Local SEO Services

Review HELPER offers all the services needed to help you rank well in search engines for local queries.

Local queries are searches for products and services (mainly services) in a specific local market—e.g., auto body los angeles, plastic surgeon chicago, caterer atlanta. To rank well is is to be highly visible on the search engine results page (SERP) for those queries.

The term Local SEO refers to the fact that local queries get special treatment.

(We're going to speak only about Google because it enjoys two-thirds market share in Search, although most of the principles and guidelines apply to Bing and other search engines.)

The Local SERP

Google's search engine results page (SERP) has space dedicated to local businesses. In addition to the regular organic results and pay-per-click ads, you'll often find a box at or near the top of the organic search results. The box contains three local business listings underneath a map of the area, showing where the three listed businesses are located. This is section is called the Google Snack Pack.


For each business, the number of Google reviews, their rating, and a link to the reviews are provided, as well as the street name(but not the address) and hours of operation. Links are also provided for the business's website and the Google Map page for the business. Mobile users get a call button to call the business directly.

At the bottom of the Snack Pack is a link to an expanded page that gives all business listings in the location, in the same format as the little Snack Pack listings but which can be scrolled, and a huge map on the right.


And if you click on one of the Snack Pack listings—but only on the full page of business listings—a knowledge-graph feature box of information about the business, including the full street address, will open in the map area.


At least this is what Google offers as of this writing. A week earlier Google showed Pack-7 local listings for many business categories and Snack Packs for others, and several months earlier there were no Snack Packs but instead a colorful interactive carousel of listings at the top of the SERP. So who knows what you might find today? Google is constantly changing.

Pigeon: The Local Algorithm

Google and other search engines determine rankings for any search based on many different factors, each weighted differently. (It's been said that Google uses some 200 factors.) Google also has a special algorithm for local queries called Pigeon, which seeks to deliver more relevant results for local queries. It integrates with Google Maps to better factor in actual distance and location in determining rankings. But there are many factors that come into play.

One current topline aspect of the Pigeon algorithm it may be helpful to know is that Pigeon currently favors large directories, which is why you find so many directories on the SERP, e.g., four Yelp pages as the first four organic results. It's worth mentioning because Review HELPER has some special capabilities that allow us to turn this into a competitive advantage for our clients.

Review HELPER's Services

The pie chart at the top of this page (explained in the next section) illustrates the consensus of many local SEO professionals as to the most influential categories of ranking factors for local queries. For example, the factors that can be grouped under links (back-links, external links), account for about 18.3 percent of the weighting in Google's local search algorithm, while on-page factors—i.e,. everything having to do with what's on your website itself—account for 21 percent.

We offer services that address each major group of factors: on-page optimization, link building, external location signals (i.e., web directories/citations), Google My Business, and reviews acquisition.

These general categories of factors, and our services to optimize them for you, are explained in some detail on separate pages in this Local SEO section. We recommend you review these pages in chronological order, and especially start with Local Search Rankings Factors, and then read Own the SERP! Strategy.

HOME: Local SEO Services Local Search Rankings Factors Own the SERP! Strategy On-page Optimization Link Building Citations (IYP/ Directories) Google My Business Review Acquisition