The Vicinity Algorithm Update: Is anyone seeing major shifts in local rankings? With reviews being at the focus?

[sixthcitysarah]

Hi all,

I was hoping to see if anyone else has been seeing changes in the local pack over the past week?

My team and I have been seeing tons of new businesses, that were not in the local pack before, all ranking ahead of others. And the only thing they have in common is a high level of reviews.

Keyword stuffers are still ranking up there as well, but the newcomers with high reviews don't even have their main category as the most relevant to the search. (Ex: Website Designers are ranking for SEO terms above all other Internet Marketing Providers/Marketing Agencies that used to rank)

I know Google released another product reviews update on Dec 1, but in the past, I don't believe it was ever noted to impact local as well.

Curious on everyone's thoughts!

 

[JoyHawkins]

I just published my write-up on it: The Vicinity Update: What You Need to Know About Google's Largest Local Algorithm Update in 5 Years - Sterling Sky Inc

 

[JoyHawkins]

Mike Blumenthal talked on Last Week in Local about how the view points for the maps likely shifted when they switched the layout for the new map pack. The image is more square instead of rectangular so I'm seeing tons of SERPs where the map is way more zoomed in than before.

This is either intended, or it's not. I'm still waiting on Google to confirm that. If it was intended, I am seeing that this was an update that impacted proximity. I'm seeing tons of cases where businesses that used to dominate and rank across a very wide area, no longer do. It may have also devalued the impact of keywords in the business name (or that could just be the impact of proximity mattering more). I’m seeing uniformly that map packs have shrunk, are way more zoomed in, and are displaying a wider variety of businesses, many of which were invisible before.

If I get confirmation from Google that this is intended, I'll do a write-up with tons of examples. I just don't want to spend more time analyzing this until I know it's here to stay.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yes I am.

I'm seeing SAB listings (listings with no address) impacted but I'm also seeing listings with addresses hugely impacted as well so I wouldn't say one was impacted more than the other.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Janell H - Gogole has no issues (policy-wise) on a business using their real name so you should have no issue there. Keep in mind that policies and ranking are completely different things. The people that deal with suspensions and violations of Google's guidelines don't set how the algorithm works or know much about it.

@SeoSaur I've been doing really in-depth audits for businesses that were hurt by the algorithm update. There are definitley tons of strategies that still work and what we focus on varies a ton based on the industry & market. I'd suggest looking at what pages and keywords are currently driving conversions and base your strategy on that along with what you're "close" to acheiving. I love putting empahsis on things where the client is currently 5th or 6th because even small improvements usually make a difference.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Joy will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's Places Scout. If not, Local Falcon would be the other option.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@sixthcitysarah, nothing major, but yes, I do see some changes that appear only a few days old. (And those are only for a couple of clients, both of whom are lawyers.)

 

[dakotawilliams]

@sixthcitysarah legal industry here - we're seeing some sizable changes that seemed to get picked up when our rank tracker ran yesterday, December 7. I see the same thing as you where some new businesses that weren't ranking before have jumped into the top 3. What's strange is that some of the new ranking businesses have a low number of reviews (less than 10) for such a competitive industry in a major city like Chicago

 

[JoyHawkins]

Here's another example where the 3pack is literally completely different than it was before. Searching from 90010:

Before (Nov 27):

After (Dec 9):

 

[sixthcitysarah]

@sixthcitysarah legal industry here - we're seeing some sizable changes that seemed to get picked up when our rank tracker ran yesterday, December 7. I see the same thing as you where some new businesses that weren't ranking before have jumped into the top 3. What's strange is that some of the new ranking businesses have a low number of reviews (less than 10) for such a competitive industry in a major city like Chicago

@dakotawilliams that's super interesting, I have definitely seen that before for businesses with no reviews but the new businesses I am seeing ranking for SEO/marketing terms all have a high average rating and over 20 reviews

 

[Rob]

HVAC [SAB] Industry here. Completely knocked me out of the pack after holding my ranks for years.

 

[joelleppard]

I still haven't noticed patterns causing this rankings to fluctuate, some of my clients have lost 50%.

I did this keyword inclusion test in the title and it seems to me that it still has a positive effect: https://static.localfalcon.com/tren...?&loop_delay=2.5&business=false&keyword=false

I know my area's Local Falcon grids very well from running studying the Local Falcon results every week for years. These fluctuations in my area (Orlando, Central Florida, DUI/Criminal Defense attorney) right now are confounding. In my area, it doesn't seem to be a pattern of punishing GBP's with KWs in name or rewarding # of reviews.

Here are my observations after looking at the various GBPs in Central Florida:
- "Location + KW searches (eg Orlando criminal defense lawyer) saw fewer changes compared with just KW searches (eg criminal defense lawyer)
-less of a correlation between the rankings in Location + KW vs KW than normal
-weak GBPs ranking which have never ranked before
-increased localization with strong GBP's reach decreasing in a number of cases (but not always)
-the fluctuations started around Nov 21st for some KWs and GBPs.


I'm seeing patterns that usually only show up during algorithm updates (rows, isolated islands, outer city limits, patterns which don't follow typical population geographic areas). On a side note, I've always been curious about these unique patterns, if anyone knows about it. Is Google testing out how users react to the new rankings?

These fluctuations don't seem to be stopping. Anyone have any idea what's going on?

 

[Brock1321M]

Same here. construction, plumber, law firms have been smashed in a couple of big cities... I have noticed a lot of the newer listings that are now ranking have exact match or partial match domains (website)

 

[sixthcitysarah]

Google just confirmed they released an update, it ended Dec 8:

 

[Conor Treacy]

Seeing some issues for our own industry and area. Searching for "Omaha seo" only shows 3 in the map pack, and if you click to maps it's the same. Only the companies with "Omaha seo" as their GMB title are showing. There was 40+ listings before.

Searching "SEO Omaha" at least lists our business, but nobody else from other SEO agencies/ businesses etc.

"Web design Omaha" doesn't have issues, so it's odd that everything is stripped for "omaha seo"

 

[JoyHawkins]

I think you mentioned this before (either here or in your article) but are you seeing increases in filtering at all? With businesses located at the same office buildings that are in the same industry?

I'm seeing filter changes in the sense that a business that was filtered before is now ranking and one that was ranking is now filtered. I think the main trigger for the case I was looking at was the one business had keywords in the business name which was helping them avoid the filter. That is no longer the case and one of their competitors in their building is ranking instead.

 

[JoyHawkins]

How much impact has everyone seen from the Vicinity update on city pages?

This was a local update so it shouldn't have impacted organic at all from what I'm seeing.

 

[Theo1313]

I work for service-based biz (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical) and have seen a huge drop, about 45% since the beginning of December. Our company is one of the largest in the area with a very well known brand name and local trust (been in biz over 55 years). I work all the time making sure our site, GMB, reviews (4.8 stars), and everything else is in tip-top shape and honest. I check all the boxes and totally white-hat. Here is just one chart from our GMB to illustrate the update's effect. Side note on the chart, I cannot figure out why there were zero data recorded from Dec 10 through Dec 13.

Couple of notes to add:

• We do not have keywords in our business name
• We have one office in the middle of our service area, which is about half the state

 

[BisnarChase]

Interesting side note after reading all these comments re: personal injury attorneys - we thought a competitor was trying to change our name as it was attempted 4 times in 14 days -- during the same update period. Our keyword IS our legal LLC name, but this update has me thinking maybe Google was attempting it assuming it was a stuffed keyword. Odd timing to say the least.

Also, strange, Joy said she saw it affect businesses with the keyword in their name, but our GA is showing us going up and up over the last 30 days. Typically our traffic is up, down every other day but starting Nov 18th to now, not one down day. Knock on wood, of course

 

[JoyHawkins]

but our GA is showing us going up and up over the last 30 days.

I this all Google organic traffic, or just traffic specifically to the GMB listing?

@Theo1313 how does your actions graph look? I would pay more attention to that than views.

 

[Theo1313]

@Theo1313 how does your actions graph look? I would pay more attention to that than views.

Actions (see below) aren't as drastic but since I am personally so in-tune with our site, emails flowing in, calls, chats, etc., I can feel a rather large decline overall.

I have always worked hard to make sure we are doing everything possible, all the best practices, being honest, and just doing everything right. The same can be said about our business (family-owned). So this update has been the most troubling in a really long time. I am hoping the waves settle and level out.

PS. As always, thanks for all your work and for being involved.