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
-
Did anybody else notice a big change in local/map results in late Jan early Feb
Hi, We work on quite a few local campaigns for clients and saw a fair bit of movement in the UK in late January/early February. Did anybody else notice this? Some of ours have improved, some have lost out, but the results generally seem to have shifted against usual guidelines for listing optimisation (reviews, local phone numbers, consistency with website etc.). Any thoughts? Thanks
Local Listings | | jasarrow0 -
A customer made a duplicate google plus page, now what?
A customer of mine went to a business conference about a year ago and one of the speakers told them of the importance of having an optimized google plus page. Instead of talking to me about it, they went ahead and created a brand new page and began posting content and reviews to it. I've contacted google and they've told me they deleted the first page, but it still always shows up in the local search results even though the new page has much more content on it. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation that could help me? I have them ranking #2 organic, but barely showing up local...
Local Listings | | jag10251 -
Struggling with SEO and Rebranding...
I have a question for you... have a client who originally I built and ranked individual websites for them for multiple services. One website was for auto sales, one for auto repair and one for auto detailing. But the names were all different and individual. They decided to rebrand and they wanted to bring them all under one common name. And they were talked into building a new website under the one common brand name and put all the content under that website and have since 302 redirected everything. I know.... should have been 301's So of course now I have to go back in there and repair the SEO damage as everything has now tanked. So here is my dilemma I have the following brands/services - all located same city, some in different physical locations new website is XYZ.com XYZ Car Sales - located at 123 any street XYZ Auto Repair - located at 123 any street XYZ Auto Detailing - located at 456 any street XYZ Customizing - available at 456 any street Should I just build out the content on the XYZ.com domain and use subfolders so XYZ.com/customizing, XYZ.com/autosales, XYZ.com/autodetailing etc or should I use subdomains autodetailing.XYZ.com, etc And as a final question to this scenario... how does this affect the Google+ business pages for each of these businesses? If i use the subfolder method, should I have the XYZ Car Sales, XYZ Auto Detailing all point to the XYZ.com root or should each Google business page point to the actual subfolder? And how will this affect SEO? If I build out the Auto Detailing section for example I was thinking it would look like this XYZ.com/auto-detailing
Local Listings | | seo.help
XYZ.com/auto-detailing/about-us
XYZ.com/auto-detailing/services
XYZ.com/auto-detailing/contact-us Will that be good enough for Google to properly link the content to that particular section/brand assuming things like Title Tags/ H1 tags, etc are done properly? Keeping in mind we have Google business pages already in existence for XYZ Auto Sales
XYZ Auto Detailing
XYZ Customizing
XYZ Auto Repairs Your help will be hugely appreciated, Ive searched and searched, but most things seem to lead back to multi location SEO questions, this is multi-location but also multi brand and different business names (although quite similar)0 -
Will changing my business location affect my ranking for localised searches in my original area?
I run a mobile outdoor personal training service in London, UK (i.e. no bricks and mortar gym). Or, rather, my business is in London (all my clients and the freelance trainers that work for me) but I'm personally due to move out to the county of Suffolk. As I work from a home office and my company's registered address is my home, that means I have to inform Companies House and various government agencies that the company has moved. Does this mean: a) I also must tell Google the company has moved, and; b) if I do will Google start to see my website as being for a Suffolk-based company? I really don't want this to happen: my clientele are mostly in London., I still want to market to Londoners. And if I want to expand the areas covered by my company, Suffolk is not high on my list. You'll excuse me if this is a simple question! Thanks for any help you could give
Local Listings | | fionadoggett0 -
Foreign languages and SEO: product description
Hi everyone, I have hit a brick wall with regards with the SEO of one of our sites. This is concerning a Belgium based webshop which sells toys. The server is based in the Belgium and the domainname ends also .be . They try to put as much possible dutch/belgium text on the website but the amount of this is very low compared to the english text on the website. The problem starts when they import product description from the main manufacturer which is in english. this means when the customer visits the website, it's dutch, but the product description is in english I have pointed out this but they pointed out the fact they import with 1 click 500 products, but it takes them ages to translate this to dutch. Now is my theory, the way they are doing this, will hurt their ranking a lot in the google.be search engine compared to their competitors to the point that less than 10% of their site is in dutch/belgium and the rest in english. I am thinking of the possibility of suggesting to let them use google translate to automatically translate the products before putting them on the website. It won't be a great translation, but it will stop hurting their ranking and will even contribute to increase their ranking. I thought they do this, and put a small link to the english version of the manufacturer. I would love to hear others thoughts on how to do this with as efficient and fast as possible.
Local Listings | | sami800 -
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 -
Local SEO citations
Hello all 🙂 I've just started doing some local SEO citation stuff, using Whitespark. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to run different searches/listings for different keywords for the same business? For example, 'digital marketing manchester' and 'website design manchester' - or would you simply just do one keyphrase? All help appreciated!
Local Listings | | Seabrook
William0 -
Best Practices For Local SEO For A Nation Wide Property Company?
Hi There, I've recently acquired a client that sells property all over the country (South Africa). It's in their best interests to rank well for localised keywords relating to the areas they have listed properties in. eg. Property for sale in example suburb/town/province. The project has a number of challenges which I'd appreciate any suggestions for The site acts as an aggregator for numerous partner property agents and, as s such, has a lot of duplicate content on it The company only has offices in one city. It handles online bookings which it then passes to its partner agencies - this presents me with a problem of creating listings in the areas I need to rank for I cannot list the actual addresses of properties Your thoughts and advice would be seriously appreciated.
Local Listings | | KJDMedia1