I rank on 1st page organic but 8th page for maps ,why?

[jesse1341]

I rank on 1st page for organic search but on 8th page for maps. I have tried citations and still can't move up in maps. For some reason when I view my maps listing it is showing meta data that I had 3 months ago. I wonder why it hasnt updated but more curious why I can't rank in maps. Any feedback is appreciated, I didn't post my site because I'm not sure if it's allowed.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Jesse and welcome.

Moved your post to help and support where links are allowed.

The ranking algo is extremely complicated and there could be a wide variety of issues. That's what I refer to as a disconnected listing. (Disconnected from the Local pack.)

Could be the listing is too new or was re-verified, or there's a bug, or it's penalized for violations or not well optimized, or there are other problems, or there are issues on your site (even though it ranks high). Can't really guess without investigating everything.

Please give us a direct link to your Place page or the name, phone and city. Then we can try to help.

Also include WHEN the listing was pin verified and exactly what key phrase you are trying to rank for.

And let us know if it has never shown up for KW searches or if it DID rank for awhile, then disappeared - if so, when.

 

[jesse1341]

Thank you for the fast response. My listing was verified in Sept of last year and have never been able to rank it. My website is Titan Appliance Repair | Appliance Repair Los Angeles, Refrigerator Repair and I am trying to rank maps for "appliance repair los angeles".

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Jesse,

I needed the link to the G+ page in question or the phone on that listing. You have 877 # on site and 3 other numbers. I'm really sick and unable to hunt around, guess and maybe end up researching the wrong one.

 

[jesse1341]

Here it is thanks,

(213) 454-0779
​

213-454-0779

(213) 454-0779​

(213) 454-0779​

https://plus.google.com/+TitanApplianceRepairLosAngeles/about?hl=en

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Jesse, sorry I'm heading back to bed. Bronchitis 5 weeks and on bunch of meds.

Hopefully someone else can help or I'll be back later.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I ran a comp analysis and the glaring difference between you and most of the first page pack is reviews. All except one have several reviews. I would imagine that reviews have a heavy weight in your industry.

I also noticed that you have quite a few competitors that seem pretty spammy, possibly fake listings. You can report Spam via Map Maker.

You might also want to rethink your business description. It has the word "repair" in it seven times.

Do you see customers at your physical business location? It doesn't look like you are in a residential area, but I can't see any signage from Streetview.

 

[Linda Buquet]

In addition to what Colan found, I found a bunch of other locations and it's possible you have a penalty.

Are all these locations valid locations, staffed full time for walkin traffic? One I checked is residential couple others I question.

The guidelines say you can't set up multiple listing just to try to rank in different areas so could be penalized OR if these are truly valid locations then maybe they are OK.

I don't have time to check further, BUT just used a hack we have that's pretty reliable for checking local penalties.

Since you rank high organic you should be in pack.

Here is the hack. Looks like you rank #1 in pure local if you were not penalized.
https://www.google.com/search?q=appliance+repair+los+angeles&num=100&as_qdr&tbm=plcs

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I checked a few of the location pages on the website and they are 404'd. Including the LA page. That can't be helping.

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

 

[jesse1341]

Thank both of you for responding to my post. as far as reviews well I didn't think it was a factor in this case because the #1 spot in Maps has no reviews but I am sure if I do get some maybe I should move up either way. I will get to it and see if that works. Our company has 3 owners and we work in diff areas that is why we have diff listings. We thought this was better since we don't have to get whole new licenses. Thank you Linda for showing me the hack.Makes me wonder if maybe it's just a rare mistake that Google made. The main thing that has me thinking this is that the meta data the listing has is like 3 months old.

 

[Linda Buquet]

The main thing that has me thinking this is that the meta data the listing has is like 3 months old.

Meant to ask what did you mean by that? Can you explain more?

Did you by chance mean what's on the live listing is different than in dash?

 

[jesse1341]

Again thanks everyone for the help. One thing I was reading on this forum is regarding the penalties for gmaps. Is it possible that Google is not showing my listing in 7 pack because we have more than one listing pointing to the homepage of the site? Should I be making a landing page for each city?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thats not really a penalty to have more than one listing pointing to home. But it can cause ranking problems.

HOWEVER it's a major violation to have address showing on all these listings unless one is a commercial walk in office staffed for walk-in traffic full time during business hours.

But the ones that are at residences which at least 2 I found are, MUST be set to hide address or in the past Google would delete the listings. It would not surprise me if instead of deleting Google is just giving a ranking penalty.

Service area businesses are also not supposed to set up multiple listings just to rank in various cities.

 

[jesse1341]

Thanks for the quick reply, yes as I mentioned before we have several owners so we each take care of our own areas. But yes I agree we should hide the addresses on non commercial locations to avoid penalty. I will do this and will keep the forum updated with the results,thanks again!

 

[Linda Buquet]

yes as I mentioned before we have several owners so we each take care of our own areas.

Yes but just want you to be aware that Google does not know that's how you are structured and they often penalize service area businesses that set up multiple listings because it's often abused and not allowed.

Per the guidelines: "Businesses that operate in a service area should create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas."