Why I'm I ranking so low on Google Maps
-
About 3 months I started a website (www.guyetteroofing.com) for my roofing business in Montgomery, Alabama. The site is still a work in progress, however, because the competition doesn't really market via internet it was fairly easy to rank on Google Maps. Within 1 month the business was letter "A" in Google Maps. About 3 three weeks ago my ranking was dropped considerably, not showing up at all in letters A through G. The business is still indexed in Google Maps, but only represented by a small red dot.
My website is still ranking pretty high for "roofers in Montgomery", but my position on Google Maps has all but disappeared. I have no idea what I've done to be rank so low on Google Maps but still have a solid position on regular Google Search. I've checked my citations and my NAPs, there are a few inconsistencies but nothing major. How can I rank so far below my competition if I have twice as many citations, an actual website, and a Google Plus page?
-
It's my pleasure, Billy, and kudos to you for working so hard to grow your business!
-
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response. I'll systematically go through the points in your message and the links provided, I just need to devote a couple of days to doing it. It would have taking me a lot hours to gather all this information, I really appreciate it.
Billy
-
Hi Billy,
Ranking drops in Google's local packs usually boil down to one of these 3 causes:
-
Internal changes to Google's algo or filters that cause results to be re-ordered
-
Being surpassed by more active or powerful competitors so that you previous authority is no longer strong enough in comparison to the authority of your competitors
-
Negative outcomes of issues like duplicate listings, merges or spammy activity on the part of the business owner suddenly coming into play
I'm stating these three things quite broadly, and while I don't know if there have been any recent changes to Google's algo or filters in your industry/geography, it does sound like you are already aware of the fact that you are lacking in authority (point 2, above). Things like citation inconsistency can definitely drain away your authority and this can become even more apparent as your competitors get their businesses into better shape and begin to surpass you because they are stronger/cleaner/more active. It also sounds like you are aware of some negative issues (point 3, above) like reviewing your own business, which Google would consider to be spammy. Obviously, you shouldn't do things like that, and it's good that you removed the review:)
Likely, your ranking drop is the result of a combination of several different factors. Hopefully, going step by step through the article I linked to in my earlier reply will help you troubleshoot a number of possible issues. Ideally, what you want to shoot for looks like this:
-
I'm running the fastest loading, most user-friendly site with the best possible content in my industry/geography.
-
My site is well optimized for Local, but is not over-optimized. All of by basics (like title tags, headers, etc.) make sense to human visitors and gently highlight my core terms without going overboard.
-
My citations are consistent and clean around the web.
-
My Google+ Local page is perfectly optimized and obeys all guidelines. I've chosen the right categories.
-
I am not violating any of Google's guidelines by any of my marketing or SEO practices.
-
I have checked for possible duplicate and merged Google listings and have none of them.
-
I am earning real Google-based reviews at a slow, steady rate, rather than in big, quick chunks. My reviews are in alignment with Google's policies. I have more reviews than my competitors do - but I don't have a TON more. My review profile looks and is natural.
-
I'm earning diverse, genuine reviews on other important review sites.
-
I'm socially active in the right places, engaging with my customers where it matter to them most.
-
I'm earning links naturally, based on merit.
There's more to it than this, of course, but this would be a 10-step rundown of what I'd consider to be a local business doing the right things to earn the kind of authority over time that leads to high visibility in the local packs.
Hope this is helpful!
-
-
Thanks for the responses. I'm taking my time reading through the links you guys have posted, it's very informative, and very new to me. I know there is still a lot for me to do, especially in regard to my NAP inconsistencies. But if those inconsistencies have always been there, how did I ever rank so well? Our roofing business recently changed locations, from one warehouse in Montgomery to another warehouse/office. It wasn't until we moved that I started placing citations in the different directories, we shot up in the rankings quick, number 1 in a matter of weeks(roofers in Montgomery, Alabama aren't exactly SEO gurus). Then, out of the blue, dropped. I've been retracing my online steps, but nothing stands out, apart from the inconsistencies that have always been there. Right before we were dropped I reviewed my Google Business page using my personal Google Plus page. Could this be the culprit? I've since deleted the review. Do you think Google could be penalizing for that?
-
Great discussion going on here! Just thought I'd add a link to this Moz blog article, dealing specifically with troubleshooting Local ranking failures: http://moz.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures
That article should walk you through a lot of things you should check off, Billy. Hope it helps!
-
Hi,
You've had some great responses above. I did a quick search of your business name + address. I quickly found some inconsistencies that you want to fix asap.
For example, your YELP listing has the wrong zip code: http://www.yelp.com/biz/guyettes-contracting-montgomery (little things like that, especially from a trusted source, can really hurt you.)
Take a moment and review your listing using: https://mza.bundledseo.com/local/search. This is a great tool to discover any problems with your online listings.
Good luck!
-
You're welcome.
In regard to Schema, you'll probably be ahead of most contractors in the Montgomery area in adoption. It's been around for a few years, all major search engines endorse it's usage. It makes their job easier, so there are some perks.
You can go nuts with Schema markup. Fax, hours of business, logo, reviews and your second cousin's brother... well almost.
Though you will need to edit source code to implement the markup. You can get away with copying and pasting my first example (Though I think this editor trimmed off the word 'Map'.), once you get there with the Weebly WYSIWYG.
This is more of a 'nice to have' in regard to the site's blog; maybe add a little bit of text describing what's happening in the images. Sites get found in ways we never targeted. Mixing up the media a bit helps a lot.
-
Wow! Thanks for taking the time to respond guys. This forum is proving to be a tremendous resource. I'm very new to SEO and every bit of advice helps. @biron29 I've already started synchronizing my address, I didn't realize Google picked up on details that small. @ matt-williamson Thanks for the link, I've started going through the list. I think it will help a lot. @ Travis_Bailey You're right, I do have conflicting names. We've recently put more of an emphases on roofing so I thought a name change was appropriate. I'm slowly changing everything over. Thanks for the advice on Schema markup, I'd never heard of the term before. I'm already researching it, and hopefully I'll figure out how to implement into my site.
Thanks again guys!
-
Dang it, the WYSIWYG stripped out the code. That feature is wonky... so... here goes....
Example: Filled Out
Guyette Roofing and Construction
1849 Upper Wetumpka Rd
Montgomery,
AL
36107
Phone: 334-279-8326
URL of MapExample: Blankish
,
Phone:
<a href="" itemprop="maps">URL of Map</a> -
First, in regard to 'After' on http://www.guyetteroofing.com/blog/montgomery-roof-115. That weird little split looks a lot better than the crazy cobbled psuedo-valley they had going on. I've done some roofing in the past, as a home owner and a starving student (Local job boards - between 15 credit hours - it helps if you can do construction). That job was a big improvement. I would imagine the ridge vent will add a bit of life to the job and make summers a little more bearable.
I've worked with quite a few commercial and residential contractors in the DFW area. There was a common theme that I noticed that I like to call 'Contractor's Syndrome'. Usually I would run into 'Name Roofing and Construction', 'Name Construction', 'Name Contracting', 'Name Contractors' and a few other variants. If the business had been around for more than a few years, the NAP cleanup was usually pretty involved.
I think this is the case here. There are a lot of citations for Guyettes Contracting LLC including the BBB listing. All in all, I picked up Guyette's Roofing and Construction, Guyette Roofing and Guyette's Contracting. The last being the most prominent. So it's safe to say there are actually a lot NAP inconsistencies happening.
There are a lot of great local citations for Guyettes Contracting, so if I had to do it myself and run a business - I would probably err towards using that. The site seems to be doing okayish in organic for three months old. So just make sure that you're properly categorized in your local listings.
I noticed that you have another domain, which is owned by Hibu. If it's not doing anything for you, shut it down and ask them to transfer the domain to you. I've seen domain transfer requests go both ways with Hibu, but I wasn't handling the admin stuff at those times.
As an on-site consideration, I would recommend using Schema markup on at least your contact page. I noticed you're using Weebly, so I'm uncertain of your level of skill with site editing. I'll post a couple of snippets after this, one filled out with Guyette's Roofing - and one that's blank-ish. That way you'll have an example, should you go with a different name.
First Example: Filled Out
Just note that Schema markup isn't cruise control for local/organic rankings. It's just a nifty way to spoon feed search engines and possibly get some nice snippets. Hopefully that will help some.
-
As Brian said it is really important to make sure that your business name, address and phone number (NAP) match on your Google My Business Page and your business landing page (website). There are also many other important factors that you can use to optimise your local presence and re-gain that A spot. Have you got your business listed in local relevant directories and do your NAP details match across the board? There are so many factors for optimising your business for Local I would recommend that you have a look at Local Search Ranking Factors 2014 - http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
If you have any specific questions once you have had a look at these ranking factors just reply to this thread or drop another question to the community and you are sure to get some great help.
I find consistency is key and you need to make sure you push forward with optimising all the different factors that will benefit your business locally.
-
Biggest thing I am seeing is on maps your address is listed like this "1849 Upper Wetumpka Rd, Montgomery, AL 36107"
However on your site it is listed like this "1849 Upper Wetumpka Rd; Montgomery, AL 36107" I have seen before where having a small difference like you have after "Rd" can lower the ranking on maps purely because the address in not exactly the same. Seems dumb but I had it happen to me on a site recently. I would change each of the address listings on your site to match how maps has it listed. Hope that helps.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Incorrect Image is Displaying on Google My Business Knowledge Graph - Need Urgent Solution??
Incorrect Image is Displaying on Google My Business for our company. We have updated new image on google business But still, Google is fetching and showing old image on the google my business knowledge panel. What will be the right fix for this? Our site URL : www.yolobus.in
Local Listings | | AnkitS.19900 -
Average Percentage of Clicks on Google (Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic)
Does anyone know the allocation, percentage-wise, of clicks that go to Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic on Google Search (average)?
Local Listings | | OhYeahSteve0 -
Reliably Tracking Google Snack Pack Rankings
I have yet to find a way to reliably see my "snack pack" standings without going all out and using a VPN. I have moz pro and it looks like I can only track organic and local organic rankings. Anyone have a solution?
Local Listings | | zact10240 -
Did anybody else notice a big change in local/map results in late Jan early Feb
Hi, We work on quite a few local campaigns for clients and saw a fair bit of movement in the UK in late January/early February. Did anybody else notice this? Some of ours have improved, some have lost out, but the results generally seem to have shifted against usual guidelines for listing optimisation (reviews, local phone numbers, consistency with website etc.). Any thoughts? Thanks
Local Listings | | jasarrow0 -
Google My Business - More than 1 business under same roof?
Good morning Mozzers from London, England, I have been having some issues around local SERPs and getting our businesses to rank. The issue I have is we run GYMS, however within our gyms certain locations we run additional businesses like CHILDREN'S NURSERIES or PHYSIOTHERAPY CLINICS etc. Now these are run affectively as different businesses, and you don't need to be a gym member to use these services. However Google only lets you have 1 primary category per business address. And all of our locations are rightly registered as GYMS. So I can't then produce a secondary business listing at the same address.....can I? Has anyone else experienced this problem, or know of a solution? Kindest regards Ben
Local Listings | | Bendall0 -
How to deal with wrong location in Google SERP
Hi, If I understand correctly, Google provides search results based on the location of the user. That's fine, because most of my clients are local. But if I look at my own search results, Google thinks I'm in a totally different town. Most likely based on my IP address. Of course I can solve that for myself, but the same goes for my potential clients. Is there a way to deal with this, from an seo perspective? For instance find out where most of the the IP providers are located and target that location?
Local Listings | | Houdoe1 -
Optimizing a location the business doesn't actually reside in
I am optimizing a site for a general contractor in a small market -- Chittenden County, Vermont -- and I'm struggling with how to label his local identity on-page. His registered place of business is in a town about 12 miles outside of Burlington, which is the largest city in the county and state. Nearly 80% of geo modified keywords go to Burlington, and most people consider Chittenden County to be "greater Burlington." I am wondering whether it will help or hurt SEO to use "Burlington" in the titles, headers, etc, even though their actual location is a few miles away. They don't get customer visits -- business operations are located in a residence and all inquiries come in over the phone or email -- so I'm not worried so much about confusing visitors. Also, their official location will be available in the footer and contact page. If I go with "Burlington," how will this impact search rankings and G+ Places when I start focusing on citations in various directories. Will this slight geo discrepancy cause problems with organic and local SEO? I've been wrestling with this for a while. Your input is REALLY appreciated. Thanks, guys!
Local Listings | | ptdodge0 -
Removing website from search while you have Pending Google Places Listing
Hello, If you have assign a website in Google places that is in Pending mode, and you removed the website in WMT, from the searches. Will be denied in google places? Thanks for your help.
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT1