Geotagging photos: the zero-out-of-ten tactic
Geotagging means embedding GPS coordinates into a photo's EXIF metadata before uploading it, sold as a signal that you work in that city. Google's image best-practices documentation lists what actually helps: descriptive filenames, alt text, surrounding text, and structured data (Google's image SEO doc). GPS metadata is not on the list. Even tactic-heavy local-SEO creators call it worthless, and platforms routinely strip photo metadata on upload anyway. No Google image or Business Profile doc so much as mentions embedded GPS data. This is folklore with an invoice attached.
The claim and why it sounds right
The pitch: Google wants proof you operate in a city, photos carry GPS coordinates, therefore coordinates in photos prove presence. It borrows real logic. Google does want location evidence, and its local results are “mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity” per its own doc (local ranking doc). The leap is assuming hidden file metadata is how Google collects that evidence. Platforms routinely strip or ignore EXIF data on upload, for privacy among other reasons, and no Google search documentation has ever named EXIF GPS as a ranking input.
What the documentation credits instead
- Filenames and alt text. The image doc tells you to use descriptive names and alt attributes. “roof-repair-tulsa-hail-damage.jpg” with honest alt text is readable by every crawler, visible, and documented.
- Surrounding page context. Google reads the page around the image. A photo inside a real project writeup that names the neighborhood does the job the EXIF trick pretends to do.
- Business Profile photos. Google's profile guidance encourages photos of your business and work. The value is that humans and Google see real activity, not coordinates in a header humans never open.
How to test a tactic like this yourself
Ask 3 questions. Is it in the docs? Search Google's official documentation for the mechanism. Geotagging appears nowhere. Can it be measured? A tactic whose effect cannot be isolated from normal ranking drift will always have testimonials and never have evidence. Who profits? Geotagging is sold as a per-photo or per-batch service. Cheap to perform, impossible to disprove, invoiced monthly. That pattern, effort you cannot verify aimed at a mechanism no doc describes, is the signature of SEO folklore, and it is the same pattern behind keyword-stuffed review replies.
The honest version of photo SEO
Take real photos of real jobs. Upload them to your Business Profile with the service they show. Put them on the relevant service or city page with a descriptive filename, alt text, and a caption that says what and where. Total cost: minutes. Every step is visible, documented, and useful to an actual customer deciding whether to call you. If a vendor is charging you for geotagging right now, ask them to show you the Google document that describes the mechanism. There is a reason the reply will change the subject.
Frequently asked questions
Does geotagging hurt anything?
Not directly. The harm is the money and attention it diverts from documented work, and what its presence says about a vendor's other line items.
Do geotagged Business Profile photos rank the profile higher?
No documentation supports it, and practitioner consensus is that the data is stripped or ignored. Upload real photos because completeness and activity are documented values, not for the coordinates.
What should I check on my site's images?
Filenames, alt text, compression, and whether the page text gives them context. Our audit checks image and page readability as part of the 73, with the exact element to change.