The Google Gas Mask
Technically it’s not new. It’s something that Google has been running for several years, but day by day it’s been slowly progressing to a much larger problem for eCommerce sites and companies with a global presence without a physical location, compared to local businesses such as a pizza shop that has a local presence. We love local businesses, in fact we try to service and assist local businesses as much as possible. They are the backbone of the economy.
However only CERTAIN types of local businesses have tended to do better over the course of time in Google’s serps due to the Geographic nature of Google’s results.
Backlinks, content and all count just as before but only on a local term.
You’ll see a graphic below showing Before and After Smartphones entered the market.
As you can tell, the results look somewhat like a gas mask with the great wall of Google putting up a barrier between locations.
The e-commerce store in Allentown, PA isn’t going to rank in Buffalo, New York.