Changed to SAB and Traffic Dropped Big Time

[RICKDO]

I'm looking for some advice on how to get my clients business back up in the rankings. His business is plumbing and when I took over his SEO, I changed his business from an address to an SAB. I did that because he was using his home as his address, which he does not service clients there. His address is in a smaller town that is outside the main city he really wants to focus on. I changed everything over to a SAB and listed the main city, plus the smaller towns around this area that he serves. Since doing this, his calls have dropped off and his listings on maps has become almost non-existent. I'm trying to figure out what I can do to get those results back up for him and get his calls back up to at least what they were, but hopefully a lot more.

I would like to know if others have seen this when changing to a SAB and what things have you done to find success in increasing traffic when switching over to a SAB? I am open to any and all feedback. We have been doing a Google post once a week and adding pictures to his listing in hopes to start seeing traffic increase, but so far we have see little change.

Thanks for any feedback and suggestions you can provide.

That happen to my as well but could be other issue.

First my site was listed with the physical address with 3 reviews but not verified due that the post card was not coming, but still was showing a lot in the 3 pack. after 2 months I verified and changed to service areas hiding my address and the site practically disappeared. So first thing I did today, I went back and list my address.
Please I appreciate any help on this.
Rick

 

[boydlake]

Fascinating topic! As someone whose work is local search almost exclusively, I can vouch for the advantages of a physical business address. It's also something that's abused, so that's why we ( Like Tim, I report what I believe to be GMB SPAM all the time) get suspicious when we see it.

On the other hand, I have my own personal clients that I do meet with at my home office, and I do have a GMB account using my home address, so it isn't a hard, fast rule that a home address is never legit. I generally tell folks "Where you can use an address and meet Google guidelines, then you currently have an advantage for searches people make in your area. However, unless you meet customers or clients at the address, don't list it."

It used to be that, for SABs (whether a radius or zip based area definition) Google would still try to approximate a location from a geo-centered area and use that for location-based ranking, though. This doesn't seem to me to have changed, has it?

 

[RICKDO]

I had a such a huge drop in my calls and website visits after I converted from physical address to SAB in the auto repair niche. It's honestly so frustrating to be told to follow the Google Guidelines and then get punished so heavily for it.

Never again.

And me too but the other way around

 

[RICKDO]

And me too but the other way around

Feel the same way here. Google by not taking action on reported spammers of the map, is tempting people to start to create fake and duplicate business listings.

 

[Louis DiGeambea]

I am a home inspector and have a GMB site that I am having an issue loading photos. Google support has asked me to verify my storefront with permanent signage. I work out of my house and am fearful that if I don't switch, I will be banned. I've put alot of work into ratings etc. Don't want to lose what I have built by going SAB. Thoughts?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Louis,

Unfortunately you likely won't be able to get help from Google My Business support unless your listing is compliant which means you'd need to clear your address.

 

[katandmouse]

Late to the game here, but this is linked to from a Sterling blog post, so I'm going to keep it alive.

I asked this question because I have a landscaper client who is using an office address. The #1 GBP in the city he wants to rank is is a rank and rent site with a fake GBP and likely fake reviews. His or her GBP is an SAB. I repeat. A fake listing with fake reviews in #1 position. So I can't agree that the pin has the advantage.

But I am still worried about changing my client's listing to an SAB. Will the change trigger something funky?

I'll also add that I created an SAB for a client last year. His field is not as competitive as landscaper and like others in his field covers a very large area, in his case, the entire Bay Area. I inherited a MESS. The SEO before me had set up 3 UPS mailbox addresses throughout the bay area. The one really legitimate location did not have a GBP. I set that up and set it to an SAB because I wanted to see if I could get it to rank over a large area. I assumed it would work better than a an address with areas served setting. I then took the others down with the exception of the one in SF that has a soft suspension but still showing in search. And now the SAB GBP that is about 40 miles south is in position 2 right below his SF one when searching in SF for his service!

I'd remove the SF one now but for some queries it's definitely an advantage to have it there. But I do worry about keeping a listing with a soft suspension. And that's a question for another thread.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I know this thread is old, but it inspired me to finally test this and the results we are publishing in 20 minutes from now match a lot of the stories on here!

 

[Joey Abna]

I can't think of any clients I have worked with that moved from showing the address to hiding the address that did not lose rankings/exposure. I see SABs (with hidden addresses) in the search results but most listings doing well have addresses showing. It's frustrating following the rules and being relegated to the back of the line.