Trending [November 5, 2019 Local Algorithm Update] Unexplained big drops in GMB rankings

[gabagoon]

I originally thought it might have been a hyperlocal thing but (ironically) the local competitor who has come through this totally unscathed is:

- miles away and still ranking well within a 10 mile radius (we have only held up within < 1 mile)
- has an unverified GMB account with no exact address
- has just a keyword+location name and no website link

and his website has a spam score of 55% from Moz. So I can vouch for the fact that this update is penalising well run , highly rated businesses and replacing them with spam businesses.

In one local area where I have been in the map pack all year I have been replaced with one business that rates 2 stars ( vs our 4.5 which is only that low due to malicious fake reviews from a competitor) and by another that actually hasn't been open for 2 years.


Hopefully there is enough backlash that Google undoes much of the damage. Otherwise we might just have to pay them for Adwords. Hmm.

That's pretty much their goal. They will see a huge uptick in adwords revenue in the next few weeks if this keeps up. They will hide behind the "We wanted to provide our search users the best experience in making sure they are getting what they intended to search for and not drive across the city for it" yet there are still a small amount of businesses ranking beyond their normal proximity limit.

Unless of course they revert this update a notch back so that good businesses don't go out of business.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Whatever this is isn't over yet. I had one that dropped a ton that recovered today. Rankings aren't exactly what they were before but pretty close. Others experienced huge gains a couple days ago.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Here is one of the first ones I observed that dropped and is back to normal as of this morning:

 

[JoyHawkins]

Here's another one that helps illustrate the difference between today and yesterday.

 

[Simon Cox]

Think I have discovered why the site I had the drops in dropped. This was an SAB site with 26 local locations listed and last Tuesday Google put a cap / reduced the cap to 20 locations. When I was checking GMB tonight to see if anything had changed I noticed the Service area section was highlighted in Red. I have reduced to locations to 20 and am watching to see what happens.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I had tons of businesses move that had no service areas set. I really don't think this update had anything to do with the service area setting changing last week.

 

[Simon Cox]

Ah, ok.

 

[Paul Kargo]

Major local listing update rolling out since the start of Nov19 - Google My Business Local Listing Update This Week.
Ranking fluctuations in few campaigns, but some are intact, not able to figure out any pattern. Has anyone able to figure out what exactly is causing these fluctuations?

 

[Austin_Holds]

Happy Monday everyone... Happy to hear some of you experienced some rank recovery over the weekend, but unfortunately for me, my listings have held stagnant. Going to keep diving in to hopefully figure out what's going on. Noticing massive amounts of spam listings dominating the map packs all across my niche.

 

[Matthew Summers]

Apparently there is a wider update underway: Google Update November 2019 - Search Engine Journal

 

[Yan Gilbert]

Yes, I am seeing movement in organic as well. it's not across the board but whatever it is, it started the last week of Oct and is in various stages of adjustment. Two different sites:

 

[WillSLV]

There is some movement, but nothing large. This is one of our keywords for carpet cleaning san diego. The overnight drop from the update baffles me. So many no review, no content, no actual gmb setup rankings above us.

Day before Google Local Update:

1 day after update going from Page 1 to Page 6:

 

[JoyHawkins]

@WillSLV can you confirm what the 2 dates are for those screenshots?

 

[WillSLV]

@WillSLV can you confirm what the 2 dates are for those screenshots?

Before drop scanned on 10/31/19
After drop scanned on 11/6/19

This is affecting 3 clients of mine within the cleaning industry. 2 have been maps 1 to 3 for over a year. This San Diego location was one I was getting close to the top in several areas til this update. The other clients have dropped about 10-12 spots under other junk gmbs, but nothing as worse as the San Diego one. Im also seeing their competiton that was number 1 on maps for over 2 years now on page 3 of maps. Smh.. This junk is still ranking on first page maps:

 

[JoyHawkins]

So you didn't see an increase in ranking as of yesterday?

 

[Len Telapost]

I have a client in FL who was #3 in the 3 pack. 11/7 he tanked down about 20 notches. Then 11/9 he shot up to #1. As of 11/11 he's back to the original position and the local results are back to the way they used to be.

I have several other clients in other cities who had similar patterns. And a client in PA who was unscathed.

I do know that the sites having swings are not impacted by other algorithm updates rolling out so I don't feel they're related. And, FWIW, none of my client sites are SABs.

Since many of the GMB rankings changes I saw were so bizarre I wonder if this is all just a test or even just a temporary issue/problem. (Although, I have always wondered what local results would look like if Google just put them all on "shuffle" mode!)

Anyways, while there is still a lot of flux, as of 11/11, most of the sites I monitor have returned to where they were a week ago... (I'm cool with that!)

 

[WillSLV]

So you didn't see an increase in ranking as of yesterday?

None. This is from today's scan.

We did move up a few spots (onto page 1) on organic search though for different keywords. Maps is still a disaster

 

[raj.vasa]

Update: I've seen a *bit* of recovery for some keywords but many others are still showing new / keyword stuffed / low reviewed GMB's way ahead of clients. The GMB's that seem to be safe from this update all seem to be older and established.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@WillSLV if you want to DM me the business details (NAP) and the search term, I'd be happy to take a look. It sounds to me like a filter issue.

 

[MarianoF]

Since the big drops in my GMB, unfortunately, nothing has changed.