We split one multi-location client's listings into a control group of 100 locations and a test group of 25, ran an indexing campaign on the test group only, and measured indexing rate and Google rankings for both.
Indexing on the test group went from 4.53% to 69%. The control group stayed near 4%.
Test locations improved 58% in Google Maps rankings for the category keyword. Control improved 36% in the same window.
Organic rankings for the category keyword improved 41% for test locations and did not move for control.
25 test locations surfaced 50 distinct listings in Google results. 100 control locations surfaced 8.
Listing services publish listings but do not get them indexed by Google.
Across the industry only about 4 to 10% of published listings are indexed within six months.
The control group's category rankings also improved 36% during the test window with no indexing work. Read the test group's 58% against that baseline, not against zero.
Indexing is a lever on its own.
The effect shows in map pack rankings, organic rankings and how many listings surface at all.
Indexing status, indexing rate and share of voice are metrics an agency can report to a client.
An indexing campaign took listing indexing from 4.53% to 69% across 25 locations.
Locations with indexed listings improved 58% in Google Maps rankings for category keywords, against 36% for the control group.
Organic rankings for category keywords improved 41% for indexed locations and did not move for the control group.
Brand keyword rankings in Google Maps improved 19% for indexed locations while the control group slipped.
25 indexed locations surfaced 50 distinct listings in Google results; 100 unindexed locations surfaced 8.
Each copy includes the line: Source: Synup, Listings Indexing Study, synup.com/research/listings-indexing-study
We took one multi-location client in a single category and split the locations into two groups. The control group of 100 locations was left alone. The test group of 25 locations got an indexing campaign on its published listings.
Before the campaign we recorded a baseline for both groups: the share of published listings indexed by Google, and Google Maps and organic positions for a brand query and a category query run per location.
After the campaign window we ran the same queries again and compared each group against its own baseline. Positions are averaged across the locations in each group, so a lower number is a better position.
Synup, "Listings Indexing Study: does getting listings indexed move rankings?", 2024, synup.com/research/listings-indexing-study