Trending Local Algorithm Update in April 2020?

[Norbert Z.]

Hello, have you also noticed the results rotation in the service industry? Yesterday I noticed jumps in many locations.

 

[billenross]

Good Morning,

I have several of my clients who have pretty much owned the "A" spot in their local area for as long as 5 years. About two weeks ago these all took a tumble, in most cases now not showing in the 3 pack at all. All have a high number of reviews, and no changes have been made to websites or GMB pages. We did do two things which I'm now suspect of; we added a popup about Covid-19 precautions in place, as these are all 'essential' businesses, however I removed the popup on two clients 5 days ago; no change. The other change was we created a Google post about what they are doing to protect their customers and staff regarding the corona virus. Can't understand how that would have a negative effect.

I'm reluctant to overcorrect here, as if things revert, I may do more harm than good.

Interested to see if anyone else seeing similar issues.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[keyserholiday]

Try removing one of the Covid-19 posts and see if the the rankings return.

 

[billenross]

Hey Jason, thanks! Actually the rankings tanked before the duplicate post was made, but thanks for bringing it to my attention. I think I know how you were 'looking over my shoulder' -

Post removed, Bill

 

[keyserholiday]

It appears that their was a slight shake up in Mia rankings the around the 20th to the 23rd. I have seen a few users complaints about diminished visibility or a lose of rankings around this time frame.

 

[billenross]

Thanks, will be adding more posts to this as well, and waiting for redo (loose all CAPS) of covid19 post - stay healthy.

Bill

 

[keyserholiday]

Did you make any changes to the listing other than adding the covid-19 post? Had Google marked it as closed or you had to mark it as open?

 

[JMathematical]

One of our listings was suspended after publishing a GMB post about COVID-19. But I didn't suspect that as the cause. But it seems like yours were not suspended, but just dropped in ranking. That would be even more odd.

 

[billenross]

No, no changes, not marked as closed, and rankings dropped prior to post. thanks

 

[Ryanl]

There has def been an update in ranking recently in GMB. My door business dropped 1 spot that we've held for about 1 year. However, we're now in the top 3 for 2 additional local cities we were in previously. Decent trade-off but def a change.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Is anyone willing to list the business name, address and the keyword & searcher location so we can take a look?

 

[billenross]

Hi Joy! Yes, of course, thanks.

Al Brodeur's Auto Body
Marlborough, MA

"auto body repair shop"

Bill

 

[carolyn2]

Bill - you're referencing map listing rankings right? or is it organic rankings?

How are you measuring the rankings - are you seeing it in the results or basing the changes on what you're seeing in the tool you use to track map and organic listings?

The reason I'm asking is that we're seeing different types of updates - some of the updates break the search result parsers used in our seo tools and so we manually check any rankings losses indicated by tools just to confirm.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

@Norbert Z. Bright Local's ranking flux tool show that things were fairly normal on April 1. What specific industry are you looking at?

@billenross I am seeing that business in spot C in the 3-pack with my location set to Marlborough, MA. Do you happen to know which search locations saw a drop? Have you run a geo-grid ranking report using Local Falcon?

 

[billenross]

Colan, yes, was in the "A" spot in 3 pack for the last 5 years, I will do a check with LF, good idea.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[billenross]

Bill - you're referencing map listing rankings right? or is it organic rankings?

How are you measuring the rankings - are you seeing it in the results or basing the changes on what you're seeing in the tool you use to track map and organic listings?

The reason I'm asking is that we're seeing different types of updates - some of the updates break the search result parsers used in our seo tools and so we manually check any rankings losses indicated by tools just to confirm.

@carolyn2 - thanks, yes - seeing the results in incognito search.

Bill

 

[Norbert Z.]

@Norbert Z. Bright Local's ranking flux tool show that things were fairly normal on April 1. What specific industry are you looking at?

@billenross I am seeing that business in spot C in the 3-pack with my location set to Marlborough, MA. Do you happen to know which search locations saw a drop? Have you run a geo-grid ranking report using Local Falcon?

Service industry, I follow the three-pack results every day. Currently, the results have returned to normal, i.e. before April.

 

[billenross]

Bill - you're referencing map listing rankings right? or is it organic rankings?

How are you measuring the rankings - are you seeing it in the results or basing the changes on what you're seeing in the tool you use to track map and organic listings?

The reason I'm asking is that we're seeing different types of updates - some of the updates break the search result parsers used in our seo tools and so we manually check any rankings losses indicated by tools just to confirm.

@carolyn2 - thanks, seeing the results in the actual listing, oddly the Local Falcon grid tool shows the location in the "A" spot, but actual results are "E" in most searches.

 

[seoninjaguy]

@billenross did your 3-pack rankings return when you removed the COVID-19 pop up? I'm still seeing a covid notice on your client's site on the header. We've had a similar scenario with some of our clients who had strong 3-pack rankings but when we added covid notices and GMB posts, their 3-pack rankings suddenly dropped. Does this mean we're hit with some kind of Google Algo 'Medic' type update because we're posting about COVID-19 and we're not health experts of some sort? This is weird.

 

[seoninjaguy]

In addition, our clients' organic rankings are still strong even though we've put in place some COVID-19 pop ups and notice pages on their sites..hope someone has experienced something like this cause we're kinda worried if we got hit with a penalty.