Join us in Dallas for LocalU
October 20, 2026 - Just $299
Google Confirms CTR is a Ranking Factor in Local SEO
After I posted this article, the messaging on Google actually changed. Barry Schwartz captured a before/after screenshot in his Search Engine Land article.
Bill Slawski also posted about this and concluded “Do click-throughs determine whether certain pages appear in search results? We can’t be certain, but it appears like a possibility”.
Previously the communication directly from Google clarified that ranking in the local 3-pack was based mainly on 3 things:
- Relevance: Relevance is how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for. Adding complete and detailed business information can help us better understand your business and match you to relevant search results.
- Distance: Just like it sounds — how far is each potential search result from the location term used in a search? If you don’t specify a location in your search, we’ll calculate distance based on what we know about your location.
- Prominence: This describes how well-known or prominent a business can be. This is based on information we have about a business from across the web (like links, articles, and directories). Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and we try to reflect this online as well. For example, famous museums, landmark hotels, or well-known store brands that are familiar to many people are also likely to be more prominent in search results.
Those of us in this industry have known this for some time. However, yesterday, a thread from a Google employee added a 4th factor that I have never seen anyone at Google state before:
- Search history: In the past how many times has the listing been clicked on by users searching with the keyword.
They also proceeded to give some tips on what business owners should do with their profiles but this 4th factor really stuck out to me since so many reputable individuals in the Local SEO space have done tests on this but we have never seen Google actually come out and confirm it.
Join us in Dallas for LocalU
[…] wanted to post it here as well since poor Linda hasn't been feeling well. Google has confirmed that CTR is a ranking factor in the 3-pack. Many of us have speculated this and done tests to show that CTR can impact rankings but it's […]
Good find Joy! Looks like all of the testing Darren Shaw and Rand have done is finally confirmed.
Joy,
Definitely an interesting statement. I’m doubtful it will hold up. I suspect Rahul misspoke. However, if he didn’t, Fiverr is about to get busy.
[…] Google Confirms CTR is a Ranking Factor in Local SEO, joyannehawkins.com […]
[…] more: ☞ Google Confirms CTR is a Ranking Factor in Local SEO via Joy Hawkins ☞ How do you optimize your Google My Business listing via Google My Business […]
Now all we need is that they confirm ctr is a ranking signal also in seo global.
Looks like the wip has been used on Rahul 😉 The post has been edited and the elusive 4th factor has been changed for: “Search history: The number of times it has been useful historically on the basis of relevance, prominence and distance.”
CTR makes logical sense to be used as a ranking factor and I think most of us all thought that it was a factor even if it wasn’t explicitly spelled out.
Thanks Joy 🙂