Convert Oganic ranking into Local Search Results
-
Hi,
Right now, my website appears in top 5 results in organic SERPs, but I noticed that my business has gradually started going down, as my local results have been replaced by organic search results.
Initially I used to rank in local results, but now, I appear in organic results so the no. of calls/day have decreased significantly.
Now, I again want to appear in local search results instead of organic results. Please advice what should I do to remove my listing from organic search results and improve position in local search results
PFA the screenshots for both the results for your better understanding.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
-
Hello Parvesh,
Thanks for the clarification about this being your business. Within the scope of Q&A, I cannot perform a full audit of the situation, which is likely what you are going to need to pinpoint the exact cause of what you are experiencing. I can, however, provide a few quick thoughts from my limited look at the situation:
-
Searching from my own location in N. California, the search term in your screen shot, 'sacramento personal injury law firm' is not bringing up any blended or pack local results, for any business. Setting my location to Sacramento, I see the same thing. So, in this case, it appears that you have not been singled out in a change of results, but that Google is not choosing to display true local results for this query. Unfortunately, this is not something you can control. It it completely up to Google to decide for which queries they will show local vs. organic results.
-
This aside, you mentioned that you've got all the points in my earlier list well covered, but I would take a second look at #2 on the list. As a Local SEO, the first place I always look to begin gauging whether a site is locally optimized is at the footer. On your site, I do not see a marked up full NAP (name, address, phone number) in the the footer, and, in fact, am seeing a toll free number there. While you may be doing other things right on your website, this fact alone would indicate to me that you don't have a skilled Local SEO on-board your team. Lack of proper attention to local optimization can definitely hold back your ability to rank locally for any term, though this is evidently not the cause of your present scenario in which no local firm is receiving local rankings.
-
When a site is failing to rank for any term, I always start looking for duplicates. It appears there is a closed business sharing your address: https://plus.google.com/110885790754843227431/about?gl=us&hl=en
Perhaps this is a partner who has left the business, or you are attempting to shut down individual attorney listings due to Google's recent changes with their handling of multi-partner firms, but at any rate, it's still indexed at this point, even though it has been closed. Without a thorough look at the scenario, I can't say if there are duplicates that could be issues for you, but if there are, they always have the potential to lessen your ability to rank locally for a desired term.
- Doing a maps.google.com search for 'sacramento, ca' vs. a search for your firm's address, I see that your business is located quite a ways outside the cluster of legal firms near the city centroid. Again, this would be another thing to look into if you are failing to rank for other terms which are still receiving local results.
In sum, there are many, many factors to consider in ranking issues when it comes to local. Right now, for the query you have mentioned, you are gaining the best possible ranking because you are #1 organically for a term for which Google is displaying organic-only results. There is nothing you can do to control Google's decision to display results this way. They could change what they are doing with that specific query tomorrow, but right now, you are in the best position you can achieve in this set of results.
Hope this helps!
Miriam
-
-
Hi Mariam,
Thanks for the detailed response. Yes, the highlighted one is my website. But my question is something else.
I asked that initially I used to rank well in Local results and were getting really good response (in terms of business), but suddenly my local listings have been replaced by organic Search Results. My website has started ranking organically on most of my local keywords, and my business is going down. I really don't want organic rankings, I would want to get my local listings back.
Could you please advice me on how to get my local listings back. I've already been doing, whatever you mentioned in your response.
I look forward to your response.
Regards
-
Hello Parvesh,
I want to clarify whether your screenshots are intended to display your own business, or if you are merely illustrating the difference between the local results you would like to have vs. the organic results you currently have. Is your business the Sacramento legal firm being highlighted in the screenshots? Please, do clarify this for me.
In order to send the strongest possible local signals to Google, you will need a powerful combination of the following:
1. A physical address and local phone number within the city you'd like to rank for.
2. A terrific, locally optimized website
3. A Google+ Local page for the business and a clean record with Google
4. Google-based reviews
5. Reviews from other sources
6. Citations (as mentioned in Wissam's comment)
7. Possibly, linkbuilding
The competitiveness of your industry and location will dictate how hard you need to work at each of these things to gain local visibility. If you can see anything on that simple list that you know you haven't fully implemented or explored yet, then this may well be the key to your question.
I'm responding in very general terms here, not being sure of your actual business or the nature of the efforts you have made to date. I hope this helps you get started thinking about a plan of action!
Miriam
-
Please note that the optimal solution is you need to appear in the Map Listings AND also in the Organic listing.
not everytime someone search for a lawyer in sacremento will trigger the local map.
to increase you rankings in Google+ Local you need more citations (here or sign up with Local Citation Finder by Darren)
and increase your review count.
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
-
Now that Google is no longer publicly displaying Page Rank updates, how will this effect Moz's ability to calculate DA and PA?
Hi, How much more important do you guys think that Moz's Page Authority and Domain Authority metrics are going to become now that Google has stopped giving people public access to a site or pages Page Rank? And how accurate is PA and DA as a measurement in comparison to Page Rank..so for example if I was seeking a guestposting opportunity and saw a site as having a PR of 4....if I now looked to Moz's Page and Domain Authority metrics instead...would that still give me equivalent information on the strength of that domain and thus make a judgement on whether it will be a worthy site for a guestpost.. I guess what I am asking is, how close is now looking at Moz's metrics (ie. a third party company) to the info on PageRank that was being updated by Google themselves? Also will the lack of updated public PR info from Google effect the ability for Moz to calculate PA and DA?? Look forward to your replies on this,
Industry News | | sanj50500 -
Can not get the ranking needle to move even after a year with a US based SEO company
Hello community, I have spent the last 16 months spending lots of money on our USA Based SEO company and on content. For some reason. The powers who may be at Google are not giving us any love. I am beginning to become very dissapointed after all of our efforts. We did have a link penalty a year ago however that has long ago been removed. We have been doing everything our SEO company has asked us but the needle is not moving. Any ideas for us? http://tinyurl.com/n2yoeyn Thank you in advance. Chris
Industry News | | scamper0 -
How many different webmasters should I maintain for educational based website for different search engines ??
Hi, I am working on an educational website that cater to different geographical region. My query is that how many different webmaster should I maintain. What is general trend. Is Google and Bing enough. Will this process increase by PR/DA ?
Industry News | | SunnyJain0 -
Google number one search result looks drastically different in firefox compared to chrome
I just noticed this today that some websites and brands look like this on firefox only, and others while still being number one result for their brand name, do not appear like this at all. also, this does not happen over chrome at all. both images provided for comparison are using the same google apps account logged in. It would be nice if someone could shed some light on as to why this happens sporadically and what does it take to be distinguished like this for your own brand if you own the identical domain.com or whatever. Zz7ZkX5.png lpuwheo.png
Industry News | | Raydon0 -
URL Search removal tool.
Hi All! I have tried to request a URL removal from Google search for an old testing site they still have listed. Ive tried requesting removal of the domain and of individual pages, all requests are getting rejected. Any help would be gratefully appreciated 😄 Many Thanks Anthony
Industry News | | Anthonykal-group0 -
Google: 7 Results on First page now (Good or Bad)?
Hi, So what are your thoughts on only 7 results on the first page of a search? Looks like its only in play for brands at the moment with increased sitelinks for the first result. I actually really like it, looks a lot better and its easier to take the overall information in on the page. I hope they role this out onto more generic terms as well. Should mean a higher CTR for those who have 'made it' to the first page. I suppose Google will pickup on a higher CTR on the ads well.
Industry News | | activitysuper0 -
Question about local listings for traveling service
I have a band that performs all over my state and was wondering if i could add my business to google local listings in all the cities that my band performs in. How would i go about that being as there would be only one phone number and no local address? I'd love to get the traffic from the local listings that come up for certain search phrases. I wasn't sure if Google would look at that as spamming though. I do have contract musicians that play with us in each of those cities and could list their home address as the address just in case i have to have an address on the listing that is local. How do businesses that provide services in multiple cities by traveling to those cities usually list their businesses? any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Industry News | | Ron100 -
Searching for a keyword on html source code of a website via Google
Is such a thing possible? Can we google for a specific keyword that can be found on the source code of a website? Is there any search operator for this? Thanks in advance!
Industry News | | merkal20050