Local Search filter or penalty
-
Hi to everyone!
Our business is ranking very well on Google in our niche (diving zanzibar).
We constantly work on SEO and use MozPro to follow our ranking.Our problem is on LOCAL SEARCH and GOOGLE MAPS.
Our GMB is optimized, updated, has many photos and the most review in our niche.
We use to rank in the first 3 results for most search terms (for example: diving zanzibar, zanzibar diving).
Since October 2017 our ranking dropped to the bottom of the GMB results and never recovered.We suspect that our business is being filtered or panelised for 3 reasons:
1. When registering on GMB years ago, we entered our site title as our business name (Diving Zanzibar - Spanish Dancer Divers - PADI 5 Star). In September 2017 after reading the guidelines, we changed the business name to the real name (Spanish Dancer Divers)
2. We are located in Zanzibar (Africa) where physical addresses do not exist. Not Knowing which address is best to enter on GMB we kept trying different options ("Nungwi Beach, Nungwi, Zanzibar", "Nungwi, Zanzibar", Nungwi Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania, etc..) A week ago, in order to check why we are being filtered, we have changed the address again. The result was an immediate drop of 3 more places.
3. A year ago, we have been receiving many ratings and photos that belong to a restaurant next to us. Google support was useless so we decided to move our map locating a mile into the ocean to prevent getting those ratings and photos. Since then, we have move our location on map back to our real location.Is there a way to know what we are being filtered for? how long will that last? is there a way to fix that?
Business name: Spanish Dancer Divers
Search term: diving zanzibar, zanzibar diving, tauchen sansibar, plongee zanzibar and many others
Website: https://www.divinginzanzibar.com/Thanks ahead for your help.
David -
Hi David,
Yes, unfortunately, Google's support is often not the best. That's why I'm recommending you take this to the forum and ask for the help of the expert volunteers there.
-
Thanks to everyone's answers.
I would not recommend contacting Google support.
I did get a call and email from them. They totally ignore the subject and their answer was useless.
This is the response I got and I do not assume that the are even allowed to know more than this info:Hi David,
Thank you for contacting the Google My Business support team. We’re happy to help!
I understand that you’re concerned about not seeing your business listing on Google Search and Maps.
What you can do
-
Enter complete data: 82% of consumers use Search Engines to find information about local businesses. [Source] Make sure you’ve entered all of your business information in Google My Business and are keeping it up-to-date.
Learn how to edit your business information -
Manage and respond to reviews: Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback they leave about your business. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will also help to improve your ranking.
Learn more about getting reviews on Google -
Add photos: Accurate and appealing pictures can show potential customers that your business offers what they’re searching for. Businesses with recent photos typically receive more clicks to their website.
Learn how to add local business photos -
Give your listing time: I noticed that your listing has been verified fairly recently. Our local results ranking takes into account the prominence of the business on the web. Allow your listing more time to accrue impressions.
-
Make your business listing awesome!
Learn more about optimizing your presence online
Don’t forget to view insights on your business’s online presence via your Google My Business Account (more details).
-
-
Dear David,
You may already have done this, but I would highly recommend that you take this question to the GMB forum and ask, in the title of your post, for a "Gold Product Expert" to help you understand whether you have a penalty and if you do, why. GMB name spam may have contributed, but is usually not a big issue if you correct it. However, moving your address around numerous times and not really having an address is an issue you need to speak with one of the Gold Product Experts about. I have never had a client in Africa and am not sure of the exact protocols there, so please, do go to the forum, share the complete details of your business and specifically title your post with a polite request for help from those folks. Good luck!
-
Unfortunately Google are far less clear and forthcoming about their GMB stuff. If it were a general website penalty, I could be of more help. Sadly with GMB, it's been through so many re-builds and revisions (Google Local, Google Places, Google My Business) that I reckon' even someone from Google would have a hard time telling you what you should do
I guess the way to fix any devaluation is to adhere to Google's guidelines. Have an address. Don't put your address in your Business name. That being said... I am fairly certain that the algos monitoring GMB are way less sophisticated than those monitoring mainline search results. You could do everything right and still never see those results return to how they were before
It could be to do with having an address that isn't really an address, or the keyword stuffing. There are some generic steps here which Google lists to improve your 'local rankings'. Maybe if you do stuff that you hadn't done to begin with (verify your location, respond to more reviews than you did before with better - fuller answers, add a load more photos of higher quality) then you might be able to tip the see-saw back
I managed to find a Google My Business help / contact form you could fill out and send to Google here. You could also post on the official Google My Business community here. Yeah I know, it's not a Google.com URL but I found the link when browsing something related over here, so I think it's legit.
-
Hi effectdigital,
Thanks for your response.
It definitely look like devaluation.
Any idea of how long does devaluation last?
is there any way to fix that? -
Google's official guidelines can be found here.
Looking around the web, we can find a plethora of resources which show that Google (and leading marketers) explicitly state that keyword stuffing your business name (with a location) is bad
This is Google's official word on the matter:
"Business information
Name
Your name should reflect your business’ real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.
Any additional information, when relevant, can be included in other sections of your business information (e.g., "Address", "Categories"). Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g., "Google Inc. - Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, store codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions, or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted."
(sources here and here, where it is 'quoted' - assumedly 'from' Google - and obviously here where Google state this explicitly [ctrl+F for "not permitted"])
Read 'marketing taglines' as 'keywords' I guess!
If you actually had a manual penalty and suspension, you'd likely see something like this:
- https://d.pr/i/ZFPJgz.png (screenshot)
What is probably happening is some kind of listing 'devaluation', it could potentially be linked to keyword stuffing but I can't confirm that. It could just be that (unfortunately for you) Google have decided to take a harsher stance against businesses that 'can't' manage to have a defined address
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
-
Google is surfacing non-urgent care facilities for urgent care searches on Google Maps. How can I fix this?
I work for a large healthcare system in Utah. Google Maps is showing one of our non-urgent care clinics on searches for our branded urgent care locations ("InstaCare" is the branded term). From what I can tell, the only reason this is happening is because of a global footer on the clinic's website that links back to the urgent hub (see Imgur link for what I mean). Here's the clinic's site: https://intermountainhealthcare.org/locations/south-sandy-clinic/ Is there any way to get Google to stop doing this? Short of deleting the link in the global footer, of course. That's a no go. Thanks in advance! 5S4Jalw.png?1
Local Listings | | Marty_at_IHC0 -
How to handle no ad pages or no search result pages for a classifieds website?
We have a classified website.
Local Listings | | SirishaNueve
We have started doing SEO for classifieds search pages so I have submitted some pages to Google using sitemap.xml ex: www.domain.com/search/austin.
If there are any Ads in the Austin location then Google is considering it as soft 404 errors in GWT.
I am submitting them to Google yet there are no Ads because at some point users may add Ads and by that time my URL need to be in Google. My question is how to handle the page which doesn't have any Ads?
Please let me know and guide me if I am wrong.0 -
Search Visibility Dip
Hello, During the site crawl in the week of Jan 29th, my site experienced a somewhat significant dip in search visibility. While all my dashboards for the brand experienced a dip, it was most noticeable in a dashboard focused on a specific region. Overall, I didn't make any major changed to the site, nor did the competitors I'm tracking. FWIW, the competitors I'm tracking stayed steady and didn't move up or down in visibility during my dip. I stay fairly up-to-date with SEO best practices and I don't believe there were any algorithm changes during this time. Now, there is one possible reasoning for this dip. Sometime before the week of Jan 29th, we began a new web promotion. To track this promotion, I added some minor JavaScript in the header. This additional JavaScript did slow the site speed slightly, but only to a rating of "Average" based on PageSpeed Insights. Does anyone have any insights as to why my site may have suffered a dip during the week of Jan 29th? Thanks.
Local Listings | | Dions0 -
Local Pack Ads v. Organic Business Listings
Hey everyone, So I'm noticing lately that Google is showing ads via AdWords for my locations in the local pack. I am fine with that, but unfortunately it is now driving me a little bit insane wondering how much Google really cares about NAP, distance from centroid and or user, links to domain, completed business profile and so on. They will pull an ad into the top of the local pack for my location, yet, my actual organic business listing in some cases will not even show up until I hit the second page of business results. I get that it's Adwords, it's pay-to-play, but from most accounts, the differences in ranking for traditional listings results compared to business results on both desktop and mobile are pretty different. For example, by doing my traditional SEO best practices, I can rank high in traditional listing results even when my business does not show in the local listings. I have done this time and time again. I am able to accept that since we have 100 locations in the US and our lists were an absolute mess before I got here, that some of our NAP across multiple directories and listing sites are not exactly up to snuff which I have been working on. So I guess the thing is, if my location in Google's eyes is not good enough to be shown organically for the user even at the bottom of page of one of business results, why is it good enough to show an ad for my business location for that query as the absolute first result? Again, I know its Ad Words which basically allows you to cut in line like that special pass you can buy at a roller coaster park, but still. Isn't their goal to provide the best possible experience for their user? If they feel something is worth holding back my organic listing from the user, why is it fine with them to show the user that same location with the top possible local pack spot in an ad? I guess this is more of a rant than anything but I wanted to know if anyone else is dealing with this or anyone has any info they have found that could help shed light on this? It kind of just kicked everything I thought about trust, authority, links in order to rank in the local pack organically out the window. Thanks! -Ben
Local Listings | | Davey_Tree0 -
When I search my business, how can I make all my locations to a multi-location business appear in the map pack?
I have a question about local SEO. I do the marketing for a multi-location medical facility. When I search the facility on Google, the website appears on the left and the Google My Business information for the nearest facility to me appears on the right. However, I would like to see a map-pack of all facilities appear under the website information as well. How can I make all locations appear in the map-pack form below my basic website information?
Local Listings | | FlynnZaiger0 -
How does the new local pack change rankings?
So I just saw this afternoon that google has changed how the local pack displays listings, only 3 listings now show. Also Google continues to distance itself from Google+. Now it seems getting in the top 3 of the local pack is going to be even more competitive. What should the strategy be now for competing in the local pack? Has it changed? Or just stick to tried and true local optimizations?
Local Listings | | websitemusclemarketing0 -
Local business with many locations
Hi guys So ive been helping a local business out with their Google my business pages, they have them set up over several different accounts, which I dont think is a problem, however am sure its more helpful having them under one login, does this matter so much ? They are one company, however the titles for their business listings are all different, they have stuck some keywords into the business titles and the area, I am guessing the title for the different businesses in different citys should all be the same just the company name ? is this correct as they need to be consistent dont they ? As i am sure WH smiths for example all their business listings in different citys are just WH smiths and not with some keywords after each different branch ? I just wanted to check this up, and make sure I wasnt messing up someones listings lol !! J
Local Listings | | MrWoc0 -
Is a Competitor Claiming My Clients Yahoo Local Profiles?
I am working with an Insurance agent and he has Google Alerts setup on his company name. He has received two alerts where his name only appears in the URL. If you click the links they bring you to a competitor's Yahoo Local profile page with their name and info. If you look at the URL it has his company's name and city in the URL. Could a competitor be claiming his listings and then changing the business name, phone, address and URL to their own? Does the URL on Yahoo Local listings stay the same after a business changes their name? This has happened with two of his listings in two different cities, he has two offices in one state. But not with the same competitor, it has happened with two different companies. Any idea what could be happening? I would be happy to PM the URLS, I just don't want to post them publicly here. Thanks!
Local Listings | | MainelySEO0