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5 results in organic SERPs, but I noticed that my business has gradually started going down, as my local results have been replaced by organic search results.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
-
Are large property portals going to continue to dominate Google's search results?
We are having a discussion (potential argument) in our office around whether large portals (namely property portals) have longevity in Google's search. Argument 1:
Industry News | | NeilPursey
Google's rise in local search and rewarding strong brand names rather than keyword driven domain names will devalue property portals with keyword rich domain names. Property portals are essentially duplicating content on smaller individually owned property websites, therefore in time Google will devalue property portals. **Argument 2: **
Property portals have more property stock listed on their websites so therefore Google will reward them by ranking these websites higher than the smaller real estate agencies with niche stock in their areas that they operate in. The property portals that already are already in a dominate position already carry authority and their own sense of branding, therefore it's difficult for Google to ignore them. If we assume that Google is looking into user behaviour as a ranking factor, then this will help portals as they have more stock which means higher engagement on the website. I'd love to read the moz community thoughts and opinions on this. I reckon it's a worthy debate..0 -
Webmaster Tools Keyword Rankings Explanation
While analyzing the Google Webmaster, I found several keywords that are ranked in the top 10 search results with words such as: they, was, mai, and chiang. (For example:they)After reviewing the top pages shown under the keyword "they", I did not find the keyword or its variant "them" repeated in the content of the page. I am not sure why "they" is ranking so high and of course, the word "they' is not effective for finding significant content. Also word such as Chiang Mai are never used separately but the two words are ranking far apart from each other. Mai is ranked at 5 and chiang is ranked at 11. I would think that the rankings would be very close together since the two words are usually used in conjunction with one another. Can anyone explain the reason this may be happening please?
Industry News | | jimmyzig0 -
What are the click-through rates by position for organic search on Google by industry?
I'm interested in knowing what the average CTRs are by industry (specifically for the credit card industry). Here's an example of what I want in aggregate (not by industry): http://searchengineland.com/organic-click-thru-rates-tumbling-study-97338 Is this information available?
Industry News | | wepayinc0 -
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 -
Local SEO Agency Suggestions
I've looked under the "recommended companies" tab of seomoz, but all of the SEO Agencies listed seem to be geared towards big businesses. Most of their contact pages have starting budgets that are way out of my league. I do my own web-development and on-site SEO, but due to the demands of my job, I do not have the time needed to focus on link-building, and any other kind of content marketing (other than occasional guest blogging). Can anyone recommend an individual or agency that can start with a $500 - $600 monthly budget and move up from there? My search terms are local to my city, and not all that competitive, just looking for someone who can help. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Industry News | | ChaseH0 -
Huge Hit and Bouncing Rankings Since Panda 3.3 Update?
Has anyone else seen rankings bouncing all over the place since the end of Feb? A client's site is for the term hcg which I know is controversial but we were in 3rd or 4th for the past couple of months until this update. Now for the term "hcg" the rankings are bouncing from the twenties to over 100 multiple times a day. I check them throughout the day with non personalized search, rank checker, etc to just try and keep updated. I have never seen rankings bounce around so much after an update and am wondering if this update is somehow effecting these more controversial search terms. Since The end of Feb our traffic has almost dropped in half due to the drop in just the "hcg" term ranking We have been cleaning up the site, updating lower quality content, blogging frequently and trying to build better links for the past couple months of working on the site.The problem is there have been a few other previous SEO companies that worked on the site and I don't know how much black hat tactics were used. Any insight or suggestions on this would be appreciated, we are all scrambling to try and recover from this.
Industry News | | Netmark0 -
New Search Engine
Looks, like I signed up months ago to be a BETA tester for a new search engine called Volunia Has anyone else heard about this engine? Just curious! Thx
Industry News | | Ben-HPB0 -
Yahoo and Bing Search Factors Compared with Google
I have started my research to list all the factors Yahoo or Bing giving more importance compared with Google. This bible if successfully prepared will help everybody. Can anybody help me resources specific on the topic, that can help me?
Industry News | | WebMarketingSolutions0