Does Geotagging Help SEO? The 10-Week Study That Settles It

E880: Does adding GPS coordinates to your photos actually boost your Google Business Profile rankings? For years, SEOs have debated whether geotagging image EXIF data helps with local SEO. Some claim it improves visibility in local map results, while others argue it's a waste of time.

We dive into a controlled 10-week study across 27 local business locations, where all other SEO efforts were paused just to isolate the effects of geotagging. Each week, two images per business were uploaded with different town coordinates embedded. The study tracked performance across seven ranking metrics - covering both "near me" and city-based queries - to determine if Google uses that image metadata as a ranking signal.

The results? Surprising. While geotagged images showed minor improvements for "near me" searches in very specific areas, rankings actually dropped for searches that included the target city name. For most businesses, the impact was neutral or negative.

Here's what we cover: - Does EXIF geotagging actually affect local rankings? - Why "near me" queries showed slight gains - but city + service searches declined - How adding targeted coordinates hurt broader service area visibility - Risks of flooding profiles with low-quality, SEO-only images - Why some agencies are dropping geotagging altogether - What local SEO tactics actually make a difference in 2025

⭐️ Source: https://searchengineland.com/geotagging-photos-google-business-profile-rank-453525

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00:00 Introduction: Does Geotagging Photos Affect SEO? 00:07 Study Overview: Geotagging and Google Business Profile Rank 00:35 Near Me vs. City-Based Rankings 01:20 Skepticism and Previous Tests 03:18 The 10-Week Study: Methodology 05:05 Findings: Impact of Geotagging 07:17 Conclusion: Should You Geotag? 08:34 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Episodes

The Edward Show. Your daily search engine optimization podcast: https://edwardsturm.com/the-edward-show/

#localseo #googlebusinessprofileoptimization #searchengineoptimization #geotaggingseo