Views on Geotagging Images

I’ve been in Local SEO for over 10 years, and one tactic I refuse to drop is geotagging images, particularly for field service-area businesses, not traditional brick-and-mortar premises.

There’s conflicting information, and I’d like to present my case:

Argument 1: “Occupation + Location” and “Service + City” Pages Perform Better.

Before and after pictures of a leaking and fixed pipe generally doesn’t show the surroundings, so Google cannot decipher the physical location based on landmarks, for instance. So, how else does it know where the picture was taken? It doesn’t, unless you provide it. Therefore, to support an occupation or service area page with relevant, local content, adding such before and after pictures is less effective than with supporting geotag data. Otherwise, you might as well add any picture that shows the service. Extra care has to be taken with image file compression, though.

Argument 2: Better Map Rankings for Google Business Profile

Google still uses a service-area businesses address for proximity to the searcher, despite it being hidden, but less so, as it leans towards the selected service areas defined. So, given these businesses travel to the customer’s address, proximity is irrelevant in the traditional sense because any business that has selected the area as one it covers, isn’t less close than another business - they all go to the customer’s address. So, how do you indicate you physically travel to that part of the city? Uploading project images with the geotag data provides such signal, both as posts and as images. It’s true that Google strips the data when you download it again, so it looks like they don’t use it, but I find it hard to believe Google disregards it entirely as it can help the searcher receive a better result.

Argument 3: Rankings for “Near Me” Searches Improve

I believe there are very few ways to optimise for “near me” searches without looking spammy. Most seem to flood their content with the phrase “near me”, but the intent is based on the user’s location and proximity to that location. So, how do you signal proximity? I’ve always done it with service area pages with geotagged images and uploaded those same images directly to Google Business Profile and performance has improved.

My experience aside, Sterling Sky is often cited as evidence to suggest it’s a pointless tactic. I beg to differ. Where do you stand?