SEO | Search Engine Optimization Company

Some experts claim that Google scores business addresses higher that are closer to the city center and that suggests you should move your business closer to your city’s center in order to position yourself higher in local search results.

Physically doing this may not be cost effective (downtown office space tends to be at a premium) and while a virtual office may indeed get you much closer to a theoretical center of town inexpensively… before you jumpstart this premise maybe we should take a closer look at the overall foundation.

My first question to an expert would be: “How does Google determine city center”?

Google certainly doesn’t just guess at it – there must be some overlying criteria. 

A fixed point on some map based on centrical circles could be a possibility but what actually defines a “center”? Where city hall is? Where the residents of the community classify as “downtown”? …which can be in many coastal cities at the extreme edge of the city.

An interesting point of principle here — local search is primarily based on geo-targeting; thus by design, the center ‘point’ isn’t based on any fixed geographical landmass but the specific computer system that is doing the browsing as well as its local Internet access provider’s location. That may indeed be “downtown” but it can be everywhere else and in large cities in multiple locations.

It is true that if your primary customer base is physically located downtown – their Internet access provider would also be in the geographical vicinity and then the original premise might well be correct but if downtown is not full of residential communities and you are a retail outlet – closer to downtown may indeed be the worse move you could ever make.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that if your business (and ISP) is located at an edge of a major city you are much closer to the ring of smaller communities and suburbs than providers on the far side and you’ll rank exceptional better in these areas.

So while geo-location is a factor if there is need of a shift – being in the same building of your best customers’ ISP would be the correct location.