Our site is showing up #1 for most terms with a blended local listing, but no longer in the organic listings
-
...after some SEO updates were made. While I am ecstatic about a #1 local listing, I am concerned that we aren't getting that second organic listing on even the top 50 results!
Besides improving the content and SEO on the inner pages with the hopes to get them to rank, does anyone have any suggestions for what we are doing wrong?
We (dm-remodel.com) are ranking well for things like "ann arbor kitchen remodeling" and "ann arbor bathroom remodeling"
Thank you very much for any help!!
-
Hi Megan, You are not alone in being puzzled by this. Here is what has happened. You have not lost your organic rankings - they have been subsumed in your blended/local ranking. If you look closely at your listing, you will most likely see how it is a blended listing. Some elements connect directly to your website - whereas others are going to 3rd party data, such as a Google+ Local page.
So, your previous organic strengths have helped you in attaining this highly desirable blended/local result. Way to go! In times past, it was common for dominant businesses to be able to achieve both a local pack listing and an organic one (or even a couple of organic ones) on the same page of the SERPs. This is no longer typical, and most businesses will have either a blended/local listing or an organic one - but not both.
Even if you were the only bathroom remodeler in Ann Arbor, chances are that you would get a blended/local listing for your business and that other spots on the page might be made up of a few of your citation sources (such as your Yelp profile) and that Google might pull in other stuff from further away (sometimes in really wonky ways such as showing an auto dealership for a search for a plant nursery!). It would be uncommon these days for you also to have internal local pages linked to from your site, beyond that blended/local listing. Not saying it never happens - it's just really uncommon.
You should feel really good about your achievements, and to make you feel a little better, check out Dr. Pete's super post on heatmap studies for local listings:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/eyetracking-google-serps
In that post, you will see how eyes are often drawn to the local listings, rather than the organic ones. So, things are going well for you! Congratulations!
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
-
Local Listings
I use getlisted.org as my local listing guideline. For some of the local listings you can "upgrade" the listing for a price instead of doing just the basic free listing. I was wondering do people pay for the listing and is it worth it? Are some of them better than others to get an upgraded listing? Thanks for the help!
Image & Video Optimization | | ClickIt0 -
Any tips for optimising for Local Search/Google Places
I have a client that used to come up on Google Places consistently for some very competitive keywords - when they ranked quite low for them through their normal website - places would see them above all the organic results in normally number 2 position - whereas they would rank between 16 - 26 normally We have optimised the site and have 'A' grade keywords for the ones we are interested in google placing for and just recently we are out of it all together, even though we have improved their optimisation for that word with SEO Someone said that their phone number on the website had to match perfectly with google places and so does their address. Is this true? Is there anything else that will help them keep their position in places ? ie. setting up a Google + page etc., Any advise would be appreciated thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | intermingle0 -
Google+ Local Assistance (Listings being reviewed)
Hey guys, My client is having issues with his Google+ pages and I'm wondering if someone can shine some light on the issue for me... Basically the client has two businesses, both using the same residential address. The page was ranking well until a week ago, when it disappeared from search results and was listed in the dashboard as "Under Review." I've heard horror stories about this -- examples of Google taking months to review pages and make a decision, and I'm wondering if if might be better to just delete the under review pages and start over (hiding the address on the new listing to comply). Edward
Image & Video Optimization | | edwardrj0 -
New site, SEO well considered, no traffic :/ What next?
Hi There! We've built whatphone.com.au with SEO at the top of the list but things are not going as expected. Yes, there's still a lot of work to do, but I was hoping to get some guidance on what to do next to make sure we keep the right focus. This is what we've done to date: Added lots of unique and relevant content, particularly to our blog (and will continue to do so on a weekly basis) Ensured internal linking is strong Optimised each product page around product name (and relevant internal links pointing to it) Ensured the code is clean (ok, we are not a 100% but in a good place) URL structure, metadata, page titles, file names and alt tags following best practice Named the company and registered our domain around one of main keywords we are currently targeting "what phone" What we're working on: Link building Site speed Social signals Rich media (videos, more images) Not a bad effort right? No love from an organic traffic perspective 😕 Ok, the site / domain is no older than 2 months old, it's a very competitive industry, and no inbound links yet, but come on! Questions: Are there any benefits of engaging external providers to help with link building? I'm talking about outsourcing from elancer or similar.. Or is this playing with fire? Have we missed something obvious here? Any help will be greatly appreciated! PS: we currently have some issues with our pricing tables, but will fixed as soon as possible..
Image & Video Optimization | | whatphone0 -
Is creating great content not important for Local seo?
I'm helping a friend out with Local SEO/Google Places and his content is lacking - no blog, no articles, etc. I've read the major "How To" guides for Local seo by Andrew Shotland and David Mihm and their ranking factors but I never see anything about content or linkbuilding (aside from directories).
Image & Video Optimization | | seo_f20120 -
Local citations | Local search
What is the best way to find local resources to gain reviews and citations from to help with strengthening your position in Google Places?
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Local Search Citations
Hi Is there a checker where it will show what local citation sites a Google Places listing has? My listing has been claimed on the likes of Yelp, Qype etc but I doubt if the others above me have as they have not even claimed their places account The reason being is that it can only be the local citations that is causing the following listing - or if there is anything else I would be interested to learn what it is? http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&safe=active&prmd=imvns&resnum=5&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=828&wrapid=tlif132205140339110&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=chartered+accountants+swansea&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=chartered+accountants&hnear=0x486e45555a4e97b1:0x3d77128e2fe7cb74,Swansea,+Neath+Port+Talbot&cid=7535215611406218142&ei=T-fMTvTbC4zA8QOpwLz6Dw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=2&ved=0CEIQ4gkwAQ to appear above http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=chartered%20accountants%20swansea&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CG8QFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.harrisbassett.co.uk%2Fcontact-harris-bassett.htm&ei=BufMToaLEtTY8QPQ9JjXDw&usg=AFQjCNHH86xx6pmUJ2BBODG_LGHeSL7RYg on a search for chartered accountants swansea
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
Do citations in foreign languages help for local SEO in English?
Hi, All! If you're doing trying to get a foreign site (in English) to rank for local SEO in that country (in English),.do citations in the native language help? Google does seem to know that the business name in English and the foreign language are the same (e.g. if you search in English, it will return some results in the foreign language with the business name in the foreign language bolded). And addresses Google can also tell are the same, as evidenced by Google map searches in both languages pinpointing the same location. So - are citations in the foreign language relevant to help the page rank higher for a local query in English? Any thoughts? Thanks, Aviva
Image & Video Optimization | | debi_zyx0