Trying to understand the Google algorithm can feel like an exercise in futility. Just when you think you have it mostly down, the search engine changes things up. Google has made a number of changes over the years, and this has kept digital marketers on their toes and continually moving the goalposts on SEO best practices.
The continuous updating that occurs from within Google can hit local businesses as hard as anybody. Every time there’s a tweak to the algorithm, there’s an equal impact to their search rank that could even have such a harsh effect as preventing them from appearing on the first page of search results for targeted queries. hat makes things really tricky is that Google doesn’t always telegraph the changes it makes or how they’ll impact organizations. Savvy observers will be able to deduce what has been altered and understand what it means for SEO and digital marketing strategies.
What’s been the evolution of local search? How did we get there? Brian Smith has written a post that shows us the history of Google’ local algorithm and its effect on brick and motar locations.