Marketers say succeeding on local search often simply comes down to a business's location, according to recent research from Moz.
The report was based on data from a survey of more than 1,400 local marketers who work either in-house for businesses or for agencies.
Nearly one-third (32%) of respondents say they believe proximity to the searcher is the most important factor that determines a high rank in Google's Local Pack (the small set of local business results that often appears at the top of search result pages).
Some 22% of respondents say local search is too diverse to identify a single top ranking factor.
Some 90% of marketers say that Google's focus on proximity frequently or sometimes harms the quality of local search results.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of marketers believe that Google is becoming the new homepage for local businesses.
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of more than 1,400 local marketers who work either in-house for businesses or for agencies.