Thanks for the reply @seosemsocial . They have a few location pages, but they can be updated and could probably add 1 or 2 more.

Are you open to sharing an example of a high-quality location/city page?

Thank you for the insight!

 

[Kitt2000]

"....reviews are far less meaningful for rank than people continue on about and Barry had a comment from Muller on his website several months back, questioning 5 star aggregate profiles."

I've just joined this forum, so I don't know who this 'Barry' is (sorry Barry!), but can you link to this, so I can have a read?

Also, I thought reviews were a major ranking factor for Google, because reviews can build trust? In fact, the more reviews the better?!

When we talk about the 'Local Pack' and the 'Top-3', far as I'm concerned, they're the same thing, but your answer makes it sound like location pages improve your ranking in the local pack? Are you absolutely sure about this? I thought the whole point of location pages, was to try to rank organically for other areas because Google won't let you be visible in the map for those other areas?

Or have I got the wrong end here?