Single Local Result on Google... Wut up with that?
-
I'm seeing, for several different locations, single businesses suddenly coming up for searches on local services, where there used to be 3-Pack results. Now it's like a knowledge panel result on the right.
Anyone else seeing this? Any ideas as to what's going on... and if there's anything that can be done to revert it? (influence the type of local result).
Thanks!
-
Hi WP-Pro!
So, there has been a ton of buzz in the past week or so about zero-results SERPs (see an excellent article about this by Dr. Pete here on the Moz Blog: https://moz.com/blog/zero-result-serps
Google ran a test of the above that they have since shut down.
However, I don't believe this is what you've noticed. I think you are talking about what might be called a "Branded Knowledge Panel", in that a term Google used to show a typical 3-pack for is now being dominated by a single business, with their knowledge panel showing up on the right side of the SERPs and no competitors in sight.
This is a huge pain in the neck when Google does this, as it leaves all other local businesses out in the cold. Basically, what has happened when you see this is that "something" has caused Google to believe that a single business is THE authoritative result for a search. This is fine when someone is searching for Taco Bell, but really annoying when someone is searching for "tacos".
If an authoritative knowledge panel is negatively impacting a SERP for which you were previously competing, leaving your business out in the cold, you need to take a very close look at that competitor to see if you can figure out why Google is giving them this preferential treatment. I recommend doing a competitive local business audit to highlight areas where that competitor is strong and you are weak. And look at their use of features like Google Posts, Google Q&A, etc. to see if there is some way they've gotten ahead. Study their keyword optimization on their website. And, of course, take a close look to see if some kind of spammy behavior on their part may have gotten them this preferential treatment.
There isn't a direct action you can take to force Google to show a 3-pack instead of an authoritative knowledge panel, but the general idea is that you've got to become stronger than your competitor so that Google realizes that there is more than one quality answer available to that particular search query. Unfortunately, you may have a long haul ahead.
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 you get junk mail after adding a local listing?
I'm curious if when anyone has submitted a new business citation, once it appears in Google, Bing, Yellow Pages, etc, do you notice if junk mail starts to flow in?
Local Listings | | MrSem0 -
How to have profiles removed from google feature box
I have a client who is a lawyer and used to work at law firm. Since he has opened his own practice. But if I do a search for my clients name a google feature box comes up and says he works for this previous law firm. How do I get this removed. There is no mention of him on the competitors web site.
Local Listings | | donsilvernail1 -
Top Local Organic Rankings, But Nowhere to be found on Google Snack Pack
I've been working with a local gym for a while now. We successfully got the gym to beat out all its competitor and now it consistently ranks in the 3rd or 4th result for all major local industry keywords. For example "gym in [city]". The only thing above us is Yelp and other directory sites. The problem I am running into is we do well organically, but when it comes to Google Snack Pack we aren't in the top three or even 10. You have to go deep into the next pages of the map to find our business. I did find that we use to be categorized as health club in Google My Business, but I changed that three months ago. Some more additional info, the site when I got the account moved to a different url. So many directories and sites that linked to us in the past link to the old url. The old url is 301 redirected to our current url. I haven't found much info about this topic and am looking for any experience or insight?
Local Listings | | JasonKhoo0 -
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 -
Is eLocal a scam or legitimate directory for local SEO?
I just got an email from eLocal with information that is way farther off than any other email I have received from directories I know. I ran a search on them, and it definitely seems fishy. Plus, it's not showing up as a problem in my Moz Local account. However, I don't want an inconsistent listing if this is a legitimate site I should correct. Anyone have experience with them? What should I do? Thanks for the assistance, Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Google Places Australia - Categorisation Issue
Hey guys, I know that this doesn't quite fall under this community, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I've got a client currently who is an Electrician. They're primarily electricians that offer a lot of services, such as air conditioning installations, LED lighting, Solar Panel & heaps more, currently I'm trying to properly categorise the Google Places listing. I'm looking at other Google Places listings in the "Electricians Melbourne" type searches & many of them have Electrician as a category. However, when I attempt to do this, I'm unable to get the same result.
Local Listings | | KBB_Digital
Has anyone else seen this, or know why I can't get Electrician as a category & when others are?0 -
Removing website from search while you have Pending Google Places Listing
Hello, If you have assign a website in Google places that is in Pending mode, and you removed the website in WMT, from the searches. Will be denied in google places? Thanks for your help.
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT1 -
G+ Local Business Page vs. Brand Page Problems
I'm struggling a bit with a Brand page vs. Local page on G+ and wondering if anyone here has had this same problem and found a solution.... This is related to a business that has a does have a physical address for a head admin office, but they provides a financial service to people across Canada over the phone. So although the business has an address and local phone number for admin purposes, it doesn't want people showing up at that address and definitely doesn't want to be considered a "Local" business. However, Google automatically creates the local listing in google maps, which the business has claimed but otherwise does not want to maintain. Instead the business has a Brand page on G+ (not local) which it has linked to the domain and actively maintains as their G+ business page. The trouble is, Google is associating showing the local listing as the rich snippet in in their organic result instead of the Brand page. Is there anything the company can do to further help Google associate the Brand G+ page with the website instead of the local listing? I already tried removing the link to the website from the local listing in hopes that would dis-associate it with the domain. That got rid of the rich snippet, but now the local listing shows up as a separate organic result just below the main company website, which is just as bad or maybe worse. To confirm, the website IS linked to the BRAND page using rel=publisher, and the brand page does have a verified link to the company domain. Thanks for the help!
Local Listings | | PlusROI1