Website Link Removed From Local Packs for Eye Doctors...

[RedBeardMarketer]

From what I could tell starting March 12th Google has removed the Website link from Local Pack results for keywords commonly targeted in the eye care niche.





I don't have much of a theory right now, but it is affecting keywords like eye doctor city, eye exam city and optometrist city. But it does not affect eye care city.

Any insight, ideas would be very helpful. Ranking locally has been a major thrust for me and this really takes my legs out from under me.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for sharing RB! Hard for me to replicate since silly Google does not show City.
But I saw one of your shots was Syracuse, so I tried that and see what you see.

eye doctor San Diego images instead of site
eye doctor Escondido (small town) still old display, site - no images.

Mike Blumenthal posted a couple weeks ago about a new mobile display test that replaced the click to call button with images. But I don't think anyone noted there is no site link. That display looks just like what you are showing. And it seems more and more Google is replicating new display styles they try on mobile over to desktop so everything is a unified look.

I'll Tweet to get more insights from others on this.

 

[RedBeardMarketer]

So, I haven't been able to replicate this across the board. According to my tracking software it's not consistent by keyword or location. It seems to be a hit or miss.

I anticipate seeing a drop in traffic and a slight drop in conversions, but the big issue here is just the ability to track. Most KW tracking platforms match the URL. Since there is no URL to match we have no data for local search results.

This update also affects maps, so all KW tracking on maps is precarious.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yeah the article Linda linked to is the summary of when it changed. It is impacting quite a few industries. On this thread people reported it impacting pest control, sporting goods, and jewelry as well.

I cannot see it anywhere in Canada and have to change my location to the US even when I'm searching a keyword in the US to see it.

 

[HoosierBuff]

I'm seeing it A LOT. It very much screws with your rank tracking software - because the rank tracker that I use is tracking by website. . .

Ugh.

 

[diptimayee]

Isn't it the snack pack results Google has been showing since July 2015 ? Mike Blumenthal has already posted about it here .

 

[heckler]

I'm seeing it A LOT. It very much screws with your rank tracking software - because the rank tracker that I use is tracking by website. . .

Ugh.

We had to change to looking at the CID of listings. I might holler at your ranktracking provider to see if they can track based on the CID.