Seen a big drop in views on GMB insights?

[eshad]

Hi everyone,

I have recently seen a large drop in views in GMB insights across various business categories and wondered if anybody has seen the same?

One client of mine was receiving around 150 - 200 views per day but within the space of 3 days this has collapse to around 15 - 20.

When searching for businesses locally for their category the business still appears very well in maps, where most views usually come from, so am surprised to see the drop.

The business changed its opening times to closed recently as they were closed for holiday for 2 weeks but has since returned to normal hours. During this time I saw a steady drop on actions which is inevitable but views stayed pretty consistent until Thursday last week where there was a sudden drop.

Is anybody aware of any GMB issues at the moment which could potentially have caused this?

Many thanks

Edward

 

[BipperMedia]

Hi Edward - quick question... are you using an API platform like Yext, Synup, or Moz Local by chance?

 

[eshad]

Hi there, thanks for your response.

I'm not no. I manually add all citations.

 

[BipperMedia]

ok gotcha... the last we've seen a dramatic drop in productivity metrics it was due to the primary category of the GMB being changed.

However, this was when we were a Yext partner and their API connection to GMB automatically changed the category.

Anyway -- can you check the primary category on the GMB and make sure it hasn't been changed / updated?

 

[eshad]

I think you may the answer here...

The primary category has remained the same but I did notice that a secondary category had changed last week which I changed back to what it was previously last week prior to noticing the drop on GMB insights.

But looking again this morning I have noticed that another secondary category has been changed now too.

Once you amended your primary category back to its original have you noticed it change since? Or now that you've changed it back has it remained as it should be?

Thanks

Edward

 

[BipperMedia]

Hi Edward - let me answer your question first...

In our situation, our client is an HVAC company in the Dallas, TX market and they've been a dominant #1 for in map pack for a very long time... but suddenly, out of nowhere, they dropped to something like 25 -- literally overnight.

Ultimately we were able to conclude that the Yext / GMB API sync is what derailed our client's primary category... but it took us several weeks or perplexing and highly frustrating research to eventually uncover what was right before us the entire time -- the primary category had been changed by Yext's API connection.

** Side note -- we are no longer Yext partners, and in fact I've become a strong voice of opposition to the value they deliver to pretty much any business with 1,000 locations or less (which are the majority) -- but, this isn't the point of this conversation.

Once we uncovered what happened (and Yext had no good answer as to why), and we updated our client's primary category --- the SHOT back up to #1 in the map pack and haven't budged since.

I'm definitely NOT excited that you saw the drop your client's productivity, but I am somewhat relieved that you saw an anomaly within the categories of the GMB... because if that wasn't it, then it would've been more of an outlier scenario that would've required a lot more digging

However, I think it's important to note that I've only experienced category changes as a result of API platforms such as Yext, Synup, Moz Local, etc... syncing with a GMB.

I ultimately think it's very dangerous to be syncing up GMB's with these API platforms (see my experience above).

If you do -- and in order to diligently manage your client's local SEO campaigns -- it will require a consistent schedule of QC (quality control) checks to ensure stability.

But I don't really understand the logic in syncing up a GMB to an API platform if you have less than 1,000 locations anyway -- but that's just me.

Thank you again and I hope all of the above is / was helpful to you!

Let me know if you are seeing / or not seeing an impact in productivity metrics as a result of updating the secondary categories.

Thanks again

 

[eshad]

Thanks again for your comments very helpful to know!

I couldn't agree more with the syncing the API's, manually seems to be a much better way to go and gives you more control albeit more time consuming.

In the last couple of days I have certainly seen a return back to original ranking levels so seems to have certainly been the issue. I'm glad I noticed this when I did, as I wouldn't have initially thought a secondary category would have had this much of an affect.

Many thanks

Edward

 

[MannyL]

Thanks again for your comments very helpful to know!

I couldn't agree more with the syncing the API's, manually seems to be a much better way to go and gives you more control albeit more time consuming.

In the last couple of days I have certainly seen a return back to original ranking levels so seems to have certainly been the issue. I'm glad I noticed this when I did, as I wouldn't have initially thought a secondary category would have had this much of an affect.

Many thanks

Edward

Hi Edward, Been following the thread because we also have a client who's traffic had dropped considerably in Insights. Lucky it's starting to go back up. Not really sure what the issue was. One thing that we did notice is that GMB has now changed the radius option for service areas to actual towns or zip codes. This was an issue that started affecting some of our other clients and once updated the issue was pretty much resolved. We actually prefer mentioning the towns as clients don't service every town within the radius.

 

[Logan Torres]

Yes having second categories will do that. It's best to just choose one.

 

[Rich Owings]

I gotta disagree: 99 Problems But Category Dilution Ain't One - Sterling Sky Inc

 

[Logan Torres]

I meant if they're not relevant. Some business do several things like pest control and Christmas light installation. It's best to choose one or your main business. A big client of mine, they used to have Christmas light installation and pest control. Once we took away Christmas light installation as a category his traffic improved.

 

[Belen C]

Hi, i manage hotels listings and in August there was a couple of updates in this kind of business. One of them was the category. So we have to update most of them, cause lots of the categories now they don't longer exist.

After we update the listings we saw are really BIG drop in everything (not in the position of google though we still rank good) but yes on the insights of GMB.

Though of this drop lately, we imagine it was cause all of the updates, in some businesses we have a second category.
Example:
Main: Hotel
Second: Spa
For as having a second category was never an issue. I imagine it is cause all the information that is around the web (our website and different OTAs like tripadvisor, etc) says that beside being a hotel, they have a spa, and in everywhere that are communicating that.

 

[Belen C]

Hi, i manage hotels listings and in August there was a couple of updates in this kind of business. One of them was the category. So we have to update most of them, cause lots of the categories now they don't longer exist.

After we update the listings we saw are really BIG drop in everything (not in the position of google though we still rank good) but yes on the insights of GMB.

Though of this drop lately, we imagine it was cause all of the updates, in some businesses we have a second category.
Example:
Main: Hotel
Second: Spa
For as having a second category was never an issue. I imagine it is cause all the information that is around the web (our website and different OTAs like tripadvisor, etc) says that beside being a hotel, they have a spa, and in everywhere that are communicating that.

I forgot to say that the updates we make was on the MAIN/PRIMARY category.

 

[BipperMedia]

@Belen C -- changes in primary category will have the biggest / fastest negative impact on your GMB Insights productivity.

Are you saying you no longer have "Hotel" as an option for a primary category?

What is your main / primary category now?

If you manage hotels, then you should stick to "Hotel" as your primary category.

Regarding secondary categories, if you use "Spa" then I strongly recommend you have a "Spa" landing page within your website.

And I would recommend your "Spa" landing page be linked from your main "Hotel" homepage (assuming that's your URL landing page strategy on your listings.)

 

[Belen C]

@Belen C -- changes in primary category will have the biggest / fastest negative impact on your GMB Insights productivity.

Are you saying you no longer have "Hotel" as an option for a primary category?

What is your main / primary category now?

If you manage hotels, then you should stick to "Hotel" as your primary category.

Regarding secondary categories, if you use "Spa" then I strongly recommend you have a "Spa" landing page within your website.

And I would recommend your "Spa" landing page be linked from your main "Hotel" homepage (assuming that's your URL landing page strategy on your listings.)

No, now its hotel before depending what kind of hotel was we had Resort (specially for the one in the Caribbean), Boutique Hotel, etc. Like the kind of hotel it was. Still every listing had hotel as a category. They delete a lot of categories for hotels in August.

And for the secondary category when we put spa is cause in some cases the spa is not open to the public. Is only for the guest, with extra charge of course. So adding that as a second category we have other option of information than the one that the hotels have.
Adding that category we will have an option of services were you can put all the thing that offer the spa with the price (massages, skin treatments, etc)

The hotels that have spa and is open for the public (some cases as well are restaurant) we create a separate listing of the spa or restaurant.

 

[BipperMedia]

@Belen C --- do you build out your "Services" section of your GMB's?

Also, do you use the "Products" section of your GMB's?

just curious

 

[Belen C]

@Belen C --- do you build out your "Services" section of your GMB's?

Also, do you use the "Products" section of your GMB's?

just curious

Yes the services i will add it manually all the things that are offer.

And product section we don't add anything. The spa that are open to the pubic we don't manage them cause they are a concession independent to the hotel though they are in the hotel. The hotels listing that have as a category spa, they don't have products section.

The restaurant that are open to the public (still inside the hotel) with their own listing they do have it, but we don't add anything. We put the url menu and in the menu section we manually add the food.