If you search Google right now for "Does Geotagging Help Your SEO," something bizarre happens. Google's own AI Overview — the shiny new answer box at the top of the search results — confidently tells you: "Yes, geotagging helps SEO."
There's just one problem. It's wrong. And Google's own staff have said so.
What Google's AI Overview Gets Wrong
Google's AI Overview is a feature that uses artificial intelligence to summarise what it considers the best answer from across the web. In theory, it should be pulling from the most authoritative, evidence-based sources available. In practice, it appears to be pulling from the loudest voices — many of which are SEO agencies selling geotagging services.
When you search "Does Geotagging Help Your SEO," the AI Overview states that geotagging helps by "boosting local search visibility and strengthening Google Business Profile relevance." It claims that embedding GPS coordinates into your images provides "concrete, verifiable data about your physical presence" and that it's "highly effective for appearing in 'near me' searches."
Sounds convincing, doesn't it? There's just one rather important detail missing: the evidence says the opposite.
What Google's Own People Actually Say
John Mueller, Google's Senior Search Analyst, has publicly stated that geotagging is unnecessary for SEO purposes. He said it plainly on Reddit: "No need to geotag images for SEO."
Joel Headley, a former Google employee who worked on Google Business Profiles, was even more direct. When asked about geotagging images before uploading them to a Google Business Profile, he said: "It wouldn't matter since the 'tagging' is happening upon upload. It doesn't matter if metadata exists."
Let that sink in for a moment. The people who built and maintain the system are telling you it doesn't work. Yet Google's own AI is telling the public it does.
What the Research Actually Shows
It's not just Google employees saying this. Independent research backs it up comprehensively.
In March 2025, Search Engine Land published the results of a thorough 10-week study conducted by Jake Hundley of Evergrow Marketing. The study tested 27 lawn care businesses to measure whether geotagged images affected Google Business Profile rankings. The methodology was rigorous: a 5-week control period followed by a 5-week test period, tracking multiple keyword types across multiple locations using Local Falcon.
The findings were clear:
- No overall effect on local ranking. Geocoordinates added to EXIF data had no measurable impact on how businesses ranked locally.
- City + service searches got worse. For searches like "lawn care [town name]," rankings actually dropped when geotagged images were added.
- A small "near me" uplift — but with a massive catch. There was a statistically significant improvement for "near me" queries in the specific areas targeted by the coordinates. However, rankings dropped everywhere the geotagged images weren't targeting. The only way to benefit would be to upload dozens of geotagged images every week covering your entire service area — and most businesses simply don't have that many quality photos.
Joy Hawkins from Sterling Sky, one of the most respected local SEO experts in the industry, tested it independently and reached the same conclusion. Her advice? "If you spend time geotagging photos as a part of your local SEO strategy, I would advise spending that time elsewhere."
Why Is Google's AI Getting This Wrong?
This is where it gets interesting — and concerning.
Google's AI Overview doesn't just pull from one source. It synthesises information from across the web. And here's the problem: there are far more articles promoting geotagging than debunking it. Many of those articles come from agencies and SaaS companies that sell geotagging tools and services. They have a financial incentive to keep the myth alive.
The AI Overview is essentially being overwhelmed by marketing content and treating volume as authority. It's a popularity contest, and the myth-makers are winning.
Ironically, the very first organic result below the AI Overview in Google's own search results is the Search Engine Land article that says geotagging doesn't work. So Google is simultaneously showing you the wrong answer at the top and the right answer just below it.
Why This Matters for Your Business
If you're a tradesperson or small business owner, this matters because it affects how you spend your time and money. If you're paying an agency to geotag your photos, you're paying for something that has been proven to have no meaningful impact. That money and effort would be far better spent on:
- Taking high-quality, authentic photos of your real work, your team, and your premises
- Naming your image files properly — "emergency-electrician-canterbury-kent.jpg" tells Google far more than "IMG_4532.jpg"
- Writing descriptive alt text for every image on your website
- Getting more genuine customer reviews on your Google Business Profile
- Keeping your Google Business Profile active with regular updates and fresh photos
- Creating useful, original content on your website that answers real customer questions
These are the things that actually move the needle. Not hidden metadata that Google strips out the moment you upload it.
The Bigger Picture: Can We Trust AI Overviews?
This geotagging example raises a bigger question that every business owner should be thinking about: how much can we trust Google's AI Overviews?
If Google's AI can confidently state something that contradicts its own employees and the best available research, what else might it be getting wrong? AI Overviews are still relatively new, and Google itself describes them as "a work in progress." But the problem is that most people won't scroll past that confident-sounding answer at the top. They'll take it as gospel.
This is exactly why it's so important to get your information from trustworthy, evidence-based sources rather than just accepting whatever appears first in the search results — even when it comes from Google's own AI.
The Bottom Line
Geotagging your photos does not meaningfully help your SEO. Google's own staff say so. Independent research confirms it. The EXIF data is stripped from your images the moment you upload them to Google Business Profile.
Don't waste your time or money on it. Focus on the things that actually work: great photos, proper filenames, good alt text, genuine reviews, and consistently useful content.
And if Google's AI tells you otherwise? Now you know better.