Google Map Penalty or Odd Filter? Listing Goes Missing
-
Hello Moz.
We have a law firm client who practices criminal defense law. Historically, he has been ranked for _years _in the map pack and first page of search for a variety of phrases. This is a law firm with twice the number of reviews of the next competitor, solid back links, and open 24 hours a day.
Over the past 30 days, he now appears inconsistently in the map packs. Sometimes he is in the C slot and sometimes he does not appear at all. Most of the time he is not listed for specific legal phrases for DUI, DWI and criminal defense.
When he is not listed in the A, B, or C slot, then he is actually gone completely. You click on More Places and his listing for the map is just completely gone. You can scroll down from listing 1 through 20+ and not find his firm in the Map listings. You would think he would just be further down on the list at 5 - 10. But it is just missing.
However, when you change the filters for either rating or reviews, he suddenly will appear. In fact, he will be near the top of the list, but only on filtering. You can even clear the filter and he stays listed in typically the C slot too. However, if you refresh the page, he is gone again.
My question is simple: Do you think there is some type of data issue or penalty in place? Or is this just how the filters work - suddenly showing a list that should appear in the main area.
PS: If I am not clear on the above, I can send video evidence of this oddity.
-
Hi Pete,
Glad I was able to help you identify Possum.
-
Agree, it is most likely the filter Possum update. They are absent on More Results, but appear on filter or zoom. Thanks!
-
Hi Pete,
Thank you for the further details. Given that your client shares the same building with other attorneys, your scenario hints at the possibility that what you are experiencing is the effect of Google's Possum update, which influences the local finder results for businesses in the same category/same building. Joy Hawkins does a good job of describing this phenomenon in the #2 point in her article at Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900
If your business appears absent from the map at the automatic zoom level, but then appears in the results if you zoom in on the map, chances are strong it's Possum. As you can't share the identity of the client, please try that experiment and see if it fits. Possum was released in September 2016 and was believed to impact well over half of the Local SERPs.
-
Lawyer shares a small office building with 40 other businesses. Two other businesses on same floor are also criminal defense firms. This is not a Regis style office suite, rather a regular office building with many tenants. Each has its own office number.
Firm only has one Google My Business.
Can't share right now. Just trying to see if anyone else has experiences a similar filter where the listing won't appear at all on maps, but on ratings/hours filter it will appear in a high slot. At first glance, it appears some penalty is in place. Maybe if we can't get anywhere we will share the domain.
-
Hi Pete,
Quick questions:
-
Does the lawyer share a building with any other lawyers?
-
Does the legal practice have a Google My Business listing for the business + listings for multiple attorneys at the firm?
-
Is it possible to share the name of the business with our community? It's okay if you can't, but looking at a live example would certainly be helpful in taking a stab at identifying what is going on.
Looking forward to your replies!
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does Google call your satellite offices and ask what's down the street?
Is this a real thing? Do they actually do this? Should I be concerned and train my receptionists to know their surroundings?
Local Listings | | marketingdepartment.ch6 -
Brand listed as plumber, can we still rank for other markets?
We have a lead generation website in the Netherlands in the plumber business. The last two years we were focussing on local SEO, and gain some rankings on keywords like 'plumber amsterdam'. We also connected google my local business in different city's, so we rank in both the citations as in maps. Now we want to get some rankings with the lead generation brand on other keywords. Keywords for other markets like 'handyman' 'roofer' etc. Google remembers what kind of business we are, since we are listed as plumbing company. My question is, can we still go for those other markets with the brand? The markets/ keywords are related and all in the home improvement segment. So for example, example.com/plumber example.com/roofer etc. The other option is to target those specific markets with other brands/ domains.
Local Listings | | remkoallertz0 -
How to tell Google My Business what area is local to my company?
Hello Mozers I've been stumped by the changes in the interface with Google My Business. I used to be able to set up the area for which I wanted a business to cover. Now I can't find anyway to tell Google. The company I work for is in St Albans and our main workload is London. It would be helpful if I could actually control what Google Local sees as Local for my company, i.e. to encompass central London which is only 19 miles away. Can someone give me an idiots guide has to how to tell Google the area I'd like our local listing to cover? Thanks
Local Listings | | Catherine_Selectaglaze0 -
Google Local Storefront or Google Service Area?
We have been seeing some strange things happen in Google local after the most recent update. We used to show up in the maps all the time and have made no major edits or changes to the profile. Now when we search for our services, we show up high in the organic results, and not at all in maps (local listings). We have our profile setup as a service area since we do meet with people and provide services at their location, but also have checked the option that we also serve people at our address. I am wondering if the recent update favors actual storefronts when people are searching for services. Any ideas? Technically all the actual work is provided at our location, and the service we provide at the service area locations is based upon consultations. If we switched it to an actual storefront listing could that possibly help? Our profile is fairly strong, and has reviews, long history of posts, etc. What gives Google?
Local Listings | | David-Kley1 -
Deciding whether to list multiple locations
Hey Mozzers, thanks for your awesome help today. I have another related question to local listings. We're currently rebuilding our website and we have multiple physical locations across the UK. Is it beneficial SEO wise for us to display just one address on our contact page or should we list the 5 addresses that we have? I have also been checking out our local listings and it appears that we have inconsistent listings across the 13 sites that Moz local lists in the UK and then across various other directories. How important is it to get these cleaned up? Cheers in advance Leo
Local Listings | | Leo_Woodhead0 -
My Google business show up on map but does not show up on list and local search on Google.com
Hello all, how are you doing ? My Google business show up on map but does not show up on list and local search on Google.com main keyword: nail salon in Sevierville tn nail salon in Sevierville pedicure in Sevierville nail salon in pigeo forge my website : www.sassy-nails.com http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails please help me that
Local Listings | | sassynailservice0 -
Changing My Listing from an Actual Address to a SAB
I own a lawn care company and I currently have it listed with its actual address. I have been reading that service companies with a actual address listing MUST change their listing to hide their address and show a service area. As you can imagine, the business is extremely seasonal and any negative impacts to my listing would hurt the company. If it makes a difference, the majority of lawn care and landscaping companies are listed with their actual address. So my questions are: (1) Should I change the listing now? And if so, what kind of impact will this have? (2) Should I wait until late autumn to change it so it can recover during the winter. Or, (3) should i just leave the listing how it is now? Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions, I appreciate it.
Local Listings | | cestbob0 -
Google+ Business Page Ownership - Local Listings
Hi
Local Listings | | soobumim
I am trying to update Google+ Business page. I think previouse employee already setup a Google+ page (not sure if it's completed or not) but she no longer works here. At this point, we have no way of knowing user name & password for the Google + business page.
Name of the business is:
Immediate Response Plumbing
www.irplumbing.com
210) 496-6900
13106 Lookout Ridge, San Antonio, TX 78233
Is therre anyway I can reverify the ownership without contacting the previouse employee?
I am trying to figure out request to change listing ownership from Google and I am lost
Could anyone help me?
Thank you0