Radius Size around GMB location for google local search

[GaryT_SEO]

We are a digital marketing agency

Our clients are (virtually all) retail automotive dealerships.

We compete in various market places coast to coast (USA).

Since Google puts retail automotive dealerships under Local SEO umbrella, is it known ( published ) how large is the radius around my client's Google My Business rooftop's address? How wide is their search 'reach' according to Google?

Asked another way, in a triangular, three SEO geo area, with one city being at the epicenter of the population dispersion, and my client, versus my client's competitors being different distances from where the majority of the population emanates from, all other SERP factors being equal (assumption) between the two competitors, how far is each clients REACH from a Local Search standpoint.

Is this known? Published by Google.

ONE example: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/BMW+of+South+Albany,+U.S.+9W,+Glenmont,+NY/42.7662693,-73.8138088/@42.6727121,-73.7993527,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dde0fe8829c405:0xd915fb9b3b60bf33!2m2!1d-73.7973301!2d42.589211!1m0!3e0

[MiriamEllis]

Thanks for the further details, and shalom to your wife and family.

[GaryT_SEO]

Here is LIKE the situation I am talking about.  In the Capital District of NY State 'Albany' is the hub. But, 20 minutes east is Rensselaer County with "Troy" as it's hub city and to the west is Schenectady County with the City of Schenectady as it's hub. That's the triangulation here, but, not unique to here ...and we encounter this situation coast to coast ( we have clients coast to coast ).  So, as mentioned, I'm using my 'hometown' as an example, because I am most familiar with this locale, but, this applies in other areas too ... an example, Baltimore Maryland and it's suburbs.  Oklahoma City, OK and it's suburbs etc. etc.

In the Capital District of NY State the overall population is 1,000,000. 1mm people and 5 Honda Dealerships all sharing that market.  So even though 1 Honda Dealership is in Troy (Rensselaer) and 1 Honda Dealership is in Schenectady and 1 Honda Dealership is in Albany, they are all close enough together that they all sell cars to people who live and work in the competitors market.  20 Minutes apart at the points of the triangle more or less.

MY client is an outlier. It's GMB address and physical location is "Latham" NY.  Not Albany Schenectady or Troy. Another outlier that falls in the into the same scenario is Saratoga Honda.  They are a bit north ... but very competitive and the same marketplace / same customer demographics.  Clifton Park has a lot of buyers - nearer to Saratoga ...but no dealership is there. Now our area is big enough and Honda is a big enough brand, that I am just talking about HONDA in the "Greater Capital District" as an example, but, you could do the same thing with Nissan, or Toyota, or Ford, or GMC ....etc.

So, I am being 'specific' with my example, but it applies more generally.  Now in your reply it seems you may have thought I was talking about USED car dealerships.  Yes, in any area this size they are a dime a dozen and we don't represent too many used car dealerships.  We are too pricey and they don't have the budgets for us.  So, even though we are not, as a place of business, rooftop, address representing a client with the best advantage point, we are 'good enough' that we can rank our client ... not IN the Albany or Schenectady or Troy location, but, in the Local Pac 2 or 3 in any of those areas ... cuz ...we're good.

Good discussion ... but gotta run now.  The first night of Chanukah, my wife is Jewish ... shalom.

[MiriamEllis]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer, and yes, I understood exactly what you are describing.

So, the one common exception I have seen to the rule of thumb that you can't rank where you don't have a physical presence is when Google doesn't have enough results within a single city. So, if you're one of only 3 gas stations serving 10 towns in a rural area, you have a very good chance of ranking for all 3 towns.

I'm not sure how competitive your XYZ area is, Gary. Where I live, any town with an "auto row" has tons and tons of dealerships. So, I wouldn't expect a dealership in town X to show up in the results for town Y, because town Y has 15+ dealerships of its own. What's the situation where you are?

[oomdomarketing]

Yes.

Yes we do see what you described. Backing up, the our client being client X in the XYZ triangulation that I described and you referenced / questioned ... the 'example' I am using is a real life 'hometown' example.  As it is our near our agency's location, I am intimately familiar with the geography.  I am using it as an 'example' in posing my question(s) (which your thoroughly answered thank you very much) but I am using that same scenario to extrapolate to other geographic areas we serve where have new car manufacturers of ABC make and competitor #2 and competitor #3 that also rank and serve in the same geosphere. And yes, while our client may rank #1 in their hometown city, they may also rank #2 or #3 in the competitor's city, which is GOOD (for us and them).  And, the question that you asked, in reverse, yes, while our client is ranking #1 in their hometown geosphere, the other competitors of the same ABC manufacturer may rank #2 or #3 in our client's hometown.  So there don't seem to be any anomalies in the WAY Google does it. And, the way you described Google does it makes sense and is 'fair', I am just trying to find a way to gain an advantage (totally whitehat way) ... not to game the google search methods, but to play my hand as best I can to give MY clients ... the upperhand.  Didn't spend much time wordsmithing this reply so I hope it all makes sense.

But, yes, we can rank (but not number one) in their backyard as it were.

And they can rank, and do, (but not number one) in our backyard.

And yes, your explanation is confirmation of what I thought I had learned and understand, but, what I REALLY wanted was for there to be a radius ... a defined distance in miles or minutes (driving) that would constitute what IS my client's 'backyard'  ... so I could devise strategies to sneak into my competitor's backyard, maybe under the dark of night, without them seeing and 'steal' some pagerank.

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation/answers M.E. Hope my reply made sense to you.  Gary@OOMDO - Digital Marketing Defined ... using Michael Donovan's sign in (he's the bossman).  Thanks So Much

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Michael,

Nice to know my name is one your cherished family members had (may they rest in peace), and thanks for the kind words in your reply. I'm sorry if what I was describing was a bit basic - stuff you already knew, but it does sound like that city-specific ranking bias of Google's is the cause of what your clients are experiencing in the more populous area you've described. One thing I am curious about, and would like to ask you as you've been looking so much at the results in this tri-city area. Let's say your client is in city X in the XYZ of this triangulation. Do you ever see competitors in city Y ranking in the local packs for cities X and Z, or competitors in city Z ranking in the local packs for X and Y? Just curious.

I know what you mean about spurious agencies offering your client the impossible, and yikes, the client taking the bait. So frustrating when that happens. Likely, the best thing to recommend to the client in city X is to invest in Adwords so that they can show up in the paid results for cities Y and Z.

Enjoyed your reply very much!

[oomdomarketing]

Great Answer Miriam!  I thought of you as / after I wrote it.  I also thought it would be rather presumptuous of me to write to you directly, so, I was rather pleased when it was you who replied.

I think our paths crossed one other time in the 2.5 years I have been doing this ( SEO-Automotive).

Your answer was very clear and complete and I like to think of its comprehensiveness as 'thorough'.

What you answered I knew - or have experienced - but still greatly appreciated and well explained.

What I didn't know - and now know - is the answer is "NO" .... ha ha ha amused at my alliteration.

What I wanted the answer to be was: 30 miles.  Or an hour's drive. I wanted simple - definitive.

But, it is what it is.  We have dealers in less populated areas where the OWN the market. Then we have dealers in a geo areas where they are the 'best' dealer in the geo area ( 3 cities 30 mile triangle) but their location is not in the middle of the triangle and not near the most heavily populated area. So, whereas they rank #1 for their city/location it seems impossible to get them to rank #1 in the city/location that has the larger population.  From a practical standpoint, they get their share of customer traffic from within the triangulated area, no doubt, and, they rank either #2 or at least #3 in the other city/locations, but, where this comes to a head is when Agency / Competitors of OURS are knocking on their doors and pointing out ( I didn't say promising) ... " hey, look, you don't rank #1 in cityY or cityZ "  ... and they imply that their agency could achieve that ranking.  Anyway, I blather on ... you get it.  I get it. I just wanted a different answer because the explanation you provided can be a little elusive to the Principal that get's selling cars, that gets more organic traffic = more sold cars, that gets more organic traffic is the best conversion rate, that gets organic traffic may be the best ROI  ... he / they get all that, but, maybe not the principles of Local SEO ... not so much.

Thanks for your thoroughness ... Miriam was my mom's mom's name (both deceased). Thanks again.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Gary,

Great question. The answer is, no, I don't believe that is a "known" quantity, because it would vary for each scenario, each search. How frequently one of your clients appears in the results is going to be based on a) it's strength, b) the strength and number of nearby competitors it has and c) the location of the searcher. So, as you can imagine, that varies, search by search, user by user.

A given in any scenario is that a business is only likely to rank for both truly local and remote searchers for the city in which it is physically located. So, let's say you have a dealership in Dallas. Someone in Dallas searches for "auto dealership" and your client has a good chance to rank for that. Someone in Sugar Land searches for "auto dealership Dallas", and, again, your client can rank for that. But, if someone in Sugar Land searches just for "auto dealership", Google is going to show him Sugar Land results, and your client won't be included in those because they are located in Dallas.

The variables in the scenario relate to the exact proximity of a user to your business at the time of search. A searcher in a Central Dallas neighborhood looks for "auto dealership" on his device, and Google is most likely to show him dealerships that are closest to him. If he then drives over to the Park Cities neighborhood and performs the same search, his results are likely to change to that geographic area of the city. But, if the searcher is, say, 10 miles outside of Dallas, searching for "auto dealerships Dallas", Google defaults to a different type of result for him, which appears to be based more on authority than proximity.

So, those are basically the elements that you have to take into consideration in trying to understand the reach of a given business. You have to consider the location of the searcher, as well as the level of competition both right next to the business, and within its entire city or zip code.

Not a simple answer, I know! But, I hope it helps.