New Linkdex Geo-Ranking Research Identifies How Location of Search Affects Google Rankings for Advertisers and Websites

LONDON, August 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Linkdex, which provides natural search intelligence and data to businesses, reveals the findings from a new study for SEO which demonstrates how Google rankings are affected by the location of where the search is made.  Linkdex's Geo-Ranking research identified that no keyword appeared in a constant position across 10 UK locations, affecting a brand's search engine visibility both locally and nationally.

Matt Roberts, Vice-President Product of Linkdex explains, "By using Geo-Ranking insights, agencies and advertisers can obtain an accurate picture of a brand's ranking and optimise the site according to location, to ensure their products and services receive the same coverage and visibility regardless of geography. These insights are important to all SEO professionals whether they manage brands through an agency, or in-house, as it helps bring a tangible metric to natural search.  Knowing the metric of traffic is very important, and for many agencies and brands, more important than ranking.  Under-performance in certain locations presents an opportunity to increase traffic."

Key findings:

• No keyword appeared in a constant position across 10 UK locations
• On average, 67% of the time if a brand ranked in the top 30 for a keyword in one location, they will NOT rank for that keyword across all other locations
• When location is not set, the average keyword ranking deviates by a whole four positions
• National brands are affected by local brands and services (and vice versa) - performance can be very good in one location and poor in another showing clear opportunities for growing search engine traffic

Linkdex's research showed that while all business sectors were affected by Geo-Ranking, some sectors were more influenced than others.  For example, the Restaurants and Cafés sector is highly affected which leaves opportunity for a range of websites to compete, while the Finance category was less affected. A website ranking lower than the first page has every chance to move to a better position.  The data highlights for the first time, how Google is ranking sites regionally, nationally and globally.  

Steven Brown, Chief Executive of Linkdex adds, "Where a regional brand could expect to dominate in their 'home town' showed surprising results. A digital household name brand, with no 'bricks and mortar' retail location was being ranked solely by its regional head office address; and a brand with 250 locations nationally, was only ranking on some of its regional locations, and not on any of its flagship stores. Geo-Ranking allows brands to understand the challenges they face: on keyword terms where places results appear and those where they don't."

Variability is not only evident where Google+ Local pages or Google Maps appear in the search results page; all keywords in the research were affected by Geo-Variance, half of which did not trigger local results.

The Linkdex Geo-Rankings research, which was conducted in July 2012 over three weeks, used a segmented dataset of 2,000 keywords and phrases for 10 UK locations, across a mixture of business sectors and names.  An algorithm was applied, based on "pooled variance" giving it a Geo-Variance score: an equal measure to every URL that ranked for the keyword anywhere in the 10 locations in the UK.  Similar research has been conducted in the USA.

Linkdex provides tools and platforms for Geo-Optimisation available to agencies and advertisers, including the new Geo-Ranking platform.  White papers detailing the findings from the Geo-Ranking research in UK and US are available here.  

Editor's Notes

• Linkdex conducted and self-funded the research, developing the Geo-Ranking tool as a consequence; together with methodology to help brands to evaluate and respond to any Geo-Variability in a given market sector across geographic location. Both whitepapers can be accessed here http://www.linkdex.com/about/features/geo-rankings/

UK Survey

• 10 UK locations were used in the survey: No Location; London; Manchester; Birmingham; Edinburgh; Torquay; Norwich; postcode specific: SW6 6NU (Fulham), BA1 5ET (Bath) and SO23 7EA (Winchester)

US Survey

• 10 US locations were used in the survey: No Location; Charlotte, NC; New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; Burlington, VT; Houston, TX; Wichita, KS; ZIP 20525 (Washington, DC); ZIP 19019 (Philadelphia, PA).

About Linkdex http://www.linkdex.com

Linkdex, the leading enterprise platform, provides natural search intelligence enabling businesses to benchmark, value and optimise their performance through time.  Linkdex allows businesses & agencies, often working together, to make insight driven decisions on budgets and strategy while improving their natural search performance using the platform's reporting and campaign management capabilities.