Google place listings and search results- quick question.

[onlinechester]

Has anybody else noticed that they are ranking better on 'places' yet they have dropped off in the actual search results? We've had no message through webmaster tools. The same seems to have happened to our competitors.

[SandraMoZ]

Hi Onlinchester,

You are not the only one. I noticed it too. Only in certain group of keywords, and always if there is a local result.

So it is not the Panda update I think (fortunatelly... or not...)

I also found this article from an agency that noticed the same: http://www.1stonthelist.ca/articles/are-your-organic-listings-being-replaced-with-local-listings/

For now, the CTR in local seems to be better for local than in organic, but I'm surprised. We will see..

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Onlinechester,

I believe what you are describing is the quite common phenomenon in which the previous organic rank of a business for a given query is subsumed into a newer local ranking (a ranking in the pack of lettered, pinned results). Since the Venice update in early 2012, it has become uncommon for any single business to have both a local and organic page 1 ranking for any search term. There are exceptions to this, but as a rule, if you've got a local listing, you're unlikely to have a secondary organic one on the same page of the SERPs.

Some marketers have published pieces on managing to achieve a double page 1 ranking for local clients. Here's an article on that topic by Adam Steele:

http://www.nightlitemedia.com/2012/05/organic-and-google-places-ranking-on-page-1/

There's also a good discussion going on about this topic at The Local Search Forum:

http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local/1816-disagreement-my-client-over-organic-vs-g.html

I recommend you read both resources and see if what I've written is accurately describing the common phenomenon you are experiencing.

If not, please come back with further details.

[TheeDigital]

We tend to agree with Moosa, "local results" and "organic results" are not linked in anyway.   If your local results seem to have fallen off quite a bit, I'd suggest taking a look at your link building activities.

Also run your competitors through opensiteexplorer.com or ahrefs.com, see what they're doing from a link buliding perspective that might have caused them to jump over you.

[MoosaHemani]

I personally don’t think that ranking better in places and drop off in normal SERPs have any interaction but this can be the result of latest Panda update (24^th) which might affect your niche... I don’t think this is the point of problem... all you have to do is to analyse your website again from SEO perspective and build some links if required.

This kind of thing happen from time to time and the idea is to check your SEO campaigns and fix the problems and you will see a re-gain in SERPs from the desired key phrases