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My business is located near the seafront and some people think that's pretty neat as I'm able to spend my lunches on the beach, however today it just came to me that maybe my business is at a serious SEO disadvantage by being located near the ocean sea.

You might be thinking that I'm bonkers right about now... but hear me out! It is my understanding that Google's local search results are based on positive local signals and domain authority. The more positive signals your business has, the better it ranks on Google Local, but not only that, your business can reach further away from your physical location, e.g. from 5 miles to 10miles.

If Google does indeed work on a similar system surely that means my business and many others located near the sea are at a huge disadvantage. A example of this can be seen below, if this is indeed true then half of my customers are mermaids.

google Local Radius Near Ocean Sea

Question(s):

  1. Will locating my business away from the ocean increase my customer reach via Google Local search results?
  2. When Google increases the reach is that as straight forward as a 'radius' increase?
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    At first I thought we were being trolled... – John Conde♦ Oct 26 '16 at 17:22
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    Love it. And all the sea creatures love it too. – Stephen Ostermiller♦ Oct 26 '16 at 17:28
  • I can imagine all those fishermen can use your assistance. Especially with mobile! ;-) You actually have a point since any signals would essentially be cut in half. That means you have to twice as good. I always thought you were much better than just about anyone... so you should be okay. Cheers!! – closetnoc Oct 26 '16 at 21:38
  • ^ Guys add your bounty in this question. It should be view by all user. – Goyllo Oct 27 '16 at 17:27
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  1. Guaranteed Google knows the difference

  2. Google won't tell you anyway

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    There's not really anything here that's terribly useful. Can you offer anything that as a resource or logical explanation that can support this? – John Conde♦ Oct 26 '16 at 19:56
  • @JohnConde The problem with the question is that it wants to know how Google works and no one knows that but Google. Yes, I hesitated to answer at all. – Rob Oct 26 '16 at 20:36
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I'm sure Googles algorithm is sophisticated enough to determine that an Ocean is there. If signals and DA from other businesses count towards your business Local then whatever businesses are within the remaining radius (not the sea) are what would count towards this. I highly doubt anyone will have any sources of information from Google itself. (At least from what I've searched for anyway).

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  • Well Google's stance on the matter could be that customers need to travel double the distance... so it means Google needs to double the distance for businesses near seafronts. I personally believe they are treated the same and hoping that this question has been asked to Google since its not something they need to keep a secret unlike other things. – Simon Hayter♦ Oct 27 '16 at 16:34

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