7 factors that may change how you do local SEO

An expert analysis of the 2026 Local Ranking Factors

December 04, 2025

As the year comes to an end, it’s important for all local SEO agencies and business owners to revisit their local search strategy in preparation for the new year.

The 2026 Local Search Ranking Factors is a great starting point for this preparation, and Miriam Ellis just put out an excellent post about the top 7 factors that might change the way you think about and do local SEO in 2026.

For example, being aware of your competitors’ wild tactics to influence behavioral signals is key to your own local search success. How do you feel about losing $100,000 contracts to competitors’ popups, which you may have dismissed as being too annoying to implement on your own sites? 🫠

Miriam discusses this in more detail, plus how:

  • Hiding SAB GBP addresses may not impact rank like you think it does

  • Treating hours of operation as an afterthought? Think again

  • Saying citations are dead is… dead

  • Reviews are an entrée, not a side dish

  • The stickiness of keywords in GBP business titles continues

  • Google is listening to your calls, which might influence your ranking 👀

Go read her full article and get ready for another year of successful local search marketing 👇️

Darren