How To Fix Errors On Local Authority Reports

Local Authority scores range from 1 to 100 where 100 is the highest prediction of search engine ranking results. Once you obtain the Local Authority score for your locations, your next question will be, “How do I improve it?” The answer is simple once you know how the score is derived. The ranking is an aggregate of scores in 5 dimensions. Here is a summary:

Brand Health: Scores how often you provided relevant photos and posts over the last 90 days. (Calculated as the number of photos and posts created over the last 90 days on average.)

Influence Health: Measures reach of your profile posts. (Calculated as photo + posts views divided by total impressions.)

Listing Health: Determined by the consistency and accuracy of your Google My Business profile information. (Calculated as total points minus deductions for missing, inconsistent, or inaccurate information

Reputation Health: Derived from your overall popularity with your audience. (Calculated as the frequency of a 4- or 5-star review rating weighted over the previous 12 months.)

Engagement Health: Measures your engagement and responsiveness to consumer reviews. (Calculated as total review responses divided by total reviews received, weighted for response lag.)

Already, you should be seeing some obvious clues towards boosting your score. Let’s dive deeper.

Brand Health Errors

A brand health score is calculated by the number of photos AND posts that have been published to a Google My Business account over the past 90 days. As long as the listing receives a weekly photo and post, this score should be 100%.

In the example above, we can see that this location has a score of 0. This means that the listing has not received a weekly photo and post upload over the last 90 days. 90 days is roughly 13 weeks. The 26 “errors” to fix means that there are 13 photos and 13 posts missing over the past 90 days. 

To fix these errors, begin scheduling weekly photo and posts to the listing. After 90 days, the score will be 100%. Maintain consistent content uploads to your listing to guarantee this score never goes below 100%.

Low Influence Health Score

Influence health is the measure of the effectiveness of your content. Influence health doesn’t generate errors per se, but a low score here means that photos are not converting into impressions.

In the example above, this listing is posting weekly photo uploads, but their conversion rate could be better. After looking at their listing, they are uploading inspirational quotes and lifestyle tips. This type of content can be effective on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, but on Google My Business, it fails to find an audience. Instead, they should upload photos that highlight their products and services and use a photo optimizer to infuse keyword-rich metadata that is relevant to their customers.

Listing Health Errors

The Listing Health functional score checks for thorough completion of business information. Address, phone number, website, categories, attributes, business hours– if any of these are missing, an “error” will appear.

In this example, the listing is missing a store code, website URL, and business description. Once these are filled-out the functional score for Listing Health will be at 100%.

Reputation Health Errors

Reputation health is calculated by the frequency of 4- and 5-star reviews over the previous year. Each month without a positive review (over 3 stars) will be reported as an error.

This listing has not received a 4- or 5-star review in 11 months, therefore they have “11 errors”. To increase reputation health, monitor customer feedback, and improve review rating with a review management service. 

Engagement Health Errors

Engagement health measures review response time. A low score here means you have several reviews with no response and/or there is a long(ish) time lapse between the reviewing being published and the published response.

This example is from a new listing that has not responded to any reviews. To increase the score from zero, simply start responding to reviews. To reach 100%, it is recommended to respond to reviews within 72 hours. Using a review management service can help you stay notified of new reviews as well as quickly identify old reviews that do not have a response.

Local Authority is a predictor of whether or not your local profile will rank in the coveted 3-pack, but Local Authority also provides powerful clues about which aspects of the local marketing campaign are failing and what steps need to be taken to increase local presence. Once the errors with your listings have been resolved, you will begin to see increases in local ranking, impressions, and buying actions.