Google’s November 2019 Local Search Update: Neural Matching Comes to Local Results

In early November 2019, between November 7 and 9 to be exact, SEO professionals around the world noticed major ranking swings on their sites. Theories flew across the web until Google settled the debate on December 2, 2019, confirming on Twitter that it had updated its algorithm.

How does the “November 2019 Local Search Update” affect a site’s rankings? Référenceur explains.

Relevance and Neural Matching

The November update is built on a new way for Google to answer local searches: neural matching.

To understand it, let’s go back a year. In 2018, as it celebrated its 20th birthday, Google presented new developments in how its algorithm answers queries. One of them was neural matching, an artificial intelligence method designed to better understand the intent behind a search.

When someone runs a search, Google and other search engines dig into their index to show the best possible list of results. Ranking has always been Google’s core mission, but before advances in artificial intelligence (AI), the results weren’t always ideal.

A site only needed to contain the same words as the query to land near the top of the results. Those sites weren’t always relevant, and they pushed down pages that didn’t use the exact wording of the query but were actually more useful.

That’s the problem neural matching started addressing in late 2018. It helps Google better understand the meaning and intent behind queries (along with the context and content of web pages) to produce the best rankings. A page no longer needs to contain the exact keywords from the query: the context of the page matters more. Google’s Danny Sullivan described it as a “super-synonym” system.

At the time, Google said neural matching affected about 30% of all searches. In October 2019, Google added another language model to Search with its BERT update.

A Boost for Local SEO

What happened in November is that Google applied neural matching to local search results.

In other words, when a search has local intent (even if the searcher doesn’t type a business name or address), Google uses the searcher’s location to return the most relevant nearby results.

Keep in mind that if a business perfectly matches what the searcher wants, it can appear first even if it’s farther away than a competitor. Relevance still matters.

You’re probably wondering how to improve your local rankings. When it comes to your website’s content, there’s no quick fix to counter the update. Still, a few best practices Google recommends for local search can help.

The most obvious one is to create a Google My Business listing. You’ll appear on Google Maps, and Google will associate your business with a physical location. When you set up your listing, make sure all your information is accurate and complete.

Another key point: Google also ranks local businesses based on their prominence. The better your customer reviews, and the more you respond to and engage with reviewers, the better your chances of standing out in the results.

Where Things Stand in 2026

Google renamed Google My Business to Google Business Profile in November 2021, and keeping that profile complete and up to date is still the foundation of local visibility. Neural matching remains one of the AI systems Google lists among its core ranking systems. For a current walkthrough, see our Google local SEO guide.

In the meantime, remember that a well-optimized website grows your visibility online. Référenceur is a French-speaking digital marketing agency from Belgium and Luxembourg, and we help U.S. businesses with local and organic SEO remotely, through video calls, shared screens, and monthly reporting. Request a free assessment.