Ranking Shakeups, Mike Reports Increase in Packs & Real Estate Listings are Back

[Linda Buquet]

I know most of you read Mike's blog, but since these were published on a Friday afternoon, wanted to be sure you didn't miss it.

David shared a post here last week from Andrew over at Local SEO Guide suggesting directories got hit by the doorway algo and their visibility was reduced in the SERPS.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-search-news/31730-did-local-directories-get-hit-google%92s-doorway-page-algo.html">Did Local Directories Get Hit By Google’s Doorway Page Algo?</a>

Now Mike is saying that it looks like that change (or some other) to result in an increase in local packs.

<a href="http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/05/22/more-google-pack-results/">More Google Pack Results | Understanding Google My Business & Local Search</a>

Late last week Dr. Pete of Moz alerted me to a dramatic uptick in the Moz Cast count for local results. I have been following them since and they seem to clearly mirror what Phil had noted and the observations in real estate searches.

In fact they show a jump in the number of Local Packs being returned from 10% of all searches to now being shown in 12%, an increase of 20%.

But then also in the "Racial Slur" + Pigeon Algo change thread Phil said:

The local results have gone crazy lately. Tons of 2-packs and 3-packs. You don't see truly local results unless you include a geomodifier.

Tweeted about this a couple nights ago:

https://twitter.com/philrozek/status/601165487595192320

And they're noticing it across the pond, too:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TerrySimmonds/posts/1BZ6guvy9mE

Either this is one gnarly bug, or an algorithm update.

So just seems like everything is being shaken up a bit.

Also see Mike's post about Real Estate results:

<a href="http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/05/22/local-real-estate-results-are-back-in-google-search/">Local Real Estate Results are Back in Google Search</a>


I'm just making some time to investigate now and am seeing some ranking shakeups in the packs I watch.

What are you seeing? Any other changes???