GMB Discovery searches way up, traffic, phone calls flat

[HoosierBuff]

Hi All,

I have been tracking my clients discovery searches over time. They have 10+ locations, and i have tracked discovery searches (and GMB phone calls) as a metric to communicate the value of GMB.

For my client, the discovery searches are way up since 2019, like up 50%, however, really since that time, organic traffic to the site is down, phone calls and website visits reported by GMB are down. There hasn't been a material change in the reviews or anything like that.

I suspect a couple of things:
- Did Google change the metric of discovery searches over time?
- Is my client showing up for more searches, but, not near the top?
- Is the phone call/website metric off?
- Is there something else in the SERP stealing clicks?

What do you think?

 

[tracies]

I'm seeing something similar across 4 properties - higher search discovery, but an overall downward trend in website visits and calls.

New reviews, high-quality inbound links to the website, and major content updates to the website have all led to brief upticks in calls & visits from GMB, but nothing consistent. It was interesting to see off-page efforts having an impact, but it may also be a coincidence.

I'm very curious to see the insights of others.

 

[ViKer]

Has this trend not been upward bound over the last year or so? Was consumer behaviour topped out to the point where there was no more room for it to evolve further in the direction of buyers "looking harder" or more intelligently/critically? I always assume some level of change to occur unexpectedly until the trend becomes painfully obvious. Nothing stays the same.

That said, is there any kind of offer being made for visitors where they have an incentive to make contact as opposed to continuing their search? What's in place to stop them in their tracks as opposed to being just another listing for that product or service?

Also, people not wanting to go back to work may be spending even more effort trying to find the solutions they need for less, as their free money runs out.

Is scraping GMB listings on the rise?

Obviously, I have no idea either.

 

[HoosierBuff]

Hi All,

The more I have thought about it, I think it's ads and other monetization. This client is in the addiction treatment space, and Google continues to allow more people to advertise, the advertisers are very agressive, and Google has added new serp features that steal traffic.

I think that, we are showing up more than ever, yet, there is just more stuff in the way.

 

[Eoghan_Aircam]

Also could be increased case of users getting the info they need from the listing itself and not needing to click through or clicking on a different link like the appointments / order now features.