Local Search Ranking Factors, 2010 Highlights

David Mihm has published this year’s Local Search Ranking Factors report. It’s the collected opinions and research of 30 different search experts, all in one place.
I was a contributor, but a few findings still made me re-open my bag of tricks and add some new ones.
First, everyone agrees that adding photos to a profile is a huge factor. So start snapping pix!
I didn’t agree on this one, but some of the contributors feel that having a local phone number on the site is a big ranking factor.
Finally, some contributors think a matching Google account helps local listing rank higher. Again, I disagree – I see too many hijacked and spam local pages ranking #1 in local search. But I’m not about to duel expertise with these folks in local search – they’ll kick my butt from here to Canada.
In the wish-this-would-change-but-it-never-will, microformats still make no difference.
And, in the man-I-hope-that-isn’t-the-case, most of the group thinks that MyMaps citations are important. I’m revving up my script submitter right now.
If you’re doing local SEO of any kind, you need to check it out:

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