Adding Keyword Spam to a Business Name on Google My Business Leads to An Average Ranking Increase of More than 9 Positions on Google Maps According To A New Study

Content and keywords matter when it comes to ranking highly in Local search results. Now, a new study has proven just how much keywords matter even if the business is using unethical means. Joe Youngblood, a Dallas-based Local SEO expert and owner of a Local SEO agency, conducted the empirical study and reported the results on his website.

Discovering Results with Local Falcon

Joe used a freemium tool called Local Falcon which shows the business location rank for a particular keyword. Local Falcon scans Google Maps for this information. Joe writes, “The free version of this tool allows you to see a maximum of a 5 x 5 grid of rankings (or rankings at 25 different positions) within a 1 kilometer radius (0.62 miles) around the location in question. This is an invaluable tool for gauging how well a local business ranks inside of the mile radius around their location and it can help us understand the weight of different signals on the Google Local / Google Maps ranking algorithm”.

The tool is important because business owners will be able to determine their rank for certain keywords in certain areas.

Finding Spam Businesses

Joe used ReviewFraud.org to locate spammy businesses operating in the Dallas area. Here’s the shocking part of the story: Google hasn’t yet taken action against these businesses. Joe writes, “All of these had been reported to Google previously for spam violations and had yet to be removed or had action taken on them by Google’s spam team. That made these listings the perfect test subjects to measure just how much of an impact the name of a business might have on their Google Local / Google Maps rankings providing visual, real evidence of the weight the business name has in the local algorithm”.

These businesses commonly include spam in their names on Google My Business. For example, let’s say an attorney’s real business name is Price Law Firm. If they wanted to use spam, they could call themselves “Price Law Firm | Best DUI Lawyer”. There are actually real-world examples that spam along the same lines.

The Case of Jee Law

Jee Law is a perfect example. In Google My Business, here’s what their name looks like: “JEE LAW FIRM | DWI/DUI ATTORNEY | CRIMINAL/DEFENSE LAWYER”. Notice the keyword spam in their name. Let’s see what Joe found in regards to their Local SEO ranking.

Joe used Local Falcon to determine Jee Law Firm ranked at number 4. See the photo below.

What happens when the search is only for “Jee Law, PLLC”? Without the additional keywords added, the rankings fell sharply. You can see from the photo below that it went from being number 4 to numbers 6, 8, 11, 16, and 17. The keywords in a name matters.

Head over to joeyoungblood.com to see to full study.

Featured photo by Geralt on Pixabay

Jee Law Firm photos are screenshots by Gain Local