Ah the wonderful world of Google Places – or I guess now Google+ Local. It can easily be your friend or enemy when trying to keep your location information up to date and correct. But outside of the struggles and triumphs of keeping your listing up to date there is the question of “How do I rank for relevant searches in my area?”. Whether it’s a 10, 7, or 3 pack you have your eye on (Google is constantly toying with the local results “pack”) there are key things you can do to increase your chances of out ranking the other guy. Thanks to David Mihm and his yearly survey we can see what factors are viewed as the most important. Below are this year’s top 10 ranking factors to help you in your quest for #1.

1. Physical Address in City of Search (PLACE PAGE)
2. Proper Category Associations (PLACE PAGE)
3. Proximity of Address to Centroid (PLACE PAGE)
4. Domain Authority of Website (WEBSITE)
5. Quantity of Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators) (OFF-SITE)
6. City, State in Places Landing Page Title (WEBSITE)
7. Quantity of Native Google Places Reviews (w/text) (REVIEWS)
8. Quality/Authority of Structured Citations (OFF-SITE)
9. Local Area Code on Place Page (PLACE PAGE)
10. HTML NAP Matching Place Page NAP (WEBSITE)