Proximity
How close the searcher is physically to your business location, which is one of Google's three main local ranking factors.
Proximity is how physically close the searcher is to your business, and it is one of the three things Google weighs on local searches. You cannot move your premises, so it sets a realistic limit on how far out you can rank. Local Owl plans around it instead of promising rankings across a whole city.
What it actually means.
Proximity is the distance between the person doing the search and your business location. It's one of the three pillars of local search ranking Google publicly acknowledges (the other two are Relevance and Prominence).
Proximity is the factor you can't change. Your address is your address. What you can do is make sure every other signal is optimized so that when you're within plausible range of a searcher, you outrank competitors at similar distances. You also build hyperlocal pages targeting nearby cities so Google has a reason to surface you to searchers slightly outside your immediate area.
Proximity is calibrated by query. 'Dentist' has a tight proximity radius (Google assumes you want one close). 'Cosmetic dentist specializing in veneers' has a much wider radius (Google assumes you'll travel for it). Knowing which queries have which radius shapes your content strategy.
Related terms.
Relevance
How well your business profile and website match what the searcher is asking for, the first of Google's three main local ranking factors.
Read definitionProminence
How well-known and trusted your business is across the web, the third of Google's three main local ranking factors.
Read definitionSAB
SAB stands for service-area business: one that travels to customers instead of serving them at a storefront, like plumbers, locksmiths and mobile groomers.
Read definitionWant this explained on a screenshare?
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