GMB listing numbers tanked

[rhull]

Hi all

One of my clients based in NYC has seen his My Business visitor numbers tank the past 3 weeks or so. His latest numbers are 26,592 for the quarter, 8,251 for the past month but the last week or so has seen just 1300 views or so. So around 1k less at least than normal.

We have been posting posts and photos etc regularly, although responding to reviews had been neglected for a few months. Also, I had moved his site over from Godaddy (where it struggled) to WP Engine and there were a few technical issues with the move but the site wasn't down, but it wasn't as healthy as it was. It's all good again now and the loading speeds are super fast now.

Can we expect an upturn in fortunes? All reviews have been responded to now and any new ones I am responding to very quickly. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Oh and it seems another business in his building has replaced where his listing normally was. And this other listing has basically nothing to it, not even any reviews.

It's just weird the way things dropped so quickly. Business name is Back and Body Medical NYC.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tim Colling]

his My Business visitor numbers

Are you referring to counts of visitors to his website, or views of his GMB profile?

 

[rhull]

His GMB profile.

Looking at his insights numbers. Plus he says business has been really slow. His numbers on analytics for his site are a little less, but nothing like his GMB numbers recently.

 

[AndiFox]

His GMB profile.

Looking at his insights numbers. Plus he says business has been really slow. His numbers on analytics for his site are a little less, but nothing like his GMB numbers recently.

I was going to suggest it was a reporting issue as I have had several actual flatline days. However, if your client is reporting slow business, then obviously it's not a reporting issue.
Offices within buildings are tough, especially if the same industry or practice area practioner exists.
Taking extra steps to get them seen is important. So, responding to reviews is great, keep doing that. Thumbs up reviews, questions, and answers.
Be sure upload a lot of relevant photos. Even ask the client or their staff to take photos with their phones and send them to you.
Be sure you tag the photos with your clients name!
Put those photos in a public Google Photo Album.
I always say local SEO, well and SEO in general, is like spinning ates, in heels, backwards and looking cute.

 

[rhull]

Thanks Andrea, I hadn't noticed thumbing up reviews, I will start doing that for him as well. And I never captioned images either so I will go back and do a bunch every day. He has a lot uploaded, absolutely crucifies his competition in comparison.

It's never had this issue before, but it's always good to hear new tips of things that may have been missed in the past.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey @rhull how do his actions numbers look in GMB Insights? Personally, I wouldn't stress whatsoever about view drops. Did he have a Google Ads account that he recently stopped or decreased budget on?

 

[rhull]

@JoyHawkins they were looking ok. Past month 174 site visits, 200 with directions and 137 calling. This week the only action is 7 phone calls. I've never seen such a drop so abruptly.

 

[Ian Hammond]

Is that other business in their building in the same GMB Category? One thing I picked up from @JoyHawkins et al at Local U was Google will only show one business per category within, was it 300 feet?

I would also check to see if they are getting pushed down by spam listings. It seems pretty ubiquitous across categories and geos.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yep - I believe Ian is correct here. I am seeing another practice at the same building ranking when I searched "chiropractor" from their zip code.

I'm also seeing that there are some fake listings outranking him as well.

 

[rhull]

Ok, I see. Now how does that work? Are they permanently in the 3 pack now? Apart from more regular postings, and reply to reviews, what else can I do? Get back links to the listing? And the blag ones can be reported I assume? I've never come across this issue before.

And how can a fake listing with no reviews or anything on it even outrank one that's been around for ages and has so much on it? That seems a pretty fundamental flaw with Google's algorithm imo.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I talk a bit about how fake listings rank in this video: How Does the Local Algorithm Work? - Whiteboard Friday

It's been that way for years so I am not overly hopeful that it will change any time soon.

You can read more about the Possum filter in point #2 here: Everything you need to know about Google's 'Possum' algorithm update - Search Engine Land

I have more details in my local SEO training about what to do when you're filtered. I'll PM it to you.

 

[Suresh]

Why do you have schema markup of a webpage and local business.

And you have multiple medicalClinic schema.

Schema Markup Testing Tool | Google Search Central | Google for Developers

Use the Rich Result Test to see what Google results can be generated for your pages and the schema markup validator for generic schema validation.

search.google.com

Fix it up, and add the Hasmap in the schema markup with GMB CID.