Google Mapping Issue

[Dave McKenzie]

When doing a search of "tattoo removal austin" (The primary search for the business category) I and 9 other businesses were dropped from the Google map and I think it's because we are no longer considered in Austin, TX. All businesses removed from the map are West of US1 which is approx. 2 miles West of the center of downtown Austin. I have spoken to Google (India) nine times and after they tell me it's an "optimization problem and we talk through it we always end with, it's a mappings settings issue and only the Google map people can fix it, they will call back.

Any thoughts on how I can get back in the game... it's killing my business as 80% of my business comes from Google.

Dave

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Dave,

Can you provide the details of the particular business you would like us to troubleshoot?

As well, what was the date that the listing(s) fell out of the pack?

 

[Dave McKenzie]

Thanks Colan, the business is Laser Focus Tattoo Removal, the URL is LaserFocus Tattoo Removal - Austin, TX.
I am not sure of the exact dat but I estimate the 1st week in June.

Dave McKenzie

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I'm seeing several edits to the listing's address in Map Maker. It looks like a suite number is being added and then removed over and over. That's likely what support was referring to.

I can also see that the street address is actually missing when viewing the listing in edit mode in Map Maker. -



https://www.google.ca/mapmaker?iwlo...&z=20&lyt=large_map_v3&hyaw=115.8608728471528

I'll ping Joy on this one.

 

[Dave McKenzie]

Colan,
This is very helpful!
We had some address issues early on and couldn't get Google certified until we resolved them however, we got them resolved in March and there shouldn't be any edits after late March. In April and May we were on the map consistently and then fell off in June along with 10 competitors.
Are you seeing address changes post late April?

Dave

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Dave, there was an edit on June 13th, 2016.

Curious, what do you mean by "Google Certified"?

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I found another business with your address:

Endeavor Physical Therapy Four Points (North West)
6911 Ranch Road 620 N. Suite B-201
Austin, Texas 78732

Little confused where exactly you're at, especially since the address you gave maps me to a Walgreen's. Is the pin marker in the wrong place?

Google Map - https://goo.gl/maps/u7uHYSmkTqz

 

[Dave McKenzie]

Colan,

Google wouldn't authorize our business page until they mailed us a postcard with a code on it and we responded verifying that we got the postcard and the address was authentic.

Thanks

 

[Dave McKenzie]

Hi Eric,

Both good questions, the physical therapy place is right next store to us and, they are actually B-200. Our space used to be part of theirs...
The Walgreens is right in front of our building, same address but different suite. I'll move the pin.

 

[pbarnhart]

You are right down the street from me - we probably hit the same Rudy's for BBQ! When I search "tattoo removal" you come up organically 6th (I am searching using browser incognito mode and currently at my office on Jollyville rd). "tattoo removal near me" is organically 10th. "tattoo removal in Austin" you are missing. "tattoo removal near 4 points austin" you are first.

I am extremely familiar with the local Austin market - one of my clients is a photographer in West Lake Hills with an occasional "Austin" problem.

Looks like tattoo removal is getting treated by Google as a allied medical practice - and the 4 Points area is in the Lakeway "neighborhood" - long story short it appears Google is reslicing Austin again and you are no longer in generic "Austin" (which is 78701) for geo search. This appears to be a recent change.

Cleaning up your map address, getting your citations aligned so they all have the identical address, and getting some local backlinks within Austin will possibly help pull you back in.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Dave,

There are also citation issues. Your GMB page and the great majority of citations are for "Laser Focus" (2 words.)

But most places on your site, including title tag you use LaserFocus, one word.

You have tons more citations for 2 words like it is on GMB. But the most important citation of all is your site. Having everything match up is important.

When I Google the name on your site: "Laserfocus Austin TX"
Google says, "Did you mean: Laser Focus Austin TX?"

Which is the correct name that's on your location lease and bank account or any business licenses?

(DON'T make any changes yet, espec on GMB. Let's discuss 1st after above Q is answered.)

 

[heckler]

https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/u/0/#url=http://laserfocustattooremoval.com/

I'd also get tighter on your schema. You have organization markup but you lack address and locality.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks guys for all the great feedback.

Everything above is important but...

You are still really far from the centroid (the center of the cluster of businesses that G shows.)

Queries for other types of biz show listings W of the 1, so I'm not sure it's a mapping issue. I think it's an issue of distance & prominence. You can't change the distance, but by doing all the tips above plus getting more citations and reviews you can help increase prominence, which can sometimes overcome distance issues or at least may help you rank better when people are searching from a location near you.

 

[pbarnhart]

FYI - I am referring to organically on the Google map search,

 

[JoyHawkins]

I fixed the issue with the address on MapMaker. I agree with Colan that something like that could easily trigger falling out of the pack. We'll see if this brings it back.