My client local rankings are suffering and are not ranking below 20 for anything other than their business name.

[marybethclark]

My clients GBP's local ranking are not doing well at all. They are ranking below 20 for anything other than their business name. I have attached screenshots of some stats I pulled from GBP and Brightlocal. You can tell the GBP is down compared to Feb - June of last year. The BL screenshots show the local search grid and how they are ranking terribly for "gyms near me" and other keywords.
I have looked at all their competitors and they are using the correct category, have a similar amount of reviews, etc. I cannot figure out what might be causing them to be so terribly ranked.
Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[RobSEO]

I'm wondering if there's local filtering involved - although the fact they're ranking #1 in their location almost rules that out? Any chance you can provide the name of the business either here or privately?

 

[CaribouFondue]

Can you share with us a performance graph of the last 16 months from google search console? Many people got hit with helpful content penalties in December 2022. What is the content of their website like? is it SEO stuffed, or actually helpful?

 

[keyserholiday]

There are so many gyms in that area that I can't tell which business your client is.

 

[CaribouFondue]

There are so many gyms in that area that I can't tell which business your client is.

This is a very good point too. in OPs post his rank tracker is very very zoomed out. he will of course get clobbered by closer competition to the searcher.

 

[Greg Schueler]

what is the content of their website like? is it SEO stuffed, or actually helpful?

That is what I want to know too. I have seen sites with excess "local area pages" (non helpful content) that tanked their local rankings.

 

[CaribouFondue]

That is what I want to know too. I have seen sites with excess "local area pages" (non helpful content) that tanked their local rankings.

Hey Greg, quick question about this anecdote. Can you elaborate at all on the type of pages that caused this penalty? Was this a location based or service based business? Because I am seeing some of my competition being quite successful with the strategy that you just described. And it was on my roadmap to copy them.

For example
https://www.xyzstorage.com/locations/toronto-downtown/ https://www.xyzstorage.com/leslieville/ https://www.xyzstorage.com/liberty-village/ https://www.xyzstorage.com/beaches/
See attached image, they have written three pages of local area neighbourhoods, that are separate from their actual location page. I would say this type of content is not helpful, yet this company ranks very well in maps (see second attachment).

 

[marybethclark]

I'm wondering if there's local filtering involved - although the fact they're ranking #1 in their location almost rules that out? Any chance you can provide the name of the business either here or privately?

The business is F45 Training!

 

[marybethclark]

Can you share with us a performance graph of the last 16 months from google search console? Many people got hit with helpful content penalties in December 2022. What is the content of their website like? is it SEO stuffed, or actually helpful?

Can you share with us a performance graph of the last 16 months from google search console? Many people go hit with helpful content penalties in December 2022. What is the content of their website like? is it SEO stuffed, or actually helpful?

Regarding the performance graph in google search console, their gbp is linked to their location page for a multi-location client so we only can see the results for their whole website in search console right now.

 

[marybethclark]

That is what I want to know too. I have seen sites with excess "local area pages" (non helpful content) that tanked their local rankings.

This could potentially be an issue. Their GBP is linked to their individual location page but they are a large national gym that has a location page for each branch.

 

[RobSEO]

This could potentially be an issue. Their GBP is linked to their individual location page but they are a large national gym that has a location page for each branch.

I would test running the GBP to their main national home page and see if it makes a difference.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

This could potentially be an issue. Their GBP is linked to their individual location page but they are a large national gym that has a location page for each branch.

I'd keep the website pointing to the individual location page, however there is a lot of opportunity to enhance the content on that webpage. Here's a really great tutorial (free) from BrightLocal: New Academy Course: How to Optimize Location Pages - BrightLocal

There also are some additional opportunities to optimize your GBP page. Check out these helpful resources:

Google Business Profile Optimization - BrightLocal

Having a foolproof Google Business Profile can set you apart from the rest. Learn how to optimize yours most effectively with our handy learning hub.

www.brightlocal.com

The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Google Business Profile Landing Pages - Sterling Sky Inc

Ultimately the most important page for Local SEO is the Google Business Profile (GBP) Landing Page. This page is how you can increase visibility in the map pack for your GBP listing or listings. Many people wonder if the URL you link to in GBP impacts rankings in the local pack, and we confirmed...

www.sterlingsky.ca

Lastly, I'd strongly consider (if possible) changing your location name to F45 Hoover AL or F45 South Birmingham. Having those city specific keywords in your GBP Name can be a major influencer on your local pack and organic ranking. There appear to be many other F45 Franchise locations that were allowed to put in city specific keywords into their franchise name. Plus, your GBP has "Hoover, AL" s the city/state while your website page has "Birmingham, AL" as the city/state. Now it may not make a huge difference, but I'd make it consistent on both. There is also this franchise location, that has a GBP but is not showing up on the Franchisor website locator page, plus the website link is broken: F45 Training South Hoover · 1713 Montgomery Hwy #139, Hoover, AL 35244

If that location is now closed, you'll definitely want to work on getting it reported as closed to Google and could have a major/immediate impact to your issues.