Difference in SERP's based on location?

[smithaa02]

Just recently a competitor jumped like 5 spots in the SERP's but only for local listings (so for 'change location' I specify the local city).

But if I specify a different city (still in the US) they fall back down.

Anybody know why google would reward website A more so for their local SERPs compared to non-local serps?

[goodroi]

Depending on the keyword it can be a significant help to users to boost the rankings of local websites. Imagine someone searching google for "coffee shops". It would likely be more satisfying to that user if Google shows coffee shop websites that are close to their physical vicinity.

Google personalizes the serps based on you location, previous searches and click history to name just a few ways they do it.

You might want to think about what location signals your website is showing to Google.

[deadsea]

I work with a website that runs a national service but has a corporate headquarters here. When we search for the relevant keywords for our service in this area, we do really, really well in the SERPs, and it lists our address next to the listing. If you do a search through a proxy server, we don't rank as well.

We'll take the rankings, but since we don't actually offer local services at our corporate HQ, the boost that Google is giving us locally doesn't make much sense.

[smithaa02]

So goodroi, once google kicks into 'local mode' does this vary for other local visitors? So my search history (including searching my competitors website) could influence this?

For us, these local visitors represent most of our business so this is key...are there other factors that help local SERP's that might not affect 'global serps'?

[deadsea]

It appears that google is filling in the organic SERPs with top results from map search. I don't have personal experience ranking in the local map results but I've read:
1) Physical address in the city
2) Address close to what Google views as the city center
3) Business name that includes business type "Tasty Chinese Restaurant" as opposed to "Tasty Delight"
4) Good reviews on places, yelp, and other review sites