New google maps listing was showing & now is not
-
Here is a brief description of what I am doing and what happened.
I recently acquired a new client who had an unclaimed google business listing. We claimed the listing and within 2 days it was showing up for its main search term on Google. Almost immediately my client was receiving new calls from the listing. Within a week the listing no longer shows up with the other listings on the home page but does show up when searching on google maps.
Does anyone have a lot of experience with Google+ & business listings? If yes, what are some of the most common reasons listings might be removed, shuffled around, increased or decreased in ranking, etc.
Sincerely,
Garret
-
Hi Garret,
I have some questions and then some thoughts for you:
Where was the listing ranking before you claimed it (what letter)?
Where did it rank after you claimed it (what letter)?
When you say it is showing up in Google Maps, what position does it have in the list view?
Is there any chance that claiming the listing might have drawn Google's attention to the accidental existence of you having more than 1 listing in existence for this business? Have you searched for duplicates?
How good is the client's organic authority?
Did you notice a general ranking shift at this time for any of the client's competitors? Could Google have coincidentally been reordering results at the time you claimed the listing or has everybody else in the pack stayed in about the same position?
Some ideas: read through this article to check off potential issues with ranking failures:
http://moz.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures
The other thing I'm thinking of hearkens back to my early days in Local SEO. It seems to me that I remember instances in which a newly claimed listing would appear high in the packs for a brief period of time, then fall off to a much lower position and then would have to climb back up the rankings based on effort/strength. I haven't heard this phenomenon being mentioned in many years, but I wonder if it might still exist here and there.
I'd highly advise looking into the duplicate listing possibility and do go through the article I've linked to:)
-
Hi,
Without knowing the particulars of your listing, I'll attempt to answer your questions:
"(1) what are some of the most common reasons listings might be removed,
(2) shuffled around,
(3) increased or decreased in ranking, etc."
(1) Removal could be due to spamming the description (keyword stuffing), though lately I have seen highly over optimized listings that are not being removed. In the past, a listing could be removed if the business owner attempted to keyword stuff the business name, but again this seems to be allowed now (it's referred to as a "descriptor."). Is it possible they have duplicate listings? That could be causing a removal.
(2), (3) --> I see the shuffling around with my clients all the time. This is influenced by the keyword, where the search is being conducted (meaning where Google thinks you are when conducting the keyword search), and other factors that I do not think Google discloses. I have noticed that at different times of the day my clients appear higher or lower in the local rankings. Perhaps Google shuffles around the results to see what gets better click-through-rates (and in theory creating a better user experience.)
Increase/decrease in rankings can be influenced by the user's location. Then again, what kind of increase/decrease are you talking about? A few spots? Totally common. 20 spots? Tough to say.
You mentioned that the listing is not in the local pack, but appears when you click on "Map results for [Insert Keyword]." I have seen that too, but cannot tell you why that happens. There has been speculation that it has to do with either onsite optimization or GMB over-optimization, but I don't know if anyone outside of Google really knows. What I can tell you is that this happened to one of my clients. His listing would disappear from the local pack, but be #3 in the map results. Within a few weeks this stopped happening, and now his listing is consistently in the local pack.
If you would like, PM the listing in question and I'll take a look. Good luck.
-
Monica when he said the client is receiving calls this means that the listing was actually there and if those calls are stop this means that the listing isn’t there anymore…. (This is how it logically should be).
When you are saying the listing appears when you go to Google Maps but not in the main results I assume that other competitors will have some edge may be better listing optimization against the desired keywords, better reviews, better rating them yours and more.
My recommendation is to do the audit and figure out where the problem is and go from there accordingly.
Hope this helps!
-
Are you signed into Google when doing these searches? That is a huge factor in local rankings. Can you track the SERP of the map listing in any tool?
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
-
Google Local Listing Visibility for Regional Queries
I manage a variety of small local programs that are located in areas that are more known by the region than they are by the town (the Adirondacks and the Catskills to be specific). In the past, the local algorithm understood that when the query was related to the region, it would show a variety of results from that region. It seems that for the Catskills they have changed the algorithm to pinpoint the center of the region and only show results that are in the near vacinity of that pinpoint, rather than a variety of results from the region. The Adirondacks however is still showing a variety of results. For those of you not familiar, the Adirondack are 9,375 square miles and the Catskills are 5,892 square miles and are both very rural mountain regions and popular travel destinations. Google clearly understands that these regions are geographically oriented and shows a local pack for relevant results such as "Catskills Resorts" or "Catskills Restaurants", but over the past few weeks, they have started only showing 2 results for the query Catskills resorts, both located near Shandaken, NY becasue that is where Google has deemed the marker for the Catskills is (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Catskill+Mountains/@42.009289,-74.3996212,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89dc665668f82f31:0x3b012376423b8efa!8m2!3d42.0092908!4d-74.3821116) In reality, there are hundreds of resorts within the Catskills. (Note there is a Catskill, NY within the Catskills, however Google is not even confusing this town with the region). Does anyone have ideas on how to get Google to understand that the Catskills are more than Shandaken, NY? I feel like we suddenly have no hope of ranking locally and most of the businesses I manage are located in very small towns that people are not specifically searching for.
Local Listings | | Your_Workshop0 -
Community Discussion: Did Your Google Listing Suddenly Disappear?
There is nothing quite so alarming as seeing your business suddenly vanish from the Google local packs/local finder. We got first wind of this when Moz community member CalicoKitty2000 posted that their fishing charter business in Florida had abruptly stopped showing after enjoying historical high local rankings for a very long time. Their company is Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters. Their organic rankings were still a-okay, and as I was digging around trying to rule out common problems like guideline violations, malware, penalties, I was lucky enough to come across a totally separate discussion of the same startling phenomenon at Linda Buquet's Local Search Forum. To observe this phenomenon for yourself, look up 'fishing charters cape canaveral'. In the local pack, click the 'more places' link to get to the local finder. Observe what is in the local finder view, including the fact that only one business is located at 505 Glen Cheek Dr. Then, zoom in on the map, and you will see CalicoKitty2000's company, Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters, magically reappear in the results. You will ALSO notice that something like 8 other businesses, in addition to Sea Leveler, located at 505 Glen Cheek Dr., are also suddenly present in the local finder at that zoomed-in view. What appears to be happening here is that Google has made a change in which they will only show a single business at a given address within the same category. This is a major, major change that poses a very obvious problem for businesses like legal firms and medical practitioners who share the same building and category. Coworking spaces hosting a variety of same-specialty tech startups also come to mind. Joy Hawkins (one of the smartest Local SEOs I know), posits this in addition to the shared building/shared category factors influencing this change: "I believe Google is A/B testing at the moment which explains the crazy fluctuation we're still seeing daily on trackers like Algoroo" Joy says she's planning to write an article about this soon, so be on the lookout for that if this has affected your business. In the meantime, I have two thoughts: This filter is so unfriendly to so many businesses, I would not be surprised to see it go away. However, it never hurts to create buzz/raise awareness. If you've been affected, you might want to post your example in Google's forum with a plea to Google to treat you more fairly. I would argue that it is NOT creating a good user experience for people seeking a doctor, a chiropractor or a fishing charter in a specific neighborhood to be shown only partial, single results. I know I'd rather know that there are 7-8 choices of fishing charters conveniently located in a building on a marina. After all, if one charter is all booked up for the day, I'd like to know that other companies are there to serve me, wouldn't you? I'd say this apparent filter makes results less relevant than more relevant. I find it particularly weird that our example business, Sea Leveler, is being filtered out given how far ahead of most competitors they are in terms of review count. Wouldn't you want to see the most-reviewed business first? Hopefully, this filter is just a test, but for the sake of damage control in the meantime, this might be a good time to invest in some Adwords to replace your missing rankings (hey, Google, I hope this isn't your diabolical idea behind the change, a-hem!). If you've been affected, please, study your SERPs and share with our community any clues you are seeing. We can all help one another survive Google's curve balls better when we share. I would love to hear of anything you are observing about this, and am particularly interested to know if you are seeing a rotation of businesses ranking at different times of day. For example, if Businesses A, B and C are all at 123 Main Street, is only business A ranking all the time at the non-zoomed level, or at some point in a given day, are B or C being given preferential treatment? Please, share your findings!
Local Listings | | MiriamEllis4 -
NAP question and Google local.
Hello, My client has successfully grown one of their event venues locally (lets call it venue A) and on the back of that bought two more venues (B & C). Then created an umbrella company to manage all three. He now wants to market the umbrella company and so redirected the original successful venue domain (A) to the new umbrella company domain. The umbrella company is located at the same address as the original venue A. So it shares the same address, phone number, website as venue A but a different name. All this done before me. He has a Google local page for the original venue - venue A- and changed the domain on it to the new one. He also has Google local pages for the other two venue locations. But doesn't have a Google local page for the umbrella company. Now he finds rankings are down. Looking around I can see that his citations are all based on the original successful venue name A - but he has changed the website URL on many of the citations to the new domain.So a bit of a mess as we have a mixture of addresses, same phone number for all 4 , different business names for all 4, same website for all 4. If all the venues plus the umbrella company are in the same city, but have different names and addresses but the same phone number (for bookings) and web address, are they allowed a Google local page each? I suggest just having a Google local page for the umbrella company and remove the others as they are not actually separate businesses although they do have different addresses. But unsure if this is correct or necessary. Not sure how to progress with this one and any help appreciated?
Local Listings | | AL123al0 -
Is there is any benefit to linking to the Google page from RFQ contact page?
I have a Request for Quote contact page is there any benefit to linking from the Google + page? or the other way?
Local Listings | | ScottImageWorks0 -
Multiple Google Business Pages/ Backlinks for Google Maps
Hello, I represent several attorneys in the metro Atlanta area. In doing my research with open site explorer and other tools I am finding that many of the competitors have more that one, if not several personal and branded Google business pages.
Local Listings | | underdogmike
So this raises several questions while I go through my Local SEO strategy. How Many Google+/My Business Pages Can A Business Owner Have? Should I be creating backlinks for the Google Business Pages as I do for my clients website? I noticed that some of the competitors are creating backlinks with their Google Map Location URL, is this a best practice? In addition to those questions, I am curious about the various different Google+ pages that are available to business owners.
As of now, I create and cultivate the following Google Pages for my clients: Claim a GMB Page and optimize it with photos and accurate information Attached to the GMB Page there is a Google + Page(this is where I share blogs and updates for the business). Upon further review I feel like there are a few steps that I am missing in regards to the Google + pages. Listed below are the links to Local Market leader for Criminal Defense in Woodstock GA. From what I can tell he has 4 separately branded Google+ pages that are all verified. https://plus.google.com/104434819427186216811/about https://plus.google.com/113476381600385352368/about https://plus.google.com/104300020905072698361/about https://plus.google.com/103523192982501886740/about Should I be taking the same approach?0 -
Local search result not showing
Hi Mozzers, I'm not a huge expert on local SEO.. the thing is when searching for our brand + city. or brand name specific or anything we do not get the map on the right with our contact info and such.
Local Listings | | kayintveen_MD
To be sure this is what we've done. We have a google+ page + verified content (for more than 4 months now) We have images, opening times, email, url's and such filled in (for 4 months now) We are on several local sites with our address, and such We do have some old listings here and there where we have old addresses but its just a few and we are on it to update / deleting them We have Microdata on our site with our address, lat lang and such. All address data on social, and few other pages are super in sync with each other. We are located in the Netherlands so a lot of info on this site we cannot use, becuase they don't accept us for example. Very curious on some interesting info how to optimize and why we are not showing.0 -
Local listing ranking higher than domain name
Hi everyone,I was wondering why on my ranking report there is a fluctuation between the local listing page and the domain name page. Is it a way to always get the domain name ranking higher than the local listing?Thanks for your support,RM
Local Listings | | skrauss0 -
Map-pack results for multiple locations in the same city
We just started working with a local business with several offices across Virginia. All of their locations have G+ local pages, and all rank pretty well in map-pack results for their respective cities....except for one location. Two of their offices happen to be in the same city. One ranks well in the local pack, and the other one is totally buried. This is the only location that doesn't rank in the map-pack for its target local queries. This company still has a TON of work to do to clean-up their citations and improve their G+ local pages across all the locations, but I'm wondering if there are any best practices for handling two locations within the same city...we obviously want both offices to rank in the map-pack, and don't want to do anything that might hurt the one that is currently ranking well. I'm confident that generally cleaning up their profile across the board, and adding new citations for all locations would be beneficial, but would appreciate any suggestions or best practices for getting both locations in this one city to perform well. Thanks!
Local Listings | | djreich0