What Causes Large Swings in Local Rankings?
-
I know local rankings are a complicated matter and I'm not looking for a single answer to this question, but I'm curious if any local SEOs have noticed similar issues to what I'm experiencing with trying to rank a multi-location-based business. Overall, the visibility trends for the business are up, but we keep popping into the top three spots (happened 2-3 times over the past year) for some general, particularly high-volume search terms only to fall back out and settle a week later into placements below the first page. This is particularly frustrating because the terms we're seeing this volatility for are the exact dream keywords we're hoping to rank the site for.
Has anyone else experienced the same thing and had specific findings about what was at play? Is Google testing us and finding us unworthy? Any and all insights from pros with similar experiences would be helpful!
-
So glad to help, and wishing you good luck!
-
Thanks so much for the thoughtful answer as always! I'm definitely going to dig into all of these resources to try and solve the mystery!
As far as searcher proximity goes, I'm measuring these national/local rankings using Moz, as I'm not physically located in the same town as the business.
To my knowledge, Google has never penalized the business. They're never spammy, reviews are all legitimate and positive, we use https and crawl tests always come back fine. However, the business does have two current locations in neighboring towns and one closed location in the town we find it most difficult to rank in. I suspect some of the difficulties of ranking multiple-location businesses are at play too.
Again, thanks for the super-thorough answer!
-
Good Morning, and good question!
Yes, Google is always testing, and results fluctuations may have nothing to do with whether or not they find you worthy. For example, when the Possum update rolled out, Google simply filtered out thousands of businesses that happened to share categories and be physically near one another. Then the Hawk update happened and they dialed this filter back a bit. So, in a case like that, Google was testing something, and local businesses either weren't filtered or were filtered.
Beyond Google updates, a great many things can lead to local ranking fluctuations. These could include:
-
Searcher proximity. You find yourself ranking well in a pack when you search while in your office. You drive across town and do the same search, and you're not in the 3-pack any more. Local search rankings aren't static anymore.
-
Your competitors are competitive. They are doing things that are enabling them to surpass you in terms of authority. They are telling Google, by some combination of efforts, that they deserve one of the 3 coveted spots more than you do. Maybe they are using Google Posts and you aren't. Maybe the velocity of their reviews is better. Maybe their photos get more clicks.
-
You've done something wrong. You've violated a guideline and have been reported or caught for spam. You have duplicate listings, fake reviews, stuffed business titles, fake locations, malware on your site, problems with indexing, lack of HTTPs protocols, slow load times, etc.
Typically, lack of rankings are going to fall into these categories. For more on this, you might like to read:
https://mza.bundledseo.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures-2018
https://mza.bundledseo.com/blog/45-local-seo-pitfalls
Go through those two blog posts and see if you recognize any of the problems as being relevant to your brand.
If that doesn't turn up some clues, then the next thing to do is to do a full competitive audit between your brand and the brand you see outranking you. This post will walk you through that process and even contains a spreadsheet for you to use:
https://mza.bundledseo.com/blog/basic-local-competitive-audit
Hope this 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
-
Ranking up/down Everyday
hello i have a Domain https://goo.gl/OoigRF, which I am Doing SEO last From 16-18 Months, wordpress platform, Everything 100% as per Yoast , But Then After My rankings position changes Everyday. from 1st-2nd page to 7th-8th & sometimes After 10th page. What can be Reason ?? What are the things i need see, For making My rankings Stable ?? please Suggest Me Some ranking Recovery Steps
Local SEO | | iepl20060 -
Legalicy of videos used for local SEO
Hello, A client of mine wants to use someone else's video (video of how to train your dog) in his pages for "dog training (His City)" The person who makes the how to train your dog videos sells DVDs and that's how he makes his money if that matters. We want to make sure we're giving the proper credit and doing this OK. What do we need to keep in minds for legalities and respecting the author? Thanks.
Local SEO | | BobGW0 -
Getting Schooled in Local by 'Lesser' Brands?
Hi Moz! First question I've asked here. I've been working on campaign for my company (regional solar installation company in Northeast USA) for close to 7 years, we've always done well in local search but recently have noticed sites that, for lack of a better word, we 'school' in terms of all the usual metrics - better/more consistent local listings, better domain strength, better backlink profile, bigger company (in the real world), brand recognition, etc... However recently we have started seeing smaller competitors beat us in state-specific rankings, using stuff I would call 'old school' SEO that is no longer really tolerated, in theory - stuffing keywords onto page, keywords in domain, etc... domains of much less strength pulling #1 or #2 terms. Based on data I don't actually think keywords like "solar + state name" are actually that powerfully but frankly it is bit embarrassing to get crushed by 1-2 person companies when you have a 150+ company with a three-person in-house digital marketing team. My strategy so far has consisted of building a better Google review solicitation process, adding schema markup to our project gallery, and some SEO 101 stuff like reworking keywords and title tags. I've noticed a strong uptick on our site of leads from outside our territory (like folks from all across the USA who are NOT in our service territory) - I'm almost thinking I've done 'too good' a job of building a nationally relevant website and not enough state-specific options. Has anyone ever experienced something like this? Any clever strategies beyond the obvious? Can share more specifics if it'll be helpful. Cheers,
Local SEO | | revisionsolar
Fred0 -
Feedback to what to offer to my clients on my SEO website - local to Boise ID
Hi, I'm targeting Boise, Idaho and building an SEO consulting website. Right now I only offer 3 things because that's what I have experience in: 1. On-site SEO 2. Content Audit 3. Start a company from scratch. Ecommerce, Service, or Informational I know #3 involves all SEO, so it will be challenging, but 1-3 is what I've been doing for 10 years. What feedback do you have as far as 1-3 being my 3 offers, and is $200/hour fair? I work off quotes by estimating my time at $200/hour. Thanks.
Local SEO | | BobGW1 -
How Can i improve Domain "Moz rank and Domain moz trust".
Good Evening , I have few quick questions for you . Please find the attachment . 1.) How can i improve Moz rank and domain Moz trust ? 2.) if you see the numbers , Mine is 0 external links and 0 followed root links domains , How can i work on it to improvise my stats ? 3.) Mine domain is dental clinic ( dentalxyz.net ) , there are other dentalxyz.com and dentalxyz.ca . When i type my my domain name it's shows irrelevant information like other location office. In addition , my youtube channel and facebook name is also different , It's not showing on google search. 4.) I'm trying to upgrade my old nice to new niche. how can i use this moz keyword tool? Where can i use that keywords. 5.) Has anybody tried buying back links from blackhatworld ? Fkmu4am
Local SEO | | hemantt0 -
What is the best SEO tool for tracking local rankings
Hi Can anyone recommend what they think the best tool is to track local rankings. I want to manage several small businesses' visibility and I am not sure which one is the best. I have been told that "Bright local" and "SEO PowerSuite" are the best in the business. Is that true? or is there something better out there Thanks
Local SEO | | coolhandluc0 -
Do Press Releases help ranking?
Sorry to bring up this question again. I have done a ton of reading on it and most of it shows me that it is not a good idea: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-press-release-links-16136.html
Local SEO | | Mase
http://authoritylabs.com/blog/press-releases-seo-strategy/
http://www.theclinegroup.com/2014/07/09/google-killing-seo-press-releases/ But then there are a few articles showing some semblance of it having an affect. http://searchengineland.com/links-from-press-releases-do-have-ranking-benefit-despite-what-google-says-145139 Here are some from my company that were done by our last marketer. We're trying to determine if we should continue doing these. Probably launched close to 200 of these. http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/chicago-business-lawyers-weigh-if-motorolas-gift-to-city-violates-antitrust-laws-579439.htm
http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/new-york-attorneys-will-be-in-high-demand-if-data-security-law-passes-579440.htm
http://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/chicago-business-lawyers-weigh-if-motorolas-gift-to-city-violates-antitrust-laws_23357.html
http://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/new-york-attorneys-will-be-in-high-demand-if-data-security-law-passes_23358.html
http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/california-intellectual-property-lawyers-battle-to-protect-clients-ip-579154.htm What's your take?0 -
Does this tactic fall into the Local SEO best practice?
Hi Mozzers, I have a client who serves the entire San Francisco bay area but has only one physical location. He asked me if he should get different addresses by renting out offices in different cities so he could use that for a better localization of his business. Thanks for letting me know!
Local SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0