Location, location, location is a frequently repeated mantra when it comes to real estate, and the physical location of your business has major ramifications for you if you’re in the retail industry.
Guess what? Your physical location is now just as important in the online world. As more and more potential customers turn to local search engines like Google, your physical location plays a greater role in your business potential.
Google’s local search algorithm gives very strong preference to sites that are located near the city center. You can usually find this point by searching Google maps for “Cityname, State” and seeing where it places the pointer. While Google’s algorithm is still developing (and will surely change in the future), the distance between your business and the city center plays a major role in where your business will appear in Google Local search rankings.
To witness this effect, search for something like “restaurant cityname, state” and you will typically see a listing of ten restaurants within a city, in a circular pattern around the city center. As you go through the results page, you will see that the business listings tend to fall further and further from the city center.
While other factors like customer reviews and online mentions of your business do play a role and can help you leapfrog other businesses in the local rankings, having a physical location near the city center gives you a big head start over the competition.
What does this mean? It means that SEO and local search engines are factors that you will not be able to ignore for long. As more users turn to search engines, your offline business will need a savvy online presence to survive.
