Anyone else ever experienced a clients rankings fall off a cliff for a core search?

[nathangdavidson]

A penny for your thoughts...

One of my clients local pack rankings for a core search term, in their location, and multiple locations near to them, fell off a cliff - i.e. disappeared completely - somewhere between 17 July and 31 July of this year.

Their rankings for other, more niche searches held up in the same time period and they continue to rank well.

Their rankings for the core search term have still not recovered.

I suspected this was to do with another profile for their listing appearing on Google SERPs, albeit much less prominently, but I have since requested this be removed (it was showing their old address before I changed them to an SAB a few years ago), which Google have now done.

Two weeks later, their rankings have still not resolved to where they were.

I've never seen this before.

Amazing rankings, consistently, for years, and then, nothing at all for one or two core searches.

Sadly this has had a massive impact on my clients business, which says a lot about the important of visibility for core searches with higher volumes.

I have reached out to Google about this now to see if they have any insight as to what's going on or what I could do.

But I thought I'd share here as well to see if anyone can offer any tips?

I know there's no guarantees with Google rankings, and that their algo changes all the time. But for my client not to appear in their own locations local pack/local finder - let alone locations around them - after having done so for such a length of time, seems downright bizarre, and definitely wrong.

Thanks for reading (if you got this far).

 

[Colan Nielsen]

The 1st thing I would check is to see if you've been filtered. Is Your Google My Business Listing Getting Filtered? - Sterling Sky Inc

Have you already done that?

 

[nathangdavidson]

The 1st thing I would check is to see if you've been filtered. Is Your Google My Business Listing Getting Filtered? - Sterling Sky Inc

Have you already done that?

Hi Colan,

Thanks for stepping in.

There was definitely another listing - not a duplicate, it was a regular listing at their old address - I hadn't noticed it before, so we suggested an edit (duplicate), which were ignored, so I submitted a redressal (also ignored) but I successfully had it removed after escalation.

I'm not sure where it came from, but until 17 July this year it hadn't had an impact.

The odd thing is that their optimised profile continues to rank well for the majority of keywords - but not the most important one [window shutters], or variations of this keyword (e.g. [shutters for windows].

Feeling a bit helpless. it's almost like I need to give Google a nudge to say this is the profile they need to rank again, because it definitely deserves it/is worthy.

Can you think what else I could do?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Have you reviewed all of the other businesses at that location as well? Are there any others that are in the same category?

The filter works at the keyword level so the fact that you're seeing it for some keywords and not others is consistent with the local filter.

 

[nathangdavidson]

Have you reviewed all of the other businesses at that location as well? Are there any others that are in the same category?

The filter works at the keyword level so the fact that you're seeing it for some keywords and not others is consistent with the local filter.

Please excuse my ignorance, I'm not sure I follow.

Do you mean at the location where the profile I removed was?

There are no other businesses with the same category there as far as I can tell.

There are two other businesses in the same location (i.e. town) with the same category, but my client always ranked higher than them, now they're nowhere to be seen.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

There are two other businesses in the same location (i.e. town) with the same category, but my client always ranked higher than them, now they're nowhere to be seen.

That is what I am talking about. The filter comes in to play when there are multiple businesses under the same category at the same location. So you will need to assess whether or not one of those other businesses is the reason for you not showing up, in other words, why you are filtered from the search results.

 

[nathangdavidson]

That is what I am talking about. The filter comes in to play when there are multiple businesses under the same category at the same location. So you will need to assess whether or not one of those other businesses is the reason for you not showing up, in other words, why you are filtered from the search results.

Ok, thanks.

But these are not new competitors. Google always ranked my client above them, for a number of years.

And then this other profile materialised (the one at their old address), and was ranking above their actual profile.

My feeling was it was being filtered out here.

I assumed when it was removed the other optimised - SAB - listing, would take its rightful place back. But that hasn't happened yet.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

So the "not new" competitors are now out ranking you? If that is the case, and they are at the same address and category, then it's about a 90% chance that it's the filter at play.

 

[nathangdavidson]

So the "not new" competitors are now out ranking you? If that is the case, and they are at the same address and category, then it's about a 90% chance that it's the filter at play.

Yes, they are outranking my client. My client is nowhere to be seen, totally disappeared. But they're not at the same address, they are in the same town. My client is an SAB.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I can take a deeper look if you want to post the details here.

 

[nathangdavidson]

I can take a deeper look if you want to post the details here.

That's kind of you, thanks.

The location is Haywards Heath, UK, within. 10-mile radius. The keyword is window shutters, the profile is
The Window Shutter Company Ltd

01444 440056 The Window Shutter Company Ltd - Google Search

Please let me know if you need anything else.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Is there any chance you can export the search results from a point in that Local Falcon screenshot when you were ranking and one from the same point after the ranking tanked? I think comparing those would be a good starting point.

 

[nathangdavidson]

Is there any chance you can export the search results from a point in that Local Falcon screenshot when you were ranking and one from the same point after the ranking tanked? I think comparing those would be a good starting point.

Thanks, I'd be happy to, but it won't let me add csv or xlsx attachments here. Can I email these to you please?

 

[djbaxter]

@nathangdavidson

I've just added those filetypes to allowed attachments, although you might still run into filesize limitations (if so I can increase those).

Can you try again and let me know whether that's working now?

 

[nathangdavidson]

Is there any chance you can export the search results from a point in that Local Falcon screenshot when you were ranking and one from the same point after the ranking tanked? I think comparing those would be a good starting point.

Is there any chance you can export the search results from a point in that Local Falcon screenshot when you were ranking and one from the same point after the ranking tanked? I think comparing those would be a good starting point.

Hey Colan, please find attached.

 

[nathangdavidson]

@nathangdavidson

I've just added those filetypes to allowed attachments, although you might still run into filesize limitations (if so I can increase those).

Can you try again and let me know whether that's working now?

Many thanks, seems to have worked!

 

[djbaxter]

Excellent. Glad to hear that.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

Hey Nathan, I've have access to your scans in LF and reviewed the data of the scans on those two dates.

I noticed a listing that came up that seemed to mostly match the name, and clicking on it forwards to the same listing.

In the excel you shared here are the two place IDs:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=The+Window+Shutter+Co&query_place_id=ChIJVVWVSKyMdUgRoSq1fvjhm7s

https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=The+Window+Shutter+Company+Ltd&query_place_id=ChIJS90NrbOMdUgRud4EcrifGSs

My guess is that this duplicate was noticed at some point but has since been merged. Unfortunately, in that merge the listing may have been reset by Google which killed the rankings for some reason.

 

[nathangdavidson]

Hey Nathan, I've have access to your scans in LF and reviewed the data of the scans on those two dates.

I noticed a listing that came up that seemed to mostly match the name, and clicking on it forwards to the same listing.

In the excel you shared here are the two place IDs:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=The+Window+Shutter+Co&query_place_id=ChIJVVWVSKyMdUgRoSq1fvjhm7s

https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=The+Window+Shutter+Company+Ltd&query_place_id=ChIJS90NrbOMdUgRud4EcrifGSs

My guess is that this duplicate was noticed at some point but has since been merged. Unfortunately, in that merge the listing may have been reset by Google which killed the rankings for some reason.

Thanks for taking a look Yan.

I submitted a redressal about The Window Shutter Co listing, because it was a) a duplicate and b) a bricks and mortar listing at their old address

Google appeared to deal with this and you're right, it now redirects to their actual SAB listing.

It sounds like there's nothing that can be done to refresh Google's algo to remind them their SAB listing is relevant for this search, because there's arguably no better result for this location.

For them not to rank at all is absurd and extremely frustrating.

It's also proving pretty costly for my client to have gone from #1 to #nowhere for this core search.

Infuriating there's nothing can be done.

 

[jamesjd7]

Recently, my listing is no longer being shown on the map pack. I used to rank #1 for my keywords (patent lawyer and patent attorney) if you searched it when you are in orange county. I saw Joy's youtube video on location filtering. I believe that I'm being location filtered by http://www.innoventlaw.com/. the attached is me.

Am I being location filtered?

Would moving to a different building solve the problem?