Local Google Place Ranking loss

[remkoallertz]

One of our clients lost rankings on the local map results. Last month we changed the phone number on the G+ page so the number is the same as on the website but it's still a call tracking number. We also changed the url to example.nl/plumber-newyork so it directly links to the local page and we made the local G+ author of the local page in the website. Can these changes have something to do with the ranking loss in google maps results?

[remkoallertz]

Thanks, Pigeon could really be the problem since the ranking lost happend at the same time.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey There!

Just want to weigh in that I agree there are 2 things you should consider:

1. That your citations are now inconsistent and need to be updated web-wide to reflect the changes you've made

2. That you need consider how Pigeon may be at play here. Lots of businesses have lost rankings due to this algo change.

[David-Kley]

This was my thoughts exactly. If every other mention shows the old number, this could have an effect. It will kind of hard to track, with the Pigeon update happening at around the same time as the profile changes.

[tomfifteen]

Hello,

I think changing the phone number could of caused the drop, if all the other NAP citations have different phone numbers on them.

It maybe worth Googling the old phone number and changing it where ever it is mentioned elsewhere online.

Rob

[SilverDoor]

Hi,

Have you thought of the potential correlation that this could have with the recent Google Pigeon update?

It's only (officially) come out in the last week and directly impacts local search.

I recommend checking out this article on Search Engine Land:

http://searchengineland.com/experts-weigh-googles-pigeonlocal-search-algorithm-update-198499

This should hopefully give you some insight.

Let me know if you discover anything else. Hope the rankings jump back up.