According to MOZ, over 8% of organic searches have local intent. This makes local SEO and citations some of the most important aspects of digital marketers efforts. Without a strong citation strategy, your Local SEO will fall short in a fiercely competitve market. Digging a bit farther into local citations, we believe that the Google my business and local map packs hold some of the highest value for gaining potential customers impressions and traffic to your site.
With this recent increase in adjective based searches, Google has put an emphasis on rewarding companies that receive great reviews. As of April 26, 2017 a new Google map pack filter was added to reorder and rank these businesses based on their average review rankings when users choose to use terms like “best” with the core keywords. Another subtle change to the map pack is the highlighting of the new filter option based on average review ratings. Below is an example screenshot taken of same "best resturant near me" query, notice the 4.0+ rating is now highlighted to stand out for searchers.
If you would like more information on Local citations and Local SEO, and upgrading your local businesses online authority and precence, contact THAT Agency for a discovery meeting today.