Why Geotagging Photos Could Sabotage—Not Help—Your Google Business Profile Rankings
Geotagging photos for Google Business Profiles is a pointless exercise in digital futility. Google strips EXIF data during upload anyway, making the whole process about as useful as teaching a cat to fetch. Studies show minimal to zero impact on rankings, while wasting precious time better spent on actual SEO tactics like schema markup and quality content. Some SEO companies still push this snake oil solution, but the data doesn’t lie – it’s a distraction that could hurt more than help. The real story behind effective local search optimization goes much deeper.
While many business owners obsess over geotagging their photos for Google Business Profile rankings, the hard truth is that it’s probably a waste of time. Google strips EXIF data from images upon upload anyway, so all that careful geotagging? Gone in an instant. It’s like meticulously organizing your sock drawer only to have someone dump it out immediately.
Recent research tracking 27 lawn care businesses revealed the futility of geotagging efforts. The evidence against geotagging’s effectiveness is pretty overwhelming. Multiple studies, including a 10-week analysis by Search Engine Land, found minimal to no impact on Google Business Profile rankings. Sure, there were some tiny blips of improvement in “near me” searches, but they were about as consistent as a politician’s promises.
Let’s get real about what’s actually happening here. Some SEO companies are still pushing geotagging like it’s digital gold, but they’re either living in the past or trying to sell snake oil. The EXIF data can be easily manipulated, which makes it about as trustworthy as a chocolate teapot. Google’s not stupid – they already know where your business is located. One study showed that out of 16 keywords tested with geotagged posts, nine stayed unchanged in rankings.
What’s particularly frustrating is how this obsession with geotagging distracts from techniques that actually work. Schema markup, proper on-page SEO, and high-quality images do far more for your local search visibility than any amount of geotagging ever could. It’s like ignoring a perfectly good highway to take a dirt road – just because someone said it was a shortcut.
The resources wasted on geotagging could be better spent elsewhere. Time is money, and frittering it away on ineffective techniques is about as smart as trying to teach a cat to fetch.
The focus should be on creating quality content and maintaining accurate business information. That’s what really moves the needle in local search rankings. Not some fancy GPS coordinates embedded in your photo’s metadata that Google’s going to strip away anyway.
