Google Listing Disappeared With Recent Update? - Try This

[Alan Myers]

Actually, yes. Banff is a major tourist destination and there are lots of hotels on that same street. One is even called Inns of Banff.

If that's the case, then I'm not sure how that might be solved.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Actually, yes. Banff is a major tourist destination and there are lots of hotels on that same street. One is even called Inns of Banff.

If that's the case, then I'm not sure how that might be solved.

Essentially your biggest competition is now the businesses close to you so I would start by doing an in-depth competitor analysis to see what they have that you don't.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

For most cases, I'm seeing it as a sign that older listings are more trusted. I think it's also a sign that some of the external factors that everyone sees aren't really the main driver of ranking. I think it's continuing to get more complicated and not as easy as adding a few photos, categories, inside tour etc.

Maybe Google will tweak it, who knows. I'm just not betting on that. I have yet to run across a case that isn't solvable with enough work. If people are looking for an instant fix, they should know that hasn't existed for a long time in the world of SEO

I don't think this is necessarily a problem for SEO's. We just have to work harder as you have alluded to.

But for regular local businesses that were doing just fine before and are now filtered? That's the problem. And I mean, heck, while we're at it, yes, it's a problem for SEO's too. And this is all based on a silly filter that makes no sense, is inefficient, and was poorly calculated with the information we currently have. Also, this update is resulting in poor search result quality as echoed by many here. Just doesn't make a lot of sense on any level honestly.

The game has changed and we are playing by different rules now, we all agree on that. I think where we dissent in one form another is the quality of this update. It's still a poor update in my opinion. No update that penalizes businesses on arbitrary issues (geography) is going to get my vote.

But then again, Google doesn't need my vote

 

[Tim Colling]

Perhaps the plan is for all of us in local seo to decide that the 3-pack becomes so useless over the next several months that we won't object when they replace it entirely with the advertisement 3-pack that appears below the ppc ads above it. At some point, when the first two or three "pages" of listings are all paid ads, then what?

Well, for the seo community it probably just means more work and guaranteed employment. For the clients, the businesses that are badly hurt by this, well, too bad -from Google's point of view, to which they're entitled. For the searchers, they'll get used to having to scroll through all the ads, as they already are becoming used to doing.

It's Google's house, so they get to make the rules. They don't have to be fair and they pretty much don't claim to be fair anymore.

That's life in the big city now. <sigh>

 

[Tim Colling]

One interesting thing to speculate about, though: Yelp is becoming more and more of a consumer search engine and is, and will increasingly be, providing valuable competition to Google in the local and "sort of local" consumer search space. I used to dislike Yelp a lot but I'm becoming more open to them, despite all their damnable habits like review suppression.

 

[Rich Owings]

Yeah, I'm spending lots of time getting clients on alternative search platforms these days -- well optimized Facebook, Yelp, Bing Places and Apple Maps listings can generate a lot of traffic.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Yeah, I agree, it's their house.

Also agree that Yelp is going to gain more market share through this.

 

[chavezwebdesign]

Broland,

I don't think it's a bug at all. I could be wrong, but I'm seeing too many patterns among the "missing businesses" to think it's not intentional. I think 2 things are happening right now based on what I've seen.

1. I believe Google is A/B testing at the moment which explains the crazy fluctuation we're still seeing daily on trackers like Algoroo

2. I believe the criteria for the local search results filter has changed and is now filtering businesses in the same category in the same building. I have a client in NYC who is popping in and out of the 3-pack and every time he disappears, the guy in his building who offers the same service appears and vice versa.


I have a few more observations I'm consistently seeing that changed on the filter as well that I'll be putting together an article on hopefully next week.

My client "Best Auto Glass & Window Tint" appeared in the local 3 pack for 5 years for keywords like "auto glass visalia". However, he no longer appears anywhere under local listings --even if you go to the last page under local listings. The only way he appears is if you zoom in on Google Maps. His brother has tire shop next door named "Best Tires". Both businesses share the same address. "Best Tires" was not affected by the filter, but "Best Auto Glass & Window Tint" was. What are our options to help out our client "Best Auto Glass & Window Tint"? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[James Watt]

'Best Tires' isn't a problem, your problem is Chads Auto Glass. The reason best tires wasn't hit is there isn't a competing business in the same vertical a block and a half away for them like there is for Best Auto Glass & Window Tint. I'm seeing you guys showing up for 'auto glass visalia' until I set my search location to visalia... looks like they've really got their act together too. When there's two business like that are really hitting on all cylinders, it's pretty hard for one to end up dominant. If you can pull it off, it'll mean Chad disappears completely instead.

Unfortunately, your road forward (short of moving) is going to mean beating Chad's, so I'd start by looking at what they might have that you don't.