WHAT IS THE RANKING IMPACT OF KEYWORDS IN THE LISTING NAME?

Our hypothesis is that incorporating exact or partial match keywords into a Google My Business (GMB) name significantly influences local search rankings, primarily when the search query exactly matches or closely aligns with the GMB name. We theorized that updating a GMB name to include exact geographic (geo) modifiers alongside service keywords (e.g., “Title Loans Miami” instead of “Go 2 Title Loans”) would result in enhanced visibility and higher rankings for searches that include those geo modifiers. Conversely, we also hypothesized that such modifications might not uniformly benefit all variations of the targeted keywords, especially for base terms without the geo modifier or when the order of the keywords in the search query differs from that in the GMB name.

Having your target “keyword” in your GMB name is something that gets talked about a lot in local SEO. We know the GMB name is a signal and is often considered the “most powerful”, but how well does it really work (aside from the risk of a soft or hard suspension)?

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