Site analysis of 150k SMBs reports Yelp in 92% of local SERPs but GMB still dominates

Adam Doppelt, Founder at Fresh Chalk, analyzed 150,000 SMB sites to help determine what gives the top performing sites their edge in local SEO. In the first part of his SMB site teardown series, Doppelt published key findings that included the use of noindex, mentioning the BBB, and Yelp’s dominance in organic local SERPs.

• Nearly 2% of small business websites are blocking search engines with noindex (Doppelt says Squarespace is to blame)
• Sites that mention BBB outrank those that don’t by 18%
• Yelp appears in top five search results for 92% of Google search queries that include the city and topic

Yelp dominates organic but can’t beat GMB

Organic SERPs aren’t what they used to be. Yelp’s dominance in organic local SERPs sounds impressive, but it’s not when you realize GMB pushes them well down below the fold.

Coywolf asked Doppelt about the impact GMB has on Yelp’s organic results and he stated, Google’s strategy is simple. Plaster Google links above the search results while the rest of us fight it out for scraps down below. He doesn’t think it’s all doom and gloom though. He said, there’s still an opportunity to dominate the SERPs, even as Google eats into the overall traffic sent to that part of the page.

Even so, the big question is how much opportunity. Especially as GMB continues to add new features and push results by competitors further down the page.

Jon Henshaw

Jon is the founder and Managing Editor of Coywolf. He is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in web development, SaaS, internet strategy, and digital marketing. Follow @henshaw