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In today’s competitive digital landscape, marketers leverage tools like SEMRush, LocalFalcon, and BizMapIQ to track their auto repair shops' online presence through position-tracking reports. While these tools provide valuable insights, it’s essential to recognize their limitations, especially when it comes to accurately reflecting the nuances of Google’s search algorithm. 
Lack of User Data to Guide the Google Algorithm in Generating the SERP (Search Engine Result Page)
Position tracking tools often fail to capture critical user data, such as real-time behavior and geographic context, leading to discrepancies between what these reports show and how auto repair businesses truly perform in local searches.
Be aware of these shortcomings to avoid making misguided decisions based solely on rank reports that lack vital user information. In the following article, we explore why user data plays a crucial role in shaping the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) and how a more comprehensive approach is essential for driving meaningful SEO performance.
Results Show for Businesses Outside of the Geographic Area the Tool is Set to Track
There are reasons why Google can show results for businesses far outside the geographic area of the person searching. Specifically, when there is local intent in the search phrase, like "auto repair shop near me," this could result from local services and IP issues, personalization, and historical search history, or Algorithmic testing by Google and Bugs in the algorithm.
Search Query Ambiguity may cause Google to interpret the search query in a way that emphasizes the "best" part rather than the "near me" part in a search phrase like "best auto repair shop near me." This can lead to results highlighting highly rated or well-known businesses, even if they are not geographically close. The lack of location data and search history compounds this.
In the Search Engine Result Page below, a business located 10 miles from the zip code SEMRush is set to track is featured in the knowledge panel. (Knowledge panels are information boxes that appear on Google when you search for entities (people, places, organizations, things) that are in the Knowledge Graph.) The Zip code 20002 is in the Washington DC Metro area, which contains 25-30 auto repair shops. Again, this shows that the lack of location data and search history creates data points that are inaccurate.
Listing Directories That Feature the Tracked Business in the Search Engine Result Page Are Not Considered
The visibility of local business names in the search engine result page (SERP) on sites like Yelp, TheBestRated.com, and Reddit can significantly influence consumer interaction and behavior. Here's how:
- Increased Trust and Credibility: When consumers see a business name featured prominently on trusted review sites like Yelp, they may perceive the business as more credible. Consumers often trust third-party review platforms, and this increased trust can lead to more significant interaction with the business, either through direct website visits or further exploration in the SERP.
- Brand Awareness and Recognition: If a business name appears multiple times across different sections of the SERP, such as in review sites and the local pack, it can increase brand recognition. Repeated exposure to the business name can build familiarity and increase the likelihood of consumers choosing that business when making a purchase decision.
- Search Behavior Shift: Seeing a business name on a trusted platform like Yelp might prompt users to search for that business directly. For example, if a business name is featured prominently in Yelp listings but also appears in Google's local pack, consumers might bypass review sites and directly click on the local pack listing or perform a direct search for the business.
The Captured Search Engine Result Page is Structured in a Non-standard Way That is Unlikely to Be Served to a Human
In this example, the local pack is shown below the organic placements. The local pack is to appear prominently and contain a map with three local business listings, making it one of the first things users see. It is rare that a local business would be shown in a result above a Local Pack.
Filtering Listing Directories to Benchmark Performance Against Other Local Businesses is Not Considered
There are exceptions when the local pack may appear below the organic results, though this is less common. The exact position can depend on various factors, such as when local business listings are particularly strong or relevant for that search. In this case we would want to filter to only see local businesses that are true competitors.
In the screenshot above, Yelp has two placements above the Local Pack. Competing with Yelp for the organic placement will be challenging. The same applies to the Firestone placement, as the Firestone website is essentially a listing site with auto repair shops spread across the country. Removing these moves the Local Pack up in the Search Engine Result Page by three placements.
The Tools Do Not Present Data in an Actionable Way
Understanding aggregated ranking is a data point, but significant work is required to make it actionable for a local business. How are competitors influencing Google search traffic?
- Paid Search and Display Advertising to generate more users and user data.
- Legacy marketing strategies like email marketing to generate more users and user data.
- Social Media Strategy to drive users to the website.
- Beyond the traditional Local Listings directories: Bimmershops.com, Nextdoor, Hybridshoplocator.com, etc.
- Offline Marketing: Print, Direct Mail, Billboard, Traditional Radio, The Local Diner Menu, Non-profit publications like schools and churches, etc.
So, How Do I Know If I am Ranking for a Keyword?
Legacy SEO may have a focus on a website rank, but SEO 2024.5 focuses on generating healthy traffic from actual consumers in the market for auto repair and service. A position tracking tool may show that a business is not ranking in a geographic area, yet the business website has organic users from the geographic area.
A SEMRush Map Rank Tracker report for an auto repair shop in Denver, Colorado shows that the business is ranking in Englewood in the 20+ position. There are 20-25 auto repair shops in Englewood. The business in the report is about 6 miles from Englewood.
In the chart below we can see that the website is receiving organic traffic from Englewood. We can conclude that the business does rank organically in Englewood and consumers are finding them on Organic Search. Due to consumer privacy concerns we cannot make the correlation from Google Analytics Search Term Query data to Search Console sessions by keyword data. So we cannot determine which keywords are driving traffic from which suburbs of Denver. 
The key takeaway is that we must focus on getting valuable users to an auto repair shop website. We can do this with an SEO 2024.5 strategy. Leveraging traditional SEO best practices (Legacy SEO), then turbo-charging our efforts with progressive marketing strategies.
In the days of the phone book, the yellow pages gave us a free business listing. To enhance the listing so that more consumers would find us, and consider choosing us, we had to leverage a paid ad strategy. Then look outside of the phone book to drive consumers to our listing directly. At Business Actualization™ we specialize in auto shop SEO and paid marketing strategies. Check out this article to dive deeper: Understanding Auto Shop SEO: Why Consumer Behavior is the Key to Geographic Ranking
