Another step in evaluating the weight that your business website pulls locally in the search engines is by looking closely at the city you are targeting.  A little known fact about the local Google algorithm is that it actually gives preference to those businesses that are located closest to downtown in a given city, called the centroid bias.  Essentially, your address is evaluated and plugged into the Google algorithm along with other competing businesses in your area with your proximity to the city center a factor weighing into the Google algorithm. 

For example, if you are targeting Hartford, CT and your business is located in a nearby town, you may be targeting your localization efforts in the wrong place on the map.  Perhaps there are many more people searching for “Hartford CT Trucking” than “Farmington CT Trucking” (a Hartford suburb), but you may be able to pull more visitors by targeting Farmington.

 A good place to start is to search for your business in your closest town or city and see what competition pops up.  There may be none, which means that a lot of those businesses may be targeting incorrectly also.  Bear in mind that if little to no one is searching for your business in your local town or city, there may be no choice but to join the pack and target the closest metropolitan area.