Strange Discrepancy Between Search Visibility & Maps Visibility

[Nickolas Steel]

For the past few months we have noticed a strange trend in our YoY data: our Google Search views of our GBP (from local pack) has been substantially growing, while our Google Maps Views have been steadily declining.

This trend started when we started website and GBP optimization for this client. When we optimized, we added a significant number of service pages that have gotten good traction, and overall, website traffic from our GBP is up (accounting for local pack and map clicks).

At first I thought this might have to do with the diversity update, but given that these views are from the Local Pack (which is GBP relevant) I didn't think it was related.

Has anyone else been noticing this? Is there something that is driving Maps views down? Or is this perhaps a general trend?

 

[JS Girard]

IIRC, maps views includes literally any time the pin is visible on map at all, in any context. So I'd guess the answer has nothing to do whatsoever with search or optimisation and is that Google is showing a nearby pin over yours more frequently when people are looking at the map in general.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Has anyone else been noticing this? Is there something that is driving Maps views down? Or is this perhaps a general trend?

Perhaps this is an indicator that Google tightened the radius for the businesses it shows in Google Maps. In my experience, Google Maps rankings tend to be more geo-focused on the user’s physical location compared to search.

The bright side is that more users rely on search than Maps, so you’re winning where it really matters!