Ranking Drops for Service Area Businesses

[julie-b]

I have already brought this problem to the community (Client's business profile suddenly not visible on desktop and dropped significantly on mobile - Google Business Profile Community)

My locksmith client's profile (KLS Locks) is no longer visible at all on desktop (although his profile is not suspended) and it has dropped over 30 places on mobile. Before this issue, he was usually appearing ~ #2 on desktop and mobile for 'locksmith Orpington'. He is a service area business with no address visible.

When I brought this problem to the community (Client's business profile suddenly not visible on desktop and dropped significantly on mobile - Google Business Profile Community), it was suggested that maybe because he has another business profile (Google Maps) the service area locations may be overlapping and causing a problem. I have tried to separate out the service areas to rule this out. However, my client was getting very worried about the large drop in business and decided to remove the second GBP (Google Maps)

I'm just worried that there's still something wrong with his main profile. He is losing a lot of business because of this and would be very grateful for your help.

 

[Desnr]

Did you lose rankings and visibility on September 7th?

I'm not 100% sure how to view those insights by day, but if I look at discovery search vs direct it goes to zero in the last week vs the last month is 200. So I think it is more recent than Sept 7 which makes me think it's filtering. My husband's profile was created about 6 weeks ago.

 

[Ryanmu]

Unfortunately for me my listing is still not showing in search so I'm guessing that is evidence that I'm being filtered due to my husband's listing.

I'm still not showing in search either. I only have 1 listing.

 

[keyserholiday]

I'm not 100% sure how to view those insights by day, but if I look at discovery search vs direct it goes to zero in the last week vs the last month is 200. So I think it is more recent than Sept 7 which makes me think it's filtering. My husband's profile was created about 6 weeks ago.

That’s not the SAB bug. It’s unrelated.

 

[keyserholiday]

I'm still not showing in search either. I only have 1 listing.

Are you able to find your business in your area for any of your keywords?

 

[Ryanmu]

Are you able to find your business in your area for any of your keywords?

No. Someone ran a local falcon scan a week ago and sent me this. I'm guessing that it searches key word "pressure washing" at different locations around my Service Area? I used to get plenty of calls/traffic before Sep. 7th. I haven't had anyone run that program since but when I manually search key words I don't see my listing.

 

[Desnr]

No. Someone ran a local falcon scan a week ago and sent me this. I'm guessing that it searches key word "pressure washing" at different locations around my Service Area? I used to get plenty of calls/traffic before Sep. 7th. I haven't had anyone run that program since but when I manually search key words I don't see my listing.

Is your business showing yet? Mine still is not. Plenty of other SABs in the same category are showing in my area.

 

[Ryanmu]

Is your business showing yet? Mine still is not. Plenty of other SABs in the same category are showing in my area.

Nope. Getting desperate. My seasons about to be over

 

[Desnr]

Nope. Getting desperate. My seasons about to be over

Ugh I'm sorry, me too! Hopefully someone here can help us. I'm thinking about showing my physical address again but worried that will trigger reverification and get me suspended again since it's a home address.

 

[Desnr]

Nope. Getting desperate. My seasons about to be over

Also I tried asking Google support about adding the address manually but they just answered saying they checked the service area and it looks fine. A pin is showing 20 miles away from me when I search branded listing which isn't supposed to happen for SABs. In case any of that info is helpful for you ...

 

[garrettkite]

Good news, one of my clients got their rankings back. They are back in the map pack, but not in the same number one spot as before.

Did this happen as a result of you/the client opening a Google support case? Or did it happen naturally? We have several clients affected by the September 7th bug, but none of them have regained their rankings yet.

When we contacted Google support we were told that there is no known issue and that we will simply need to add the address onto the listing manually. I explained that this is a SAB so we can't display an address, but was again told that there is no current technical issue so unless we want to display a physical address, there's nothing more that Google support can do to help. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Ryanmu]

Also I tried asking Google support about adding the address manually but they just answered saying they checked the service area and it looks fine. A pin is showing 20 miles away from me when I search branded listing which isn't supposed to happen for SABs. In case any of that info is helpful for you ...

Also I tried asking Google support about adding the address manually but they just answered saying they checked the service area and it looks fine. A pin is showing 20 miles away from me when I search branded listing which isn't supposed to happen for SABs. In case any of that info is helpful for you ...

Did this happen as a result of you/the client opening a Google support case? Or did it happen naturally? We have several clients affected by the September 7th bug, but none of them have regained their rankings yet.

When we contacted Google support we were told that there is no known issue and that we will simply need to add the address onto the listing manually. I explained that this is a SAB so we can't display an address, but was again told that there is no current technical issue so unless we want to display a physical address, there's nothing more that Google support can do to help. 🤦‍♂️

I was also shot down 3 times by Google support
Albeit by the same person but he said nothing he can do.

 

[Bas_L]

Hey guys. Here is Google's response for my particular case. Looks like I'm screwed

have you had any luck with google support yet mate?

 

[Ryanmu]

N

have you had any luck with google support yet mate?

No. They are clueless.

 

[Bas_L]

N

No. They are clueless.

Did you follow the experts advice over here and write the email as recommended by the experts?

https://localsearchforum.com/members/keyserholiday.12120/

"Google has acknowledged that this is a technical issue affecting SABs. Please check the backend of my business profile to ensure that my address is there and if not, please manually add my address (add your full address)."

 

[Desnr]

Did you follow the “experts” advice over here and write the email as recommended by the experts? 😂

https://localsearchforum.com/members/keyserholiday.12120/

"Google has acknowledged that this is a technical issue affecting SABs. Please check the backend of my business profile to ensure that my address is there and if not, please manually add my address (add your full address)."

Yep sure did, twice. Google support said service area businesses are not supposed to show an address and they can't help with rankings. Um thanks.

 

[Wendy Moon]

I have two clients that have experienced this bug.

One is an electrician, their rankings returned to normal on 9/29 without any action being taken.

The other is a carpet cleaning service. They were caught up in the Kansas bug last year- after several attempts to contact support, we opted to add his address on the dashboard, got suspended, and then reinstated. They returned to maps, but not in the three-pack as they were before.

This time I contacted support and got a canned reply- I replied to that email requesting that they add the address to the backend. I got a phone call from GBP support and tried without success to explain, but all I could get from the rep were suggestions on how I could rank higher on Google. He did say that an address was included on the backend. We still have a verified listing that appears nowhere when I search for "carpet cleaners" or "carpet cleaning" in their city. I am tempted to try adding the address and getting suspended again- any suggestions?

 

[keyserholiday]

I have two clients that have experienced this bug.

One is an electrician, their rankings returned to normal on 9/29 without any action being taken.

The other is a carpet cleaning service. They were caught up in the Kansas bug last year- after several attempts to contact support, we opted to add his address on the dashboard, got suspended, and then reinstated. They returned to maps, but not in the three-pack as they were before.

This time I contacted support and got a canned reply- I replied to that email requesting that they add the address to the backend. I got a phone call from GBP support and tried without success to explain, but all I could get from the rep were suggestions on how I could rank higher on Google. He did say that an address was included on the backend. We still have a verified listing that appears nowhere when I search for "carpet cleaners" or "carpet cleaning" in their city. I am tempted to try adding the address and getting suspended again- any suggestions?

If you do make the change and get suspended, it is taking 22 days to get reinstated. Google should have this fixed before you are able to get reinstated.

 

[Wendy Moon]

If you do make the change and get suspended, it is taking 22 days to get reinstated. Google should have this fixed before you are able to get reinstated.

Sigh, Thanks. It's just really frustrating.

 

[Ryanmu]

Wow a phone call? My support actively tried not to understand what I was explaining

 

[Wendy Moon]

I'm just going to add my address and hope I don't get suspended. Can't get any worse.

Wow a phone call? My support actively tried not to understand what I was explaining

The phone call was no more fruitful than email... I got a script about Relevance, prominence, and distance.
Be careful with getting suspended- It COULD make things worse...