GMB listing not showing for local searches
-
Hi all, I've optimised an existing GMB listing that has been in place for over a year. The client is a yacht/boat broker and marine repair outfit based in Mallorca.
When I search for terms that they 'should' be ranking for on Google and on a Maps search, they are nowhere to be found, yet their listing does show when you type in their company name.
I've read lots of Local SEO guides and followed their advice but I'm not sure what I'm meant to do next?
-
Hi Bee,
So, yes, this definitely looks like Possum. When I search Google Maps for "Yacht Broker Port Adriano Spain" I see that there are numerous similar business in this location and that when I zoom in on the map, Marlin Marine Services does appear. So, a listing does exist for this business, but it simply isn't being judged by Google to be deserved of showing at a non-zoomed-in level. So, this brings us right back to my earlier comment regarding the need to do competitive research to discover the top competitor's strengths and your client's weaknesses so that you can create a plan for improvement. Hope this helps!
-
Hey thanks for your replies, excellent advice which I am following. The company is: Marlin Marine Services S.L. - any insight you can offer is appreciated.
-
Hi Bee!
Without looking at the actual listing, the community will only be able to offer some guesses. If you can share the website of the business, I'll gladly look more closely at it for you, but if that's not possible, it's okay.
The first thing I'd try to rule out here is the Possum filter. Find out if your client shares a dock, marina or building of any kind with a business in the same industry as itself. Even if the business is down the street, if there's another yacht-related company located in the same general area as your client, Google's Possum filter could be causing your client to be filtered out at the automatic zoom level of Google Maps.
If your client confirms that there are other yacht-related businesses at or near their address, here's how to see if Possum is impacting the business. Go to Google Maps and type in the core search term for which the business is trying to rank. Then, begin clicking on the zoom level to get more and more zoomed in. If your client appears on the Map at a zoomed in level, but does not appear at the normal zoom setting, then it's likely Possum.
If this experiment helps you determine that Possum is at play, and even if this experiment isn't conclusive that it's Possum, the task for you as the Local SEO on the job will be to do both an internal and a competitive audit. This will look like:
-
Ruling out for your own client anything problematic like guideline violations, spam, malware on the website, robots.txt issues, limiting business location, etc., while also documenting your finding about your client's complete online health (age of domain, on-page SEO, link profile, DA, PA, citation health, age of GMB listing, etc.). Do a full audit.
-
Then, take your client's numbers and statistics from your internal audit and set them side-by-side with the top-ranking competitor in the local pack for the search term. See what this top competitor's strengths are and compare them to your client's weaknesses to determine why Google is favoring their listing over your client's.
-
Finally, create a strategy to bring your client's numbers/stats up to the level of the top competitor, as best you can.
Again, if you can share the client's website, our community will gladly take a look, but if that's not feasible, what I've outlined here is the basic process that lies before you. Hope this helps!
-
-
I've seen fluctuations when updating accounts, where it will disappear or perform lower for a few days but it usually bounces back. How long has it been not showing up under terms you believe it should? Also have you tried a proxy service to mimic your location in order to check clean results. I use https://www.brightlocal.com/local-search-results-checker/
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Creating multiple GMB listings same address?
Hi Guys, We have a medical centre which has different services like medical, dental, pathology, mental health and 3-4 other services. They are all at the same address within the medical centre. Currently, we have a GMB listing just for the medical centre. But we're looking to create separate GMB listings for each service. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and can speak from experience of the pros and cons of doing this? It seems we will have a lot more GMB listings to manage, but we should benefit more from relevant GMB searchers and this will improve our visibility. Cheers, Mark
Local Listings | | brandonegroup1 -
Can having a google business listing harm a company selling services globally?
Hi, We are a SAAS platform offering cloud based solution for educators. We had a google business listing in India and recently added one for US as well. Our keywords rank significantly better in India than in US. Is it a good idea to remove these business listing? Also, what could be other factors that impact GEO SEO rankings for a online company like ours?
Local Listings | | WizIQMarketing0 -
How to Have Multiple Listings appear on Google maps
Hi my client has two locations for his restaurants: Me Gusta Tacos He wants to have both his locations show up in the map pack, which they currently do when you type in Restaurants, Dinner, food near me etc... However, when you google Me Gusta Tacos the Google listing shows up on the right for one of his locations, but there isn't a Map Pack for his two locations. I wasn't sure if a map pack only shows up when there are 3 or more locations, for instance, a chipotle which I added an image below to compare too. HGOgln5 Jgdoi4Y
Local Listings | | Sociable_Bistro0 -
Brand listed as plumber, can we still rank for other markets?
We have a lead generation website in the Netherlands in the plumber business. The last two years we were focussing on local SEO, and gain some rankings on keywords like 'plumber amsterdam'. We also connected google my local business in different city's, so we rank in both the citations as in maps. Now we want to get some rankings with the lead generation brand on other keywords. Keywords for other markets like 'handyman' 'roofer' etc. Google remembers what kind of business we are, since we are listed as plumbing company. My question is, can we still go for those other markets with the brand? The markets/ keywords are related and all in the home improvement segment. So for example, example.com/plumber example.com/roofer etc. The other option is to target those specific markets with other brands/ domains.
Local Listings | | remkoallertz0 -
How to perform a search as though you are in a local city
Hi community. So I live in Dubai but have a lot of clients in the UK that want local SEO. Does anyone have any tips on performing search queries in Google that reflect a true search results page as though that search was being performed in a chosen UK city? say if I wanted to see the SERPs for "hairdressers" in the city of Bristol in the UK, at the moment I get a pretty vague UK SERP from With lots of Dubai based adverts et. Any tips would be great, thanks
Local Listings | | SeoSheikh0 -
Unable to update client address in G+/Moz Local
Hello, I'm having an issue with Moz Local that involves a few complicating factors. I have a client who has moved to a new office and I was hoping to use Moz Local to help keep their NAP consistent during the transition. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the Google+ page that was set up for the business (and neither does my client). The client is relatively new, so we suspect the page was set up by the person/agency that set up their website previously. And since Moz Local gets the business address from the Google+ page it finds, and I can't access that page to change its address, I can't update the address in Moz Local. I DO have access to the client's website and Facebook account, and have already updated their listed address on those pages, but the Google+ page seems to still be a problem for verification. One of the other wrinkles is that since I have updated the Facebook page to show the new address, Moz Local has picked that up as a completely separate listing (a listing that uses an "and" instead of an "&" in the name). I was hoping to claim/verify THAT listing and see if I could merge the 2, but this other listing shows up as a separate purchase on Moz Local. I would prefer not to have to pay twice for the same listing, if at all possible. I would try to change the Facebook page name to use "&" instead of "and" in the hopes that Moz Local might recognize that it's the same business, but it looks like Facebook only allows you to change a page's name once, and I don't want to burn what might be needed to solve some other future problem. Lastly, the Moz Local listings are under another Moz account. I DO have access to that account, and can provide any specifics to the Moz staff if needed. To sum up: I can't change an address on Google+ and therefore cannot change the address on Moz Local. I'm not sure if this is a Moz Local issue, a Google+ issue, or (most likely) an issue on both ends, so any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!
Local Listings | | BrianAlpert780 -
Best practice for setting up multiple Google Places listings?
Hello, My client has just opened up two new smaller offices which I now need to have listed on Google Places as the primary office is. How is this done (using best practice)? Thanks
Local Listings | | Martin_S0 -
Inconsistant & Duplicate Listings
Hey guys, Our agency inherited a client that no longer has all of their log-in information for a large number of listings. This is killing their rankings. Can anyone give us some advice on how to handle this? We subscribe to Moz Local, but it seems like it can only help so much (or so we think). Thanks in advanced for any advice!
Local Listings | | theideapeople0