I have noticed two changes in SEO from Dec 2014 to Now
-
Why has most of the local pages from google disappeared? There were normally 3-6 local listings on Google but now it has vanished? Has the algorithm or rules changed?
Secondly i noticed a massive swing in seo rankings. I have done some testing i i found that google now gives you different rankings depending on the area that you in. So i can safely assume that the algorithms have changed and you now get results based on your area? The top 4-5 rankings stay the same but everything else changes to your current location.
Am i wrong, what has changed. Please help.
-
Thank you for your valuable feedback, i appreciate it.
-
Hi Ashwin,
You asked: "So what happens to my Google plus page now? Do i discontinue using it"
No I'd still keep it current and use it, for reviews for one thing. But additionally the data from your G+ L page still gets used and fed to other places like the knowledge graph. And your page may still show up and rank in Map search and Google+ search as well. Plus you never know when she'll come out with some new display format and use that local data.
But the other thing to keep in mind is that sometimes packs disappearing is temporary and based on a wide variety of factors like query volume. So the pack could come back. I've seen packs disappear for a week and then come back.
-
I did stick to this, because the situation that you have described matches the pigeon update.
And, as Linda Buquet has mentioned in her response to this question, with this update some 7 packs are reduced to 3 packs, but there are industries where it has completely disappeared.
The only thing which would stop me from dropping Google+, is that you may never know when it will come back (it could be only a large scale test for South Africa at this moment), and if you stop totally working on it, then you are loosing there.
Like I usually mention in my answers, this is a personal opinion.
-
You seem to be clued up on this subject. Maybe i could ask you another question?
Why doesnt the local pages (Google Plus pages) Show up anymore, are they doing away with that now?
-
Then it could be, that you are experiencing the Pigeon update.
-
English is the official language in South Africa Correct
-
I was asking for that info, because maybe you are in an area which was affected by this update. Although this update was meant for UK, Canada and Australia, I could believe that it has also affected other English search queries (especially that English is considered as an official language in South Africa - right?).
-
I am from South Africa, thanks for the response
-
In my belief:
You shouldn't drop any inbound marketing channel, just because there has been a Google update, which currently doesn't work as you wished.
Maybe I would reduce the number of hours that I spend on this task, but for sure, I wouldn't drop it.
But that is me, I like to have more than one channel working around me.
-
Thanks for your response. So this technically means that very little or no local pack details will appear anymore because of the update and this also means that Google is focusing heavily on Local SEO. So what happens to my Google plus page now? Do i discontinue using it and focus on backlinks. Im very confused.
-
Yes if you are outside the US, then I agree with the others. The Pigeon algo expanded overseas and exhibits many of the characteristics you are describing.
Many report 7 packs being reduced to 3 packs, but in some industries packs are totally gone.
-
Google has rolled out the Pigeon update to some countries outside the US including the UK, which has changed the landscape of local SERPs.
The top listings will now often be sites such as Yell, Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc with the local results then coming in underneath.
-
Hi!
I do not know where you are from, but I think what you may have seen is the Google Pigeon update, which was rolled out to the UK, Canada and Australia on the 22nd of December 2014. Read more about it on: http://searchengineland.com/google-pigeon-update-rolls-uk-canada-australia-211576
I hope it has helped. Gr.,Keszi
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
-
Do I need separate local numbers for two fitness locations?
I'm beginning local search work for a local studio that has two locations in the same city. Do I need to provide two different phone numbers in my NAPs for each studio or can both locations have the same phone number? Thanks! Ann
Local Listings | | amws240 -
Google Local Changes Randomly & Our Site Keeps Dropping Off Search
I work for a university where we have 2 law schools. We have our one school on the other side of the state that has been around for a very long time, and then a newer school that is right on our main campus that has been around for about 5 - 10 years now. The newer of the 2 schools is having so much trouble being able to claim the name of the school in google search. If you type in the name of the school the other school (the one that has been around longer) was coming up in the google local on the right of the screen and their web URL was never showing up in search. This is a huge problem because the accreditations of the 2 schools are different, and students are showing up at the wrong school for their interviews. Search will only show a domain name that used to be owned by the older school but now gives information for both of the schools. So it'll show up in search results, but only under that other domain and not their own domain that has their name in the domain name. This school has an updated google mybusiness listing, and a google+ page with the correct listing. I've added some schema data around the business address on their site and JSON for the google+ page, and have re-indexed their sitemap a few times after some changes have been made and we are using their name more in the site. This fixed everything for a short while and we were getting the appropriate google local listing and their site was appearing in search results above the site that advertised both schools. Now, after about 3 months, it has reverted. I had the older school showing up in the google local, and the site that advertises both schools is the ONLY domain appearing. I've re-indexed the site after finding out that Drupal's timestamps that they automatically add to sitemaps aren't optimized for how google reads it. This has gotten the local listing back, but I still have the wrong domain appearing, it is the one advertises both schools instead of the domain that has this school's information. I don't mind that the one advertising both shows up, but if a user is searching for that particular school I would really like to get that domain to appear first above the one advertising both schools and the older school. Right now the new school isn't even in search results except for being under the site that advertises both. I wasn't sure if this was something that Moz Local could help me fix by adding the listing across the web, or if there is something else on the sites I can be doing to help them solidify their name in google search/local. Also - is this subdomain that is advertising both of them hurting them or help them? I was thinking about taking that domain down to one page that acts as a direction source to the 2 domains rather than having a ton of information and keywords that take over the results for their name since that domain is older (and used to be associated with the old school only before the new school was built) Thank you for any advice on this issue as I'm still pretty new to SEO and to the university. Thanks again!
Local Listings | | amaray4030 -
We now have an SSL certificate. Do we need to redo our citations?
After spending some time getting our NAPW info corrected on many of our key listings and claiming and configuring a few more, we recently added an SSL certificate to our domain. We've made the https version of our site the canonical version, set redirects, etc. Do we need to redo our citations with https to get our full SEO bang for buck out of our citations?
Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow1 -
SEO - Should individual doctors at facility claim a Google My Business profile?
My client is a physician facility with several doctors practicing at the facility. When doing a Google search for some of their practices such as "family practice" one of the doctor's profiles will display in the Google Local pack - however it is not linked to the facility website where their profile exists. As of right now, we are using YEXT and other tools to claim Google Business Profiles for each practice, not the individual doctors. If there are unclaimed accounts for individual doctors, they are alerting Google that it’s a duplicate and should be taken down. Is this the right process to follow for SEO best practices or should we be claiming both the business and individual doctor profiles? The reason they are not claiming individual doctor profiles is to cut down on duplicate reviews as part of the Reputation Management Program. Advice much appreciated!
Local Listings | | chrisvogel0 -
Local SEO For Agents
My company has local offices all over the United States, similar to what you would find with insurance, financial advisory services or real estate. We would like these individuals to rank in their local communities. A few questions: (1) Do we need to set up a unique local website for each of these agents or can we build a unique page for each of these agents on our main website. (2) Agent(s) within a city can each provide their services to individual in or near that city, but they don't offer their service regionally or nationally. (3) The agents are generally home based and while there is no concern having their phone number listed, there is some issue with showing a private home address. How does this limit local search and are there any alternatives. Thanks in advance
Local Listings | | APFM0 -
How do I find associations between two businesses?
Google seems to have associated two business that share the same location (with added suite numbers) and I'm not sure how to break the association. The puzzling thing I discovered the other day is when I do a brand search in Google maps it populates this other business as seen here: (https://www.google.com/maps/search/tatt-away/@27.184467,-81.4366649,8z/data=!3m1!4b1) We have multiple locations in Florida I know this other business and it's hosted on the same VPS as well. My question is how to I find the correlation and break it?
Local Listings | | Tatt-Away0 -
Best practice for local SEO when two offices handle different services?
Our agency has three main services - SEO, PPC and web design. We're in the process of setting up a new office in a different city where our PPC team will be based, while SEO and web will stay in the original office. How do we handle local SEO/Google My Business listings in this situation? Geo-targeted service pages and two separate GMB listings?
Local Listings | | CustardOnlineMarketing0 -
My #1 (A) ranking client in Maps is now #38 after update?
We have a client with 4 locations and all of them do pretty well in Google Maps. Since the latest update, we dropped from #1 (A) all the way down to #38 in Maps. We're still #1 for our keyword in Organic but our Maps got crushed. We use Yext for the citations but we also do some a lot manual ones too. We have 3 reviews on that location but not sure why the big drop. I'm not even sure where to being to get it back. From our research: We noticed our categories were a little out of order. Our primary was "legal services" instead of "personal injury attorney" (we've now updated that.) I've noticed that all the listings ahead of us, minus a few of them, have their homepage as their link. We've always used a local landing page that has hand written directions on how to find us, our hours and who people will meet when they come in. Things relevant to that location. Our domain authority is a 40. Our homepage Page Authority is 49 and our landing page for that location is a 22. What else should we check to see what's happened? Should I move the Google+ page to the homepage instead of the sub-page (as well as the citations we have)? Thanks for your help!
Local Listings | | DarinPirkey0