Ranking isn't what it used to be. With growing levels of consumers searching through mobile devices, local intent has been integrated into search results. But not all searches are created equal---while the majority of users might be making local queries, Google's relevance algorithm is sophistaced enough to know that a small percentage of users are still searching for general (not localized) results.
With that being said, with so much traffic shifting to mobile, the questions of ranking and its accepted definition may become obsolete. Location is far more powerful as it indicates relevance of mobile devices than desktop. But the shift towards location-based relevance makes it obvious that larger companies who have personalization down are the only ones to win this ever-evolving game.
So what does the growth of mobile mean for the role of local search today? Read my article on Street Fight to learn more.
