Geographical Results in Universal SERPS
-
Hi Moz Pros!
I have been reading on the board for quite some time, despite all the insights you all share with us in the SEO world. I have a nut I can't crack and thought I would ask. Does any guru here know the factors google uses when they choose sites to add to GEO specific SERPS on a general query?
Here is an example. "Car insurance companies" Also attached.
Thanks for any input you'd be willing to share! 5Brenxf
-
One area search engines seem to be gravitating toward is granting strong product verticals with a history of online purchase behavior – a lean toward non-local results.
For many, you now need to be on a mobile device or type “near me” as part of the search query to trigger a map.
Understanding whether you have reached the “near me” need to even compete with national online sellers is important when strategizing and setting expectations.
Google uses the content on the page in conjunction with your search history and or location so all those insurance companies have pages that have content that is more relevant to your search query in Austin because they have the words Austin inside the content.
So if your Google and Amica insurance for liberty mutual are able to index a landing page with words Austin on it and you query it from an ISP within that area you will get the results shown to you. The only other way to get those results is through what Google has already learned about your search habits on the web they know where you are. So they're going to serve content that they think you like or content that you have been to more often.
I hope that makes sense,
Tom
-
I understand that - but what factors make that work?
-
Each one of those companies has a website that is targeted towards Austin. It’s a very big city and a large market google will customize the search for your location. Your ISP may be Comcast, Spectrum, Google Fiber, Verizon, AT&T whatever.
That ISP shares your rough location via your IP address this is picked up on by Google and they give a customized answer for your particular search history as well as your current location rather you’re on a mobile device or at home. Mobile devices are obviously more accurate most of the time because of GPS
See: https://support.google.com/optimize/answer/6283420?hl=en&ref_topic=6283433
SERP Snippets Are ‘
based on the user’s query‘
Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that Google will use the page meta description as the search snippet. The text featured in a Google search snippet is QUERY DEPENDANT and can change depending on the query.
“QUOTE: Keep in mind that we adjust the description based on the user’s query. So if you’re doing a site query and seeing this in your search results for your site that’s not necessarily what a normal user would see when they see a search as well.” John Mueller 2017
SERP Snippets Are ‘based on the user’s query‘
Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that Google will use the page meta description as the search snippet. The text featured in a Google search snippet is QUERY DEPENDANT and can change depending on the query.
“QUOTE: Keep in mind that we adjust the description based on the user’s query. So if you’re doing a site query and seeing this in your search results for your site that’s not necessarily what a normal user would see when they see a search as well.” John Mueller 2017
The meta description tag is still important from both from a human and search engine perspective, if used intelligently and properly.
QUOTE: “However** it can affect the way that users see your site in the search results and whether or not they actually click through to your site**. So that’s kind of one one aspect there to keep in mind.” John Meuller 2017
Example Code
If your page is INFORMATIONAL in nature, you can make it relevant to a valuable query you are focused on, but write it for humans, not just search engines. If the keyword phrase you are optimizing the page for is found in the meta description, you can usually depend on the meta description showing in Google listings. If the keyword in the search query is NOT present on the page, chances are your meta description WON'T show up.
Although meta descriptions should be UNIQUE – be sensible when manually writing unique meta description text that DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE PAGE – or you are just giving scrapers free text you are not getting any actual rankings to benefit from.
Google looks at the description but there is a debate whether it actually uses the description tag to rank pages (see tests and observations below). I think they might at some level, or for specific tests, or specific types of pages. From my testing, it is a very weak signal (if any) in INFORMATIONAL SERPs – and this is very reliant on the query. Google certainly indexes meta description for snippet display, not so much for ranking pages, in my observations.
It’s
Tom
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Blocking Dynamic Search Result Pages From Google
Hi Mozzerds, I have a quick question that probably won't have just one solution. Most of the pages that Moz crawled for duplicate content we're dynamic search result pages on my site. Could this be a simple fix of just blocking these pages from Google altogether? Or would Moz just crawl these pages as critical crawl errors instead of content errors? Ultimately, I contemplated whether or not I wanted to rank for these pages but I don't think it's worth it considering I have multiple product pages that rank well. I think in my case, the best is probably to leave out these search pages since they have more of a negative impact on my site resulting in more content errors than I would like. So would blocking these pages from the Search Engines and Moz be a good idea? Maybe a second opinion would help: what do you think I should do? Is there another way to go about this and would blocking these pages do anything to reduce the number of content errors on my site? I appreciate any feedback! Thanks! Andrew
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | drewstorys0 -
Im scoring 100% in the page optimization, wht else I need to do, because I rank 7-12 in search results
Hi All, Pls check the below url http://www.powerwale.com/inverter-battery for inverter battery keyword in google.co.in im scoring 100% in the page optimization, wht else I need to do, and also I still rank in between 7 to 12 in search results.. How can be in Top 3 search results.. Pls suggest.. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Rahim1191 -
Drop in SERPS and little movement after redesign
I took over a project in mid-March 2015. Rankings went from 5th page to roughly #11 - #13 (but never into first page). Launched a redesign on August 15, 2015. Rankings dropped from #11 - #13 down to #20. Weird part: On 3 different Mondays since Mid-August, I have noticed that the rankings shoot back up to about #11 in the morning, then drop back down to #20 by the evening. Three questions: 1. Has anyone seen a drop like this after redesign? (Assuming you kept the same content, just different layout). 2. Did it seem like the redesign resulted in some sort sandbox effect, where the rankings wouldn't move for a period of time? 3. Any advice on how to get it moving again? Or is this just a function of time? Ps. The interior pages are moving well. domain: getinjuryanswers.com KW: San Diego Personal Injury Lawyer, Personal Injury Lawyer San Diego I understand these are hyper-competitive terms. What puzzles me is how calcified the rankings appear to be.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrodriguez14400 -
Customer Experience vs Search Result Optimisation
Yes, I know customer experience is king, however, I have a dilema, my site has been live since June 2013 & we get good feedback on site design & easy to follow navigation, however, our rankings arent as good as they could be? For example, the following 2 pages share v similar URLs, but the pages do 2 different jobs & when you get to the site that is easy to see, but my largest Keyword "Over 50 Life Insurance" becomes difficult to target as google sees both pages and splits the results, so I think i must be losing ranking positions? http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning/Over-50-Life-Insurance.aspx http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning/Over-50-Life-Insurance/Compare-Over-50s-Life-Insurance.aspx The first page explains the product(s) and the 2nd is the Quote & Compare page, which generates the income. I am currently playing with meta tags, but as yet havent found the right combination! Originally the 2nd page meta tags were focussing on "compare over 50s life insurance" but google still sees "over 50 life insurance" in this phrase, so the results get split. I also had internal anchor text supporting this. What do you think is the best strategy for optimising both pages? Thanks Ash
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AshShep10 -
Google + pages and SEO results...
Hi, Can anyone give me insight into how people are getting away with naming their business by the SEO search term, creating a BS Google + page, then having that page rank high in the search results. I am speaking specifically about the results you get when you Google: "Los Angeles DUI Lawyer". As you can see from my attached screenshot (I'm doing the search in Los Angeles), the FIRST listing is a Google + business. Strangely, the phone number listed doesn't actually take you to a DUI attorney, but rather to some marketing group that never answers the phone. Can anyone give me insight into why Google even allows this? I just find it odd that Google cares so much about the user experience, but have the first result be something completely misleading. I know it sounds like I'm just jealous (which I am, a little), but I find it disheartening that we work so hard on SEO, and someone takes the top spot with an obvious BS page. UupqBU9
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrodriguez14400 -
No matter what I do, my website isn't showing up in search results. What's happening?
I've checked for meta-robots, all SEO tags are fixed, reindexed with google-- basically everything and it's not showing up. According to SEOMoz all looks fine, I am making a few fixes, but nothing terribly major. It's a new website, and i know it takes a while, but there is no movement here in a month. Any insights here?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Wabash0 -
Old URL showing up in SERPs 4 months after Re-direct
Hi guys, I did a full site redirect back in October to a new URL, SERPS eventually changed to the new URL and everything was fine. However recently i have started to see the old URL showing up? Anyone else seeing this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Martin_Harris0 -
How to Get Reviews Displaying in SERP, Like Amazon
Notice how Amazon has the reviews for the Kindle showing up right in the Organic Results; http://www.google.com/search?q=kindle&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a Is this a rich snippit example? If you have an ecommerce store and lots of reviews, how do you go about getting the same thing? Is Google just going to let Amazon do this, and other huge brands or is it fair game for everyone?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | iAnalyst.com0