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!

 

[Janell H]

What will Google do (or what are Google's policies) if a client's service is part of their registered LLC business name and can also provide legal paperwork to Google for confirmation? Seems like Google cannot argue or penalize a listing if it's actually their business name!

 

[RobSEO]

Has anyone had any insight or update on this issue? Noticing with a personal injury client that they've dropped significantly since late last year for personal injury KWs. Is there any solution here?

 

[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.

 

[Janell H]

Thanks for clarifying, @JoyHawkins

 

[Jeremy Booze]

@seosemsocial I have done 2 write ups on it thusfar with some observations:

The Vicinity Update: What You Need to Know About Google's Largest Local Algorithm Update in 5 Years - Sterling Sky Inc

On December 8th, one of our forum users asked about some serious differences they were seeing in the local pack results. The thread quickly started getting a

www.sterlingsky.ca

The 'Vicinity Update': Winners and losers from the November 2021 local update

Google rolled out a local update between November 30 and December 8. It seemed to focus on changes around proximity and distance.

searchengineland.com

Joy, I'm interested in what dot plot mapping analytic tool you are using to produce the visual ranking analytics seen in the image below. I know of one SaaS that provides this but I would be interested if there is another that offers this solution.

 

[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.

 

[Jeremy Booze]

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

Scott -
Looks like both offer a similar feature. Thanks for the info!

@JoyHawkins

 

[JoyHawkins]

Correct - my screenshot was from Places Scout.

 

[sinbad10]

Our two major competitors hired agency's this year and one of them started to buy out every other company in area they could get their hands on. A 3rd company within our service area also hired a large agency but are not located in our main location. Both of our major competitors review profiles unnaturally grew to 3 figures (Uh huh) and I've had to start reporting B.S. GBP's that started to show up in our service areas.

The company that just knocked us out did a couple simple page tweaks and is magically growing reviews at a very quick pace as well. They do not have an overall well designed and optimized website either.

Hey @Rob, May I know which tool did you use to analyse to get this report? Thank you

 

[rgblocal]

Hey @Rob, May I know which tool did you use to analyse to get this report? Thank you

We try to be strategic with review velocity. It is very possible to see huge spikes from natural sources if you are using email/SMS automation based on previous customer lists.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey All! I am seeing some major shifts for some businesses that got destroyed with this update (rankings are back closer to what they were before). Is anyone else seeing this?

 

[Blueviolet38]

Hey All! I am seeing some major shifts for some businesses that got destroyed with this update (rankings are back closer to what they were before). Is anyone else seeing this?

Hey Joy. I have also seen some major improvements for service companies I work for in recent days. It is great and I hope it holds!

 

[JWDM]

Hey All! I am seeing some major shifts for some businesses that got destroyed with this update (rankings are back closer to what they were before). Is anyone else seeing this?

Yes, HUGE improvements. I have several personal injury clients that regained top rankings after a big hit Nov/Dec, it feels like something corrected.

 

[Rob]

Hey @Rob, May I know which tool did you use to analyse to get this report? Thank you

GMB report from Brightlocal.com

Hey All! I am seeing some major shifts for some businesses that got destroyed with this update (rankings are back closer to what they were before). Is anyone else seeing this?

Yes. My HVAC client is not only back but made some substantial gains on some major terms in his city of origin. He is in #1 position, which in five years I've managed his business profile the company in that #1 spot has never moved. Out of 40+ other terms I monitor over various service areas he's back in the top 3. The farther service areas, however, he has not come back. Not that I really expect to rank at the farther distance areas in the local pack.

 

[Blueviolet38]

I am seeing changes again recently. Nothing as extreme as in the vicinity update but definitely some movements that haven't been particularly favorable for us.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Blueviolet38 as of what date?

 

[Blueviolet38]

Sorry for the delay in responding Joy. I think around the start of July but some of my clients have benefited and others have seen their ranks disimprove. Generally, things seem to be jumping around more than they did 1 year ago.