Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Joy!

Here's how you can change your PM settings:

1. Click on your avatar in the upper right hand corner of Moz.com (it could be your photo or just the first letter of your name)

2. Select "private messages" from the dropdown that will appear

3. Check the box for "accept private messages" and your done! Easy as pie

Our community manager would also recommend that you accept emails from Moz - they'll go to whatever email you've listed in your community profile. This can be helpful in communicating with other community members.

Hope this helps!

Another good question from you, Blue Corona!

Are GMB listings going away? Not any time soon, but as John mentions, be prepared for increased paid-packs as time goes by, in some industries. Basically, any industry into which Google can position itself as the middle man (leads for home service providers, bookings for hotels, etc.) will be one in which free packs could become obsolete.

If you're trying to take the long view of what's happening, basically, Google is trying to become the platform on which actions occur that would previously have occurred mainly on a company's own website. Google wants to provide directions, facilitate phone calls, govern reputation, show photos, book appointments and arbitrate leads all on their own product instead of on yours (your website). As Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm discuss in this interesting chat transcript, Google is becoming your new homepage: http://streetfightmag.com/2017/03/06/why-google-is-becoming-the-new-homepage-for-smbs/

So, whether we like the idea of Google having a finger in every pie or not, what you want to do as a local business owner is to influence as much as you can the accuracy and persuasiveness of your presence in all of Google's results (and that includes paid results in some industries and tough markets, as well). This is what users will be interacting with - this layer of data that exists on Google about your business, instead of only on your website. Your GMB listing will be a major factor in this for the foreseeable future.

So, that's basically the eagle's eye view, with some unknown quantities like the ultimate impact of voice search (controversial) and future updates to Google's algorithm (unpredictable). Hope this helps!

Some good gut feelings here, John, and you are so right about Google's rebranding history - it has been especially volatile in local!

Hey There!

In addition to Ria's smart tips, I would focus on links when you need to move the needle. Earning/building links on authoritative local and industry websites would be key here. This is one of the only things, honestly, that can make a serious difference when you are in a super competitive geo-industry market (like a personal injury attorney in LA!).

And I want to emphasize content publication - your ultimate goal is to become Google's idea of being THE authority on your topic, whether that's auto glass repair, organic groceries or yoga. You can become THE authority to Google by becoming THE authority to local consumers - the site they turn to for specific topical information, and that they link to, share, review, etc.

There are believed to be several hundred factors that Google takes into account in determining local pack rankings, so, understandably, it's a pretty nuanced environment. A bakery in rural California is going to be able to rank well with very minimal effort, but their location in San Francisco is going to have more of an uphill battle, simply due to the strength and breadth of their local competition.

Something to keep on your radar: the annual Local Search Ranking Factors 2017 study will be being released here on Moz soon. This polls the opinions of some of the top Local SEOs in the world, and you will be able to gain expert insight into what really brainy folks feel is impacting rank most heavily today, both in the local and local-organic results. So, stay tuned for that as it's coming soon!

Nice tips, Ria. I'll add some more!

Glad to answer such a great question as the one you've asked, Blue Corona. Really a good topic you've brought up here!

My great pleasure, and yes, report those listings!

Nice of you to try to get advice from the horse's mouth on this one, Joy. Thank you. Very generous!

Hi Cori,

Joy's advice is accurate, and I just want to add - yes, these are definitely extra steps for the business owner to take, which can be something of a pain. That being said, bearing in mind that Google is giving us clear signals that many business categories may see free packs go away, this is a good chance for your clients to become early adopters, learning to survive in an increasingly paid environment. So, you're hitting the learning curve in what are still relatively early days, and this will be valuable to you as a consultant, as well as to your future clients whom you can guide toward success.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about Google vetting businesses and about paid inclusion. I think this puts further burdens on SMBs who are already stretched for time and funding and are in the fight of their lives with the big boxes. On the other hand, as a consumer, I honestly fear encountering GMB listings set up by scammers, particularly in sensitive verticals like locksmithing. Do I really want a scam artist rekeying my doors? Nope. So, because of this, if Google can decrease spam in their packs via vetting, I see a consumer gain there.

Good luck!

Hey There,

Joy is correct: the primary concern here is that Google will not understand where you are located, leading to ranking problems. On the user side, the customer may be unable to access correct driving directions, and may end up not finding the business at all. Both of these things impact the business' main goals of being visible and experiencing transactions. So, definitely not advisable.

Hi Rolando,

I noticed you've chosen 'local website optimization' as one of you categories. If yours is a local business, then the best blogs to seek to contribute to would relate to either a) your industry or b) your specific geography. The visibility/authority/credit you derive from becoming an author on such blogs is likely to be much more targeted than what you would experience from simply distributing content to generic sites.

So, for example, let's say you are an interior designer located in San Francisco. You do residential work, but you'd like to become better known for your commercial work doing home staging for real estate companies. You have some great photos of your work and your brain is full of helpful tips you could give. Who would you reach out to? Some local possibilities would be realtors with great blogs, local furniture/decor shops, etc. On the industry side, scoring an article on something like HGTV.com would be awesome, or something like this http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/2661221/list/sell-your-home-fast-21-staging-tips could improve your authority.

Ideally, and for the long haul, what you want to do is build relationships with leaders in both your industry and geography, so that when you want to outreach with an interesting article you feel you could develop, you have made contacts who like and trust your work and would be glad to have you contribute. I would recommend this scenario every time over the older strategy of simply distributing content to non-relational websites, which fail to build your brand in your geo-industry. You'll need to research your niche, see who the leaders are, and assess what you can contribute that would get their attention and begin a positive relationship.

Good question, Nathan!

If the business model is changing from local (defined as serving customers face-to-face at your location or at theirs) to virtual (no face-to-face contact with customers anywhere) then it will no longer be eligible for a Google My Business listing. If this is the case then, yes, you'll need to act on this, and unfortunately, as you are not simply moving to a new location, you are likely to end up with the red 'permanently closed' label on the listing. I recommend reading Joy Hawkin's article from 2016 on this issue in case you see any nuances that might apply to your situation:

http://searchengineland.com/google-fixing-permanently-closed-problem-242364

And, I would further recommend contacting Google's support to ask if they have any further advice for you, as your situation is not the run-of-the-mill moving locations scenario, but represents a complete change of business model.

Hey There!

When properly deployed, development of tools for any type of business can have several different goals:

1. User engagment

2. Resultant brand recognition via use of the tool

3. Ranking well for tools of that type

4. Customer acquisition

Yes, publishing a really excellent tool could indirectly impact your domain's rankings if lots of people engage with the tool and link to it using keywords that are important to your business, but I wouldn't recommend looking at search engine rankings as the core goal of tool development. Simply putting a tool on your site because competitors do overlooks how effective it can be to have a thoroughly-planned marketing strategy that covers whether your potential customers will find such a resource useful, how you will build + deploy this resource and how you will set about marketing this resource so that it becomes a major asset to your business.

For inspiration, you might look right here on Moz. We have a free tool called Check Listing that helps local businesses do a quick health check of their local business listings on major platforms in the US and UK. That's something useful that local business owners and marketers would like to be able to do, so the tool serves a definite purpose. If the visitor finds the free tool useful, they've just had a good experience with Moz and might be interested in learning more about our paid Moz Local software. If they like what they see, they might become a customer, and they might tell their colleagues about Moz Local, and they might even write a blog post on their own website, linking to Moz Local. And if enough customers do this, then yes, Moz's relevance to keyword searches like 'local seo software' could be positively impacted.

In other words, there are many paths to providing a useful + positive experience to each consumer, and a good tool can be a great option where that is interest/need and a market in which you can compete as a provider of that needed tool. It's definitely something that takes a lot of initial research, planning, development and marketing to be successful, so give this careful thought, and see what your business could do to begin being present on a variety of user paths, which, if deftly done, could yield many rewards.

Hi Jarod!

What you're experiencing is quite real, and one of the things I personally view as a lack of sophistication in Google's algo. While one can argue that a business named Boston Chiropractor is certainly signalling that they do chiropractic work in Boston, thereby signalling relevance to a query like "chiropractor boston", a business name doesn't automatically equal superiority/authority. So, yes, it can be frustrating when it appears that Google is heavily weighting this signal in a given local pack. Barring changing your business name, here's what you can do:

1. Check any competitor to be sure that the name they are using on their GMB listing is, indeed, their legal business name. Does it match the logo on their website or have they added the city name to Google even though it doesn't exist in their real world business name? If you discover that they have falsely added a geo-term to the business name, report this to Google as a guideline violation. But, if their legal name or DBA genuinely does include that geo-term, then they are guideline-compliant and there isn't anything you can do to overcome this particular ranking factor. But...

2. Bearing in mind that this is only one of several hundred signals Google is believed to take into account in determining rankings, you need to focus on all of the other signals where you can compete on an even playing field. For example, how do you stack up to the folks outranking you in terms of:

• Age

• Website Authority (content quality and velocity + links)

• Website optimization (both traditional and local SEO)

• Number of Google-based reviews

• Completeness of your Google listing (particularly photos that generate high click-throughs)

• Consistency of your citations across the major players (do a quick check on moz.com/local/search)

• Authority and quantity of your unstructured citations (mentions on local/industry news sites, website, blogs, etc.)

This is a really simplified list. You'll find a more thorough one here: https://moz.com/blog/local-seo-checklist

You'll need to compete on all of these things, because you can't compete on a somewhat arbitrary factor like the name of your business. Audit your competitors and audit your own presence and see where you can make meaningful improvements that might move the needle up a notch or two.

Good luck! I know the scenario is a tough one - and it's the very one that is causing untold numbers of businesses to spam their GMB business titles with false geo-terms, because it's clear that Google continues to place emphasis on this signal. It could change at some point, but in the meantime, we have to pick the battles we can win, and for a business in your scenario, that would include the hundreds of other factors Google takes into consideration.

Hi Blue Corona,

I'm with the community on this - lowering the visibility of those reviews on the website is not going to prevent  potential customers from finding them on Google, so this will be an ideal opportunity to really start throwing yourself into earning some excellent Google reviews, leading to the positive sentiment outweighing the negative. Here are some resources that could help:

https://whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/

https://moz.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-creating-onsite-reviews-testimonials-pages

https://moz.com/blog/mastering-owner-response-quintet-google-my-business-reviews

https://www.getfivestars.com/blog/13-ideas-make-business-complaint-friendly/

I totally get that it could be embarrassing for the company right now to have those negative reviews showing up on the website, but consider:

1. This is temporary. You must have a plan to drown out those couple of negative reviews with a slow-but-steady acquisition of positive reviews.

2. Google has been very clear about wanting unmoderated reviews on websites that use review schema to markup their own reviews that they are gathering directly from consumers. In other words, in Google's eyes, your reputation should be unedited. Right now, the business has a customer service issue being reflected on Google - this is presently the reality of the business, and while it's not flattering to the business, it is authentic. So now, it's the time to make an authentic response with a) resolution of problems b) excellent owner responses and c) acquisition of improved reviews over time.

Hopefully, the company can really get on this. An estimate 92% of consumers read online reviews and it's a given that this business' potential customers are seeing those negative reviews on Google. I'd make improving this scenario priority #1, over any technical or SEO considerations.

Thanks for the further details. So, basically, the architecture of your website and its navigation send signals to humans and search engines about which pages you deem to be most important.

Take a look at the homepage of Moz and the main menu at the top. For example, we're linking to our blog, signalling that this is a core component of this website, but, we're not linking to every single blog post on the blog, meaning we don't consider each post to be as important as the main blog link.

Similarly, we have a link title "Learn SEO" which takes us to a page that is basically serving as a sub-menu of the educational tutorials we've developed. We don't link to each tutorial from the top level menu, but the path has been created to get there.

For a local business, the top level menu typically includes:

• Contact Us page

• Reviews/Testimonials page

• Blog (if they have one)

• Link to or dropdown for the pages that describe each of their services

• Link to or dropdown for the pages that describe each of their physical locations or service cities

At the minimum, that's what you'll typically see, but the size/complexity of the website will play a role in influencing what you put in the top level menu, with the goal being that you are highlighting the pages you feel are most important for users (and search engines) as the very top pages of your website.

To ask if it hurts you to put some pages in the top level navigation while leaving others out somewhat oversimplifies the issue. All website owners have to make these choices to prioritize what goes in the menu. It's not really a matter of being hurt - it's a matter of being sure that your core pages have received maximum prominence in the menu.

Now, if you built a page that was like an island with no path to it from anywhere in the site, then, yes, neither humans nor bots might ever find it. But, at the end of the day, a website with 20, 50 or 5,000 pages can't put all of them in the top level menu, so best advice here is to carefully, thoughtfully plan the navigational architecture of the site so that core pages are immediately accessible via the main nav, but that there are very clear and abundant paths to less prominent pages as well.

I hope digging into this a bit more this way is helpful

Hi There!

It's fine to include a short list like you've highlighted. What you don't want to do is to create a large block of text that is simply a list of tons of cities or zip codes as Google has specifically stated they don't approve of this. But if you are just mentioning the 5 cities you serve, I think you'll be A-OK, particularly as you are linking to internal pages for further detail.

As to not including these in your top level navigation, the decision about this would need to stem from how important these pages are to your customers and your business. If they are secondary pages rather than core pages, perhaps you'd want to create a section for these landing pages with a small sub-menu that governs it? But, if these are core pages, I'd want them in the top level navigation.

Hope this helps!

Hi MissThumann,

You've asked a good question, and I reached out to GetFiveStars' co-founder to be sure you were getting a good answer. Mike Blumenthal let me know that while you can add the GetFiveStars widget to the homepage, Google won't show the stars, and because of this, it's not really a recommended practice to use this widget on your homepage. That being said, you could definitely add it to any other page of the website.

He also let me know that the widget includes business/org details in addition to aggregate reviews and a link to the testimonial page, so your webmaster does need to make sure there is no conflicting schema on any page you might add the widget to.

It was very nice of Mike to get back to me so speedily, and I would encourage you to be sure you are making use of GetFiveStars' support options to be sure you're using their product to its maximum potential. Mike mentioned he has a draft manual he'd be happy to share with you if you reach out to the company's support.Hope this helps!

Hi Bob,

Good luck with your presentation! I think you have an interesting opportunity residing and working in a small town. Like you, I live in a rural area beyond a larger, good-sized city. I find it interesting to study local SERPs in areas like this - they sometimes provide unique insights into Google's 'thinking' when there are fewer options/less data. In the coming months, who knows what you might learn from closely studying your local SERPs?

Hey Bob!

Just checking back in with you to see if you found community input helpful on this, or if you have further questions.

Hi Marcelo!

Interesting question. While it's true that the inside of one McDonald's looks pretty much like every other McDonald's, Google is going out of their way to say they only want images that represent that location. Would you get penalized for going against this guideline? Probably not, but on the other hand, a user could potentially flag your images as incorrect and who knows where that could lead. So, my answer on this would be, no, don't go against the guidelines. It's always safest to simply stick to them.

Hey There!

I just responded on your other thread with this link: https://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide

I would also recommend reading: https://moz.com/blog/overcoming-your-fear-of-local-landing-pages

Please, read through both posts and then, if you have further questions specific to your business, don't hesitate to let us know here.

Good Afternoon!

I agree with Logan that adding extra cities to your title tag is not the right tactic. For one thing, it could potentially cloud your rankings for the city in which you do have a physical location. I want to give you a link here that should help you in your deliberations about what to do:

https://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide

It's a long one, but I would recommend reading through it to get a sense of what the right approach is for your business model. Hope this helps, and if you have any questions after reading that article, please just let us know here!

Hey Joseph,

Coincidentally, Rand's Whiteboard Friday today speaks to exactly this topic. Definitely check it out and let us know if any further questions arise!

https://moz.com/blog/ranking-multiple-domains-to-own-more-serp-real-estate-whiteboard-friday

Hi There!

No, this would not be a recommended practice to markup your third-party reviews with Scheme. Google recently updated their guidelines specifically regarding this. For more on this, see: http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-local-reviews-schema-guidelines-257745

Hi Paul!

Would you be able to link our community to an example of Google results for which you're seeing these stars? I think it would help. Thanks!

Hi There!

GetFiveStars is well-thought-of in the industry and can be very helpful for businesses that are otherwise struggling to earn and manage consumer sentiment. I test drove the product before it launched and was pretty amazed by it then, and since that time, they've added so many new features. Definitely check out GetFiveStars blog, as well ... good tips on there!

You might also want to check out this free review handout generator: https://whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/

Hey Bob,

I see your new town is quite small - population 839. So, this would be one of those scenarios in which we have to realize that Google shows local results based on their internal logic. If Google is showing NO local results at all for your town, then it's an indication that they don't have sufficient data to create a local data set.

But, before we decide that this is going on, I'm doing some searches to verify whether there are literally no results. Here's what I see:

Term: gas station council id

Results: a 2-pack from the area surrounding your town

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=gas+station+Council,+ID&*

Term: grocery store council ID

Results: a knowledge panel result for a single grocery store

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=grocery+store+council+id&*

Term: church council ID

Results: a 3-pack of churches in your town

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=church+council+id&*

So, I'm 3/3 here, finding local results for your town, which is a good thing. With such a small population, I'm guessing that there aren't a ton of businesses in your town, but from my brief searches, my bet would be that with proper local SEO, you could at least get a knowledge panel result for some of these businesses if they are one-of-a-kind in that town, or see them appear in a 2-or-3-pack if there are multiple businesses in the same category.

Now, that being said, as someone who wants to offer Local SEO to your neighbors, it's going to be very important that you approach the SERPs as they currently stand. If, for example, you want to market the only bakery in town, and a search for 'bakery council id' is bringing up no Google local results but a page of organic results from Yelp, YP, TripAdvisor, Facebook, etc., then you have a path to follow. You must ensure that your bakery client is properly listed on all of the platforms that are appearing in the first few pages for this search, and that their information on these platforms is 100% accurate and complete. A tool like the free Moz Check Listing tool is also a great way to find any duplicates or inconsistencies on the major platforms that you'll want to correct. And, of course, you'd want to make sure that the bakery's own website is good enough to rank for this term organically.

Upshot: it would be good to earn Google local results for your clients, but if Google simply will not show any local results for a certain category of search, you need to be sure you're optimizing the first few pages of the results that do come up, so that your client is earning traffic and conversions.

Hope this helps!

Hi Remko,

Let's work through this scenario together. Let's say that I operate a lead-gen directory for auto dealerships in Texas. Like any business owner, I want to rank well, and my livelihood depends on the traffic I get and the conversions the businesses in my directory receive.

So, in violation of Google's guidelines, I list myself in Google My Business, knowing that I'm not supposed to. What can happen then?

1. Any random Google user looking for an auto dealership and encountering my directory in the local pack can feel frustrated by the waste of his time in calling me or driving to my business only to discover I'm not an auto dealership. In his frustration, he can report me to Google for spam. And, he certainly doesn't trust my directory after this experience, seeing that I've misled him.

2. An auto dealership owner in Texas who has been pitched about joining my lead gen directory may look at the local pack and decide that, in essence, I'm stealing a spot in the local pack results that he or any other legitimate dealership can't occupy because I've taken it. Angry about this, he can report me to Google for spam. And, at the same time, he will no longer consider my lead gen directory a place he would want to be listed, because it's not adhering to guidelines. He doesn't feel he can trust such my business. So, I've just lost a customer for life.

3. The SEO team working for an auto dealership in Texas sees I'm violating Google's Guidelines, and can report me for spam.

4. A Local SEO anywhere in the country sees what I'm doing while they're doing their job, and can report me to Google for spam.

5. And, at any time, Google can realize I'm spamming on their own, either as a result of their algorithm detecting that my business doesn't meet their guidelines or because this is detected manually by Google staff.

The risks to me of any of the above 5 scenarios are that:

1. Google will take down my listing, so my efforts at rankings will have been in vain and any marketing spend I put into this will be wasted.

2. I now have a black mark against my business in Google's eyes for violating their rules. This could prejudice them against my whole business, and who knows what that might do to my organic rankings?

So, these would be the risks I'd be facing. And they are big ones. Most businesses would not want to deal with these risks.

What Would Be A Better Way?

So, I revisit my marketing plan**,** because I realize I can't afford to risk angering consumers and losing their trust in my brand, auto dealership owners who might become customers of mine, or Google upon which I'm dependent for traffic. I realize that it's not fair to take local pack spots away from legitimate car dealerships. And yet, I need to survive, so what is open to me?

I have two options: organic rankings and PPC. So, I'm running a lead-gen directory. In order to be successful, I have to prove to auto dealership owners that I can rank highly in the organic results for their core terms, so that I'm getting leads I can send to them. I have to acquire the organic SEO skills that will enable me to live up to this claim, meaning I've got to learn what it takes to earn those high organic rankings. So, this is where I turn all of my attention: earning organic rankings that I can legitimately have a claim to and without risking my business.

Where I can't manage to get organic rankings yet due to high competition, I am going to have to invest in PPC, just like any other business. Hopefully, I can chip away at this over time and move up in the SERPs as my directory becomes of higher value in Google's eyes, but until then, I may have to fill in the blanks with PPC.

What I've outlined here would be considered ethical marketing for my business, and respects the idea that I want to stay in business for the long haul. Unlike spam practices which mean the hammer can fall on all my work at any time, the practices my hypothetical directory has determined to take have the goal of building a brand that can be trusted by consumers, customers and Google for years to come.

To me, there is no question that this is a much stronger approach to marketing.

Hi Matthew!

My pleasure, and I'm so glad you found my answer helpful. It sounds like you have a game plan for some work ahead. Yes, it's possible that by not being #1, you may be missing some traffic, but it might not be as much as you think, given that you are in the top 3. In your shoes, I'd be counseling myself to focus a little less on rankings and a little more on broadening my company's visibility for secondary terms in the local-organic results. The size of your city (population about 100,000) convinces me that you could really cover the waterfront of things people in Tyler need with the right content strategy and harness some highly targeted/highly converting traffic.

Rand, in particular, has done some amazing Whiteboard Fridays over the past year or so about content, keywords, etc. I hope you'll take full advantage of this section of the Moz Blog:

https://moz.com/blog/category/whiteboard-friday

Good luck!

Hi Matthew,

I agree with Igor that this is a competitive keyword, but I'm assuming that you are talking about local pack rankings, rather than organic (Igor cites competing with Wikipedia and others, which would not be a wise use of time/resources). I think what you are asking about is how to compete with the businesses coming up in the local pack for the search 'web design tyler tx' or for people in Tyler searching for 'web design' alone?

So, first of all, I would start with a small adjustment of your thinking. If you can rank in the top 3 in a free (non-paid) local pack, you are more or less equal with the folks ranking 1 and 2. In my own search for 'web design tyler tx', you are coming up 3rd in the pack and in the local finder view (reached via the more places link at the bottom of the pack).

I'm not sure where you see your own business ranking when you do this search from your office and from locations around your city (it may be quite different from what I see), but going on the premise that you've achieved a #3 ranking (well done!), here's what you'd have to do to try to move up:

1. You need to perform a thorough competitive analysis of the 2 companies outranking you. Are they older? What's their authority like? Their link profile? How many Google-based reviews have they earned compared to you? How strong is their content? What is their geographic position on the map, relative to the 'centroid' of Tyler and relative to you? Etc., etc.

2. You mention you are using Moz Local, so this should mean that your core citations are either in great shape or are on their way to being so. Have you fully filled out your Moz Local listing with images, photos, social links, etc? Images, in particular, impact conversions.

3. How is your review game beyond Google? Narrow and thin or diverse and broad?

4. If, at the end of your competitive analysis, you find that your metrics are quite similar to the two companies outranking you, then my best advice would be to:

• Focus on content development that bests your competitors' efforts

• Earn some really solid mentions from the main publications in your city, preferably with links, but w/o them can be valuable simply as authority citations

• Analyze new linkbuilding opportunities

• And, finally, consider whether what you really need is higher rankings or a better conversion rate. There may not be that much difference between the number of clickthroughs you are getting from the local pack vs your 2 competitors. Let's say you are getting 3 leads a week through the #3 ranking you've earned and the guys at #1 are getting 4 leads. What really matters is whether your website and your sales people are converting 3/3 leads, or 0/3 per week. That's where the money is. If it turns out that what you really need is better conversions, then you must analyze the website for this specific goal, and also, analyze how your sales people are handling calls that come to you through the local pack and other avenues. It can make a big different to your bottom line if you get to where you are converting even 2/3 leads per week instead of 1 or 0/3.

Hope this helps!

Hi Remko,

If your business is a lead gen site/directory, it should not be listed in GMB as a plumber - it's not a local business. Unless I am misunderstanding and your company actually provides plumbing services directly to customers, then you should remove the GMB listing. I've linked to Google's guidelines in one of my replies, above, that should help give you more complete details on which business models are allowed/not allowed by Google in their GMB product.

Hi Pete,

Glad I was able to help you identify Possum.

My pleasure, Paul! Thanks for asking a good question

Hi Pete,

Thank you for the further details. Given that your client shares the same building with other attorneys, your scenario hints at the possibility that what you are experiencing is the effect of Google's Possum update, which influences the local finder results for businesses in the same category/same building. Joy Hawkins does a good job of describing this phenomenon in the #2 point in her article at Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900

If your business appears absent from the map at the automatic zoom level, but then appears in the results if you zoom in on the map, chances are strong it's Possum. As you can't share the identity of the client, please try that experiment and see if it fits. Possum was released in September 2016 and was believed to impact well over half of the Local SERPs.

Hi Pete,

Quick questions:

1. Does the lawyer share a building with any other lawyers?

2. Does the legal practice have a Google My Business listing for the business + listings for multiple attorneys at the firm?

3. Is it possible to share the name of the business with our community? It's okay if you can't, but looking at a live example would certainly be helpful in taking a stab at identifying what is going on.

Looking forward to your replies!

Hi Paul!

Phil actually did a piece one year later as a follow-up to that first one you've linked to. I want to be sure you've seen:

https://www.localsearchforum.com/local-business-citations/6050-private-citations-hide-your-address-service-area-businesses.html

I do not know of a more recent list of directories that support hidden addresses. Regarding your question about Apple Maps Connect, the answer to that was not easy to find, so I actually reached out to Phil (given his expertise in this particular area) and he let me know that, no, unfortunately, hidden addresses are not supported by that platform.

Phil's two lists should still be largely accurate. Hope this helps.

Hi Remko,

So, for example, let's say you currently have your lead gen business located at NetherlandsPlumbers.com. Such a domain automatically associates your business (both for human users and search engines) with the plumbing industry. One would expect to find plumbers on such a domain, but would not expect to find roofers or bathroom remodelers on such a domain. So, while it's not impossible that you could get roofers' or other contractors' pages to rank via your NetherlandsPlumbers.com website, it's not a natural association.

Conversely, if you had a domain like NetherlandsHomeService.com (or even some sort of generic brand name like DootdeDoot.com or whatever you call the directory) you would not be sending a signal of limitation with the domain name. Human users and bots won't be limited to expecting only info about plumbers at NetherlandsHomeService.com or DootdeDoot.com. There is no limitation to what might exist on such a domain.

Moz.com might be a good example of this. We have traditional SEO software here. We have Local SEO software here. We have a blog and a forum. If, instead of being Moz.com, this domain was localseosoftware.com, we'd be sending a signal to search engines and human user that we are limited to just Local SEO software, right?

So, if you are expanding your offerings beyond plumbing, what I'm suggesting is that now is the time to look closely at whether your present domain name limits you. If it does, you might need to start fresh with a new domain that does not automatically limit you to the plumbing industry.

Hi There!

The most common reason for this would be that the Yelp users who have left the reviews are not yet established enough in Yelp's system to have their reviews shown. Yelp has the most stringent quality filters in the review world. Check out the profiles of the people who have reviewed you. If they have left few reviews, this would likely be the answer as to why their reviews are being filtered out.

The other thing to consider would be whether you are falling outside of Yelp's guidelines in any way. For example, Yelp is very insistent that they don't want owners to ask for reviews. Would there be anything in your strategy that might be falling afoul of this guideline?

Hi Remko!

Thanks for the clarifications. If your business is a virtual business, then Local SEO is not the appropriate marketing strategy. Only local businesses should be listed in Google's local product, and while your business represents local businesses, it is not, itself, a local business. Rather, your business would be along the lines of a directory (like Yelp or ZocDoc or YellowPages). Like these large directories, you will need to utilize organic SEO (rather than Local SEO) in hopes of getting highly ranked organically for whatever terms you are targeting.

Given that yours is not a local business, the decision here would be whether you want to operate a single directory for plumbers and another for roofers, or, if you want to build out a single large directory for all home services. In the long run, the latter might be a better strategy for building a brand (like ZocDoc) that is instantly recognized in the Netherlands as being associated with finding all home services. This might necessitate you starting fresh from today with a new domain (like NetherlandsHomeServices.com or whatever) and set up redirects from the old plumbing directory to the new domain.

Alternatively, you could build individual directories on unique domains for each service type. The drawbacks here would include less opportunity to build a single, strong brand, and more complexity of managing multiple sites instead of a single site.

As you continue to weigh your options, you might want to check out a company like Diamond Certified, which rates businesses in California: http://www.diamondcertified.org/

Hi There,

I'm doing a search for 'internet lawyer ft lauderdale' and would recommend going through these in your search for a lawyer: https://www.google.com/search?q=internet+lawyer+ft+lauderdale&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=internet+lawyer+ft+lauderdale&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=26186765,-80135356,3464&tbm=lcl&tbs=lf_msr:-1,lf_od:-1,lf_oh:-1,lf_pqs:EAE,lf:1,lf_ui:2&*

I'm afraid I don't know what legal action would be appropriate (I have no legal background) but I'm hoping you'll be able to get one of these firms to call you back. Hopefully, with the documentation you've gathered, you'll be able to present the issue clearly to an attorney and get their qualified advice.

Wishing you good luck!

Thanks for confirming. I wanted to ask, as I saw the reference to legal action in that person's review. Because of that, this is the point at which you have to switch from thinking of this as a reputation issue to thinking of it as a legal one. In a blog post here at Moz, I strongly advocate that any mention of legal action by a consumer is a signal that the business needs legal counsel. Please, take the consumer's statement seriously and consult with an attorney. This goes beyond Google and their ability to moderate consumer activity. It's a legal matter.

I'm so sorry you are having this trouble with a customer, and the best thing I can do is recommend that you speak to a lawyer to discover best steps toward resolution of the situation. Wishing you good luck.

Hi Again,

Agree that it's bizarre that this disgruntled customer would be going to so much effort. Is this your business:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Car+Wrap+Solutions/@26.069977,-80.210786,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x518642b0ad3f68c?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCgYywwanSAhVK1WMKHbhuC3UQ_BIIngEwCg

And is the negative review in question left by someone with the initials P.B.?

Hi Brett,

This might be of some help https://moz.com/blog/eye-tracking-2016-how-searchers-interact-mobile-serps-desktop but I haven't seen one that focused only on the knowledge panel. I'd love to see one.

Hi Taylor,

When speaking of local businesses,  the term 'directories' typically refers to local business directories (like online Yellow Pages) rather than those old-school, low quality directories from days gone by. As a local business owner, you want to get your business listed on the major local business data platforms. Have you considered Moz Local for this, by any chance? Our product pushes out your correct location data to the majors and has become a popular choice for this type of work, as it saves a great deal of time. However, if you want to list your business manually, you'll want to be sure to get listed on Google My Business, Facebook, Foursquare, Factual, Yelp, Best of the Web, Infogroup, Citysearch, Superpages, YP, Acxiom and a handful of other major sources. These local business data platforms are applicable to all local business types, and so many local business owners these days use tools like Moz Local to get listed, instead of slogging through the work manually.

As for the older concept of low quality directory listings, yes, that's an antiquated SEO strategy from a decade ago and should not be pursued. Hope this helps. And, if you'd like to learn more about Moz Local, here's a handy list of features: https://moz.com/local/features

Hi Remko!

I'm really sorry you didn't receive a speedier reply to a good question. I have some questions, reading your post:

1. Are you saying you have a single business at a single physical location? Or are you talking about more than one business.

2. If a single business, are you saying that the company offers both plumbing and other contracting services like roofing?

3. Have you developed content on your website for each of the services the company offers?

Hi Amy,

Thank you so much for considering Moz Local. Kevin has done a good job of summarizing the main reason a business might choose Moz Local - it's always important to manage your location data, and this is what Moz Local primarily does. The product ensures that you've got correct and complete information on the most important local business data sources. It also enables you to track, for example, how users are actually interacting with your Google My Business listing (like clicks-to-call, clicks for directions, clicks to your website) and alerts you to incoming reviews on a variety of platforms. Moz Local is also a life-saver if your business re-brands, moves or changes other basic data, enabling you to get all the platforms updated in a single step (instead of having to edit all your listings manually, which is a major pain!). You can see a full list of features here: https://moz.com/local/features

As for leads, yes, we have seen leads increase in some case studies we've been doing, but that's not something we can guarantee, as each business' competitive scenario is unique. Please, let me know if you have any further questions about the product. I'm happy to keep chatting.

Hi Joe,

My apologies for the delayed reply. I've been out sick for a few days and am just now working my way through our Local Q&A categories.

So, yes, you are right - long ago, nationally standardized rankings were more the norm. Today, with the emergence of Local Search, it's a completely different ballgame. Local pack rankings are going to revolve around the location of the searcher. So, a searcher on his cell phone in Melbourne looking for something like 'trampolines' is going to see completely different local pack results than he would if he were searching from Brisbane. And, a business physically located in Melbourne cannot expect to rank in the local packs for searches for or from Melbourne.

The Local-Organic results are not as heavily impacted by the searcher's location as are the Local Pack results, but geography may still matter somewhat.

If you need to improve your local pack rankings in your city of location, then it's just going to be a matter of employing local search marketing techniques. This checklist can help: https://moz.com/blog/local-seo-checklist

If you are trying to improve your Local-Organic results for your own city or for another city, then it will be organic factors your need to focus on (content, links, etc.).

Please, let me know if there are further details to your question you'd like to share.

Hi Brett!

Good question. The People Also Search For results are algorithmic, and like Ria, I've not seen a definitive study on this area of the knowledge graph. What you could do if a client is desirous of making it into that area of the display would be to do competitive analysis of the top businesses currently coming up in this type of result and see if you can find commonalities. For example:

• What are the local and local-organic rankings for those businesses?

• What is their proximity to you when you search?

• What is their proximity to the main business in the knowledge graph?

• What do their review and link profiles look like?

That's just a start, but it would be how you would need to begin exploring the results of a particular knowledge panel. How much effort you put into this should be dictated by how valuable it would actually be for the client to appear in this feature.

Hi Carwrapsolutions,

That's really nice to know Moz has been a help to you in your SEO. I wish we could help out on this one, but basically it appears that Google does not consider this to be a bug. It sounds like they consider the latest update to a review (adding or changing photos) to be cause for updating the date on it. I can see their point of view - the date they are showing is the one on which the review was most recently updated. So, for example, if I reviewed a restaurant in 2014 and then dined there again yesterday and updated my original review with new photos of the taco I ate, Google feels there is freshness associated with my new activity.

That being said, if the review in question is being updated with any content that violates Google's guidelines for reviews or images (as in a case where someone might be a harassing a business with inappropriate images) then this is something you can report.

I'm curious to know what the actual situation is with the business you are monitoring, if you can share it. Is a competitor or a past employee or something like that harassing a business?