Local Search filter or penalty
-
Hi to everyone!
Our business is ranking very well on Google in our niche (diving zanzibar).
We constantly work on SEO and use MozPro to follow our ranking.Our problem is on LOCAL SEARCH and GOOGLE MAPS.
Our GMB is optimized, updated, has many photos and the most review in our niche.
We use to rank in the first 3 results for most search terms (for example: diving zanzibar, zanzibar diving).
Since October 2017 our ranking dropped to the bottom of the GMB results and never recovered.We suspect that our business is being filtered or panelised for 3 reasons:
1. When registering on GMB years ago, we entered our site title as our business name (Diving Zanzibar - Spanish Dancer Divers - PADI 5 Star). In September 2017 after reading the guidelines, we changed the business name to the real name (Spanish Dancer Divers)
2. We are located in Zanzibar (Africa) where physical addresses do not exist. Not Knowing which address is best to enter on GMB we kept trying different options ("Nungwi Beach, Nungwi, Zanzibar", "Nungwi, Zanzibar", Nungwi Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania, etc..) A week ago, in order to check why we are being filtered, we have changed the address again. The result was an immediate drop of 3 more places.
3. A year ago, we have been receiving many ratings and photos that belong to a restaurant next to us. Google support was useless so we decided to move our map locating a mile into the ocean to prevent getting those ratings and photos. Since then, we have move our location on map back to our real location.Is there a way to know what we are being filtered for? how long will that last? is there a way to fix that?
Business name: Spanish Dancer Divers
Search term: diving zanzibar, zanzibar diving, tauchen sansibar, plongee zanzibar and many others
Website: https://www.divinginzanzibar.com/Thanks ahead for your help.
David -
Hi David,
Yes, unfortunately, Google's support is often not the best. That's why I'm recommending you take this to the forum and ask for the help of the expert volunteers there.
-
Thanks to everyone's answers.
I would not recommend contacting Google support.
I did get a call and email from them. They totally ignore the subject and their answer was useless.
This is the response I got and I do not assume that the are even allowed to know more than this info:Hi David,
Thank you for contacting the Google My Business support team. We’re happy to help!
I understand that you’re concerned about not seeing your business listing on Google Search and Maps.
What you can do
-
Enter complete data: 82% of consumers use Search Engines to find information about local businesses. [Source] Make sure you’ve entered all of your business information in Google My Business and are keeping it up-to-date.
Learn how to edit your business information -
Manage and respond to reviews: Responding to reviews shows that you value your customers and the feedback they leave about your business. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers will also help to improve your ranking.
Learn more about getting reviews on Google -
Add photos: Accurate and appealing pictures can show potential customers that your business offers what they’re searching for. Businesses with recent photos typically receive more clicks to their website.
Learn how to add local business photos -
Give your listing time: I noticed that your listing has been verified fairly recently. Our local results ranking takes into account the prominence of the business on the web. Allow your listing more time to accrue impressions.
-
Make your business listing awesome!
Learn more about optimizing your presence online
Don’t forget to view insights on your business’s online presence via your Google My Business Account (more details).
-
-
Dear David,
You may already have done this, but I would highly recommend that you take this question to the GMB forum and ask, in the title of your post, for a "Gold Product Expert" to help you understand whether you have a penalty and if you do, why. GMB name spam may have contributed, but is usually not a big issue if you correct it. However, moving your address around numerous times and not really having an address is an issue you need to speak with one of the Gold Product Experts about. I have never had a client in Africa and am not sure of the exact protocols there, so please, do go to the forum, share the complete details of your business and specifically title your post with a polite request for help from those folks. Good luck!
-
Unfortunately Google are far less clear and forthcoming about their GMB stuff. If it were a general website penalty, I could be of more help. Sadly with GMB, it's been through so many re-builds and revisions (Google Local, Google Places, Google My Business) that I reckon' even someone from Google would have a hard time telling you what you should do
I guess the way to fix any devaluation is to adhere to Google's guidelines. Have an address. Don't put your address in your Business name. That being said... I am fairly certain that the algos monitoring GMB are way less sophisticated than those monitoring mainline search results. You could do everything right and still never see those results return to how they were before
It could be to do with having an address that isn't really an address, or the keyword stuffing. There are some generic steps here which Google lists to improve your 'local rankings'. Maybe if you do stuff that you hadn't done to begin with (verify your location, respond to more reviews than you did before with better - fuller answers, add a load more photos of higher quality) then you might be able to tip the see-saw back
I managed to find a Google My Business help / contact form you could fill out and send to Google here. You could also post on the official Google My Business community here. Yeah I know, it's not a Google.com URL but I found the link when browsing something related over here, so I think it's legit.
-
Hi effectdigital,
Thanks for your response.
It definitely look like devaluation.
Any idea of how long does devaluation last?
is there any way to fix that? -
Google's official guidelines can be found here.
Looking around the web, we can find a plethora of resources which show that Google (and leading marketers) explicitly state that keyword stuffing your business name (with a location) is bad
This is Google's official word on the matter:
"Business information
Name
Your name should reflect your business’ real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.
Any additional information, when relevant, can be included in other sections of your business information (e.g., "Address", "Categories"). Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g., "Google Inc. - Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, store codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions, or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted."
(sources here and here, where it is 'quoted' - assumedly 'from' Google - and obviously here where Google state this explicitly [ctrl+F for "not permitted"])
Read 'marketing taglines' as 'keywords' I guess!
If you actually had a manual penalty and suspension, you'd likely see something like this:
- https://d.pr/i/ZFPJgz.png (screenshot)
What is probably happening is some kind of listing 'devaluation', it could potentially be linked to keyword stuffing but I can't confirm that. It could just be that (unfortunately for you) Google have decided to take a harsher stance against businesses that 'can't' manage to have a defined address
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
-
What are the best link strategies to increase rankings in Local Pack / GMB and where to find them?
As someone who manages GMB for 50 plus local US clients, I absolutely loved this article https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors#local-pack-finder-ranking-factors and found it somewhat useful. Most of the gurus are saying link building is the key, but I wish at least one of them would mention where do we find these links. Is there a reliable source for this ( based on personal experience only please ) ? A one stop shop for any local business to do quality links ? I feel like to be truly useful to a local business this piece of the puzzle is missing and I would truly appreciate anyone's help.
Local Listings | | OlegLevitas2 -
Local SEO - 2 Locations
Hi SEO pros, If I'm undertaking SEO for a company which has a single website (no location specific pages) and 2 office locations I'm curious on a couple of points: 1. Obviously setting up 2 locations in GMB is a must, but in terms of citation building is it just a case of needing to input 2 citations into every directory (one for each address) 2. Link building - assuming this doesn't change much from when you're ranking for one location? 3. Schema markup - Do i need to create 2 x local business schema and input both into the headers? 4. On-page SEO - trying to rank for 2 locations I'm assuming is much more difficult as you can't optimise both location keywords throughout the site - does anyone know a way around this?
Local Listings | | Jack11661 -
Local SEO business name issue due to aggregator
So I work for a college and we have multiple locations. My tactic has been always to keep the name the same for all of them (no city name), and then change the address and phone number for each. But there is 1000s of college listings websites out there that aggregate college and school data from the same source: the US government. Now the way that they have most, if not all, multi-location colleges listed is: "college name-city name". I can see the value in that, but I guess I'm just wondering what to do since it obviously can't be changed. Should I revert all of our listings as "college name-city name" to match the 1000s of listings that have it that way? I've been under the impression that I should leave the city/town name out of the name, but I'm just wondering what you think best practices would be? Thanks
Local Listings | | TomBinga1125
Tom0 -
Local SEO
Hi I'm interested in renting a live work loft in a location where I would like to also do business out of. And I do understand that I would list the business as a service type business. But I wanted to know if I would be doing things correctly by doing that? And yes I'm in the kind of business that can be listed as a service type business.
Local Listings | | LittleDog0 -
How can I rank for keywords Locally?
For this test I am using google's "Ad Preview and Diagnostics" tool in adwords. And I took some screen shots to show you my problem. My company name is PhillyDoors, Inc. and the website is phillydoors.com Keyword: garage door repair.
Local Listings | | phillydoors
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 1 2) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 2 Keyword: garage door repair.
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 3 4) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 4 I have done some link building in the past that is helping me rank number 1 organically. I am also using moz local and my score is 86%. (pic 5) I simply do not understand why I am ranking so well organically but my local rankings are pretty terrible. While the listing "Garage Door Repair Service" is ranking at the top of the list. I understand that it is against Google's policy to name the listing something like this when your company name and website name is completely different. What can I do to rank better locally for more keywords and more cities rather than just a single zip code? hrsZZfF TTFr1rQ aDJSwWV BnyZP BnyZP0 -
Unable to update client address in G+/Moz Local
Hello, I'm having an issue with Moz Local that involves a few complicating factors. I have a client who has moved to a new office and I was hoping to use Moz Local to help keep their NAP consistent during the transition. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the Google+ page that was set up for the business (and neither does my client). The client is relatively new, so we suspect the page was set up by the person/agency that set up their website previously. And since Moz Local gets the business address from the Google+ page it finds, and I can't access that page to change its address, I can't update the address in Moz Local. I DO have access to the client's website and Facebook account, and have already updated their listed address on those pages, but the Google+ page seems to still be a problem for verification. One of the other wrinkles is that since I have updated the Facebook page to show the new address, Moz Local has picked that up as a completely separate listing (a listing that uses an "and" instead of an "&" in the name). I was hoping to claim/verify THAT listing and see if I could merge the 2, but this other listing shows up as a separate purchase on Moz Local. I would prefer not to have to pay twice for the same listing, if at all possible. I would try to change the Facebook page name to use "&" instead of "and" in the hopes that Moz Local might recognize that it's the same business, but it looks like Facebook only allows you to change a page's name once, and I don't want to burn what might be needed to solve some other future problem. Lastly, the Moz Local listings are under another Moz account. I DO have access to that account, and can provide any specifics to the Moz staff if needed. To sum up: I can't change an address on Google+ and therefore cannot change the address on Moz Local. I'm not sure if this is a Moz Local issue, a Google+ issue, or (most likely) an issue on both ends, so any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!
Local Listings | | BrianAlpert780 -
Help Understanding Localized Search Results/Ranks
I have a Moz campaign for duvalasphalt.com where I want to track a non-location specific keyword, then variations that include a location. For example, here are the rankings for a keyword and the 2 location variations. asphalt company (not in top 50) asphalt company jacksonville (ranked 6) jacksonville asphalt company (ranked 6) When I do a search for just "asphalt company," I see duvalasphalt.com ranked 11. Why does Moz not show an 11 rank? I understand Google tries to show me location specific results even if my search is not location specific. Is Moz's ranking crawler searching from a location where Google will not serve Jacksonville-related results? It would make sense, but how can I get Moz to capture the rankings that are important to my client? The rankings we want to see are the results made from in and around Jacksonville. Any help here is appreciated!
Local Listings | | ElykInnovation0