Proximity for local intent searches

[bjalc2011]

Based in the UK, I can see clear differences in search results for terms that Google considers have local intent, based on location. I'm interested in the community's experience of how far in distance local intent reaches. Does it depend on the search?, e.g. If I search for restaurant will it have a different local intent radius to a coffee shop etc.

[DiTomaso]

I'd disagree that it's fully on or fully off based on my experience, but I'm sure that it's different depending on country, ability for Google to judge location/intent etc.

[bjalc2011]

Hi Greg, thanks for taking the time to reply. I've outlined some further thoughts on my investigations around the size of the radius Google is using when considering  local intent in my comments to Dana. Interested in other members experiences.

[bjalc2011]

Hi Dana, that's an interesting insight about the major competitor outside the city limits. Most of my focus has been on results that don't offer Google Places/Google+ Local but still have local intent. It appears that the ranking boost from local intent is either fully-on or fully-off, because I can rank #1 for approx 40miles from the location of this particular service, but at 50 miles I'm on page 3. I am carrying on my testing, just interested in other members experiences.

[GregoryTK]

Hi Blaine, Dana,

Good remark Dana.  These competitors that are further away from the Centroid are the interesting ones to study since they probably have done something very well in order to overcome the bias... number of reviews (keywords in reviews?), great citations, incoming geographic anchor text, etc.

[GregoryTK]

Hi Blaine,

Can you please explain what you mean by "how far in distance local intent reaches"?

In the case of Google, your browser (desktop) will by default detect your location and then return results based on this. So if it detects that you are based in for example "Burnley" it will return pages and "places" (Local Pack) that are relevant as to your search (keyword) and location. There indeed is a Centroid Bias whereby Google will privilege organisations with a physical address closer to what Google Maps considers the centre of the location (town/city) your search originates from... Is this what you were referring to?

You probably knew all this already and I just stated the obvious... which then in turn means I probably didn't understand the question

Cheers

Greg

[DiTomaso]

In my experience, the area covered by the result map depends entirely on the results that Google feels are relevant. Here, I've seen a map far wider than the size of the city for a specific search because there's a major competitor outside the city limits.

Try searching for things that are a bit more industrial and therefore outside the city limits (usually) and see how it varies from the more neighbourhood-specific searches like coffee shop.