Google Local Update in December?

[randomseoguy]

Anyone noticing changes in local rankings for any of their clients or businesses? I'm seeing maps in the Los Angeles area look completely different today compared to yesterday. My client generally gets tons of calls through GBP and today they received about half of what they normally do as well as rankings drops for various keywords. Please let me know if you are seeing anything similar!

 

[keyserholiday]

Can you provide some examples of what you are seeing? I have seen Google hide the call or website buttons, but I am curious to know what you are seeing.

 

[randomseoguy]

Can you provide some examples of what you are seeing? I have seen Google hide the call or website buttons, but I am curious to know what you are seeing.

This is in the lawyer niche. The first screenshot has a geo modifier of "Los Angeles" added to it and the second has no geo modifier. Up until recently Google has not "honed" in on the downtown area with searches that don't use a geo modifier.

So essentially, my client's rankings are fine with a geo modifier and they have just started to drop out of the 3 pack when a geo modifier is not used.

I'm using the bright local serp checker to get these screenshots and have tried multiple zip codes, switched location to Los Angeles, West Los Angeles etc.

My client isn't in the main downtown hub of LA. They are more on the outskirts of the LA city limits, but still in LA. If there is no update happening, do you think it might be time for them to consider moving their office to the downtown LA area?

 

[keyserholiday]

Hard to say what the correct option is. There are a lot of lawyers in Los Angeles. They all have offices close to the courthouses. There are a lot of keyword-stuffed business titles and lead-generation business profiles in the area. If they are not in LA and want to rank for LA terms, they might want to consider moving. Moving the GBP will either trigger a suspension or require the GBP to need to be verified again. You might be able to improve rankings with a combination of links and citations.

 

[Dibraco]

You might also want to add Schema to the areasServed with the sameAs pointing to the wikipedia for that area. It doesn't create a rich result, but I think 2023 will be the year of structured data.