Having a single physical office (or business) and wanting to capture customers in several cities remains one of the most sensitive topics in local SEO. The problem is known, documented and accepted by Google: geographical proximity is a major factor in Google Maps rankings. This bias has a name. Proximity Bias. The closer an establishment is to the surfer, the more likely it is to appear in the Local Pack. In practice, this means that a company located in city A becomes virtually invisible for searches carried out in cities B, C or D, even if it actually operates in these areas.
Summary and contents of the page
The proximity bias is real and documented
Google makes no secret of the fact. In its official documentation, Google clearly explains that distance between user and business is one of the three pillars of local ranking, along with relevance and awareness. This rule is confirmed by industry studies, notably Whitespark’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, which ranks proximity as the dominant factor in the Map Pack.
Source:
Whitespark, Local Search Ranking Factors, Darren Shaw, 2023
https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/
To say that Google is “obsessed” with distance is not an opinion. It’s a measurable fact.
Why “cheating with the card” won’t work in 2025
For years, certain practices have tried to circumvent this logic: virtual addresses, keywords in the listing name, exaggerated service areas. These methods work less and less, and now lead to Google Business Profile listings being suspended.
Google has tightened its controls, particularly since 2023, with stricter verification systems and cross-signals between local data, web content and customer reviews.
Source:
Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business, 2024
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177
Real leverage in 2025: Organic Overlap
The real shift is taking place elsewhere. Several studies show that Google Maps results are increasingly influenced by the website’s organic SEO. Clearly, the Map Pack is no longer isolated from classic SEO.
According to an analysis published by Search Engine Journal, over 50% of Local Pack results share a direct correlation with pages ranked on the first organic page on the same geolocated query.
Source:
Search Engine Journal, How Organic SEO Influences Local Pack Rankings, Roger Montti, 2024
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-pack-organic-seo-correlation/
The figure of 54% overlap between organic SEO and Map Pack is consistent with these analyses. It’s not a mathematical certainty, but a robust trend observed on large samples.
Step 1. Create local pages based on evidence, not text
Positioning in multiple cities starts with dedicated pages. Not generic pages where you simply replace the city name. Google knows how to detect this.
What works are local pages anchored in reality: projects carried out in the city, geolocalized photos, testimonials from local customers, precise references to well-known neighborhoods or places. This logic corresponds to what Google calls prominence, i.e. a company’s ability to demonstrate its real activity in a given area.
Personally, I like a “Near you” section with subsections and pages:
- Region
- Department
- City
- Neighborhood (if necessary)
With different keywords and expressions for each level, and internal links going up and down according to the key expressions/themes for each level.
Source:
Google, How local search works, 2024
https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/local/
If not, there are services like textbulker (1 euro per page). But it’s up to you to create credible field evidence credible field evidence. Photo or precise notice of the city. I love trustindex.io for this, and for making image banners with a precise review citing an achievement and positive customer review of a city. This is precisely what Google values.
Step 2. Declare precisely the areas served with areaServed
Many companies still indicate “50 km radius”. Today, this information is too vague for AI-powered engines.
In your listing, you can define delivery zones. Google recommends no more than a 2-hour drive. You can specify 19 (plus your own = 20 cities).
And there’s a tag for your website to confirm your claims. The Schema.org areaServed tag allows you to declare precisely which cities are served. When correctly implemented, with clear geographical entities linked to public identifiers (like Wikidata), it reinforces the semantic understanding of the company by search engines.
Source:
Schema.org, areaServed, 2024
https://schema.org/areaServed
W3C, Structured Data and SEO, 2023
https://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld11/
It’s not a guarantee of ranking, but a signal of clarity. And in local SEO, clarity is a competitive advantage. It’s important to tell Google exactly what cities are included between pages, index cards and codes, so that it can make a real connection.
Step 3. Activate “review justifications”: The daisy strategy!
Customer reviews are already a major factor. But Google goes one step further: it analyzes their textual content and takes it into account in the ranking. When a review explicitly mentions a city and a service, Google can display a bold justification in the Map Pack, such as: “Reviews mention renovation in Versailles”.
These justifications are visible, measurable and documented by Google.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable, Google Review Justifications Explained, Barry Schwartz, 2023
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-review-justifications-33312.html
This is one of the success stories of my method and training: don’t ask a customer for an opinion on the spot, talk to them to see how satisfied they are, ask them to write their opinion quietly at home this evening by entering their town, their IP address, and associating it with a photo of what they liked about your establishment. Encouraging them to naturally mention the service and the town is neither manipulation nor a violation of the rules. It’s an editorial optimization of feedback.
By doing this, you’ll balance the reviews from your city with those from outlying towns. In fact, it’s sometimes more useful to make follow-ups or focus on getting customer reviews from towns other than your own. Google has your address, so it’s easy to find local listings for your city.
Conclusion: digital authority and e-reputation are more important than geography or your town’s exit sign.
Local SEO in 2025 (almost 2026) is no longer just about the address of your office or business. It’s about a company’s ability to demonstrate, prove and structure its real presence in multiple areas. The map now follows organic authority, not the other way around.
This changeover opens up clear prospects for regional companies, and even provides immense leverage for franchise networks. A single office can cover several cities, provided that the digital strategy is aligned with the reality on the ground and the requirements of the drivers.
It’s not a trick (although it is). It’s a structural evolution in the way local search works.
