Local Search filter or penalty

[SpanishDancer]

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

[MiriamEllis]

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.

[SpanishDancer]

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

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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).

[MiriamEllis]

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!

[effectdigital]

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.

[SpanishDancer]

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?

[effectdigital]

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