Google My Business Update Goes Wrong
This morning I noticed a big big change in a particular Local Business market I would monitor fairly regularly.
Something has happened to the Google My Business local rankings for ‘web design’ related businesses. These have always been a law unto themselves and only recently started to show again after Google had pulled them.
I keep a close eye on the local rankings for ‘web design Belfast’ terms and the 7 pack seems to have changed overnight.
So from these results here’s how to rank locally:
- Don’t get reviews
- Use the default profile
- Use the default cover photo
- Don’t add much of a description
- In some cases don’t have a Google My Business Listing, or claim it.
This looks like a bit of a mess, or at least it certainly doesn’t look like an improvement. The organics for this market are fairly similar, haven’t seen any big changes.
My own business listing, with 10 or so genuine reviews and a bit of work done on it disappeared off the face of the planet.
For most local business listings the results seem fairly similar, though to be fair I’ve not looked in much detail.
June 22nd, 2015 at 7:04 am
Law onto themselves.
June 22nd, 2015 at 10:08 am
We’ve been trying to make sense of this over the last while too, but it’s all too irregular.
I bet you it’ll go the way Google Shopping did and become a paid service by this time next year. Nearby Business Ads seem to be hinting at that alright – http://www.searchscientist.co.uk/new-location-extension-ad-format-for-mobile/
June 22nd, 2015 at 2:15 pm
Michael for ‘web design’ you actually rank first when I leave out ‘belfast’ but I think it becomes location based when I do this.
June 23rd, 2015 at 5:09 pm
There doesn’t seem to be much no rhyme or reason for these listings.
I could quite easily see Google bringing in a paid system to rival Yell or the like, though this is something that has been talked about for years and never materialised. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I won’t be surprised if it does happen.
June 24th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
FYI
Looks like it’s changed again today. You’re now listed for ‘web design belfast’! 🙂