As I mentioned in my last income report, I want to get back on track this month when it comes to publishing new content, and there is no better topic than this.
One of my favorite topics, is local SEO, and I tend to see things a bit differently than many of the experts out there. I don’t care about discussing theories and promoting hyped up methods that aren’t working, just what I view as beneficial to your business, or client’s business.
There’s been a lot of recent changes, some talked about more than others. Some of these changes include:
- Descriptions removed from GMB profiles
- Local algorithm shake up (allegedly)
- Core algorithm change (allegedly)
In this post I will discuss these changes, and share with you my opinion on what you should do to stay above water…
When Google Changes, We Must Follow
Look, I understand the frustration many of you have when it comes to SEO in general. You don’t know who or what to believe when you’re trying to learn, and you don’t know what to do when Google changes everything.
This is something you need to learn to deal with, and eventually something you will look forward to. After all, SEOs in general have difficulties trying to change. People are still selling “high PR links” even though PR hasn’t been publicly updated in YEARS.
When a major shakeup happens, you are at a level playing field with most of your competition. A little bit of testing, gets you ahead of your opponents.
There’s no sense in objecting to the changes. In the world of SEO, you have to embrace the change.
Nothing is static. We’re in a liquid industry that can potentially change on any given day. If you can’t handle that reality, then you aren’t going to be successful providing this very essential service.
Google No Longer Displaying Descriptions
Mike Blumenthal reported in early August that descriptions were being removed from Google My Business. However, the change wasn’t fully rolled out to every Google TLD until about a week later.
If you follow some of the posts at different search forums or communities, you get the impression that no one cares, that the description never mattered for rankings, and never made any difference when it comes to calls to action because nobody ever saw the descriptions.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe they have ever tracked links or calls to action that were specifically added to the descriptions, because if they did they would probably see the same impact I’ve seen from those descriptions. For example, a tree service in texas received over 20 clicks a month to a landing page in the CTA, which converted at 45% visitor to lead, and lead conversions were at 50%. At an average job of $650, $2,600/mo was generated from a simple link.
Those useless revenue generating descriptions…
Why This Matters In Local SEO
Now we can debate the visibility of the descriptions used on GMB listings all day long, but the thing that probably matters most to you NOW, is what difference does it make going forward?
Here’s where the impact is… Listing optimization is probably more important than backlink creation. Don’t hold me to that… but those business descriptions made it very easy to expand on your target keywords, showing additional industry and location relevance. Even if they weren’t highly visible, they impacted local search results.
Now that has been fully removed, you can expect business names, and the domain itself to hold a much higher level of impact. EMD’s are more alive now, than they have ever been when it comes to local search. Keyword loaded business names, are also more prevalent now than they have ever been before.
This small change, that people seem to not care about, has added more weight to the areas that SEO insiders have been complaining about for the last couple years. If something in an algorithm changes, or weight is removed from one thing, it doesn’t just disappear, it gets allocated to a different area.
Believe it or not, this change is a big shakeup.
Local Search Algorithm Change
According to Search Engine Land, another change happened in local results. A lot of people have their opinions on what it was about, or if it even is an update to the local algorithm at all.
The debate seems to be focused on whether this was related to a spam filter vs. local algorithm change.
Google hasn’t said anything about it except John Mueller that commented on updates in general, saying it wasn’t related to penguin.
Here are my thoughts:
1.) It probably was a “quality update”. Literally right before any suspicion of an update, I noticed a LOT of spammy listings ranking much higher than they should have been. This seems to happen right before a quality update happens. Spam gets sent to the top because of a filter or overlay that’s added.
2.) If this is an algorithm change, it’s probably related to how Google determines “quality” businesses. Spam is an ongoing problem in local search, and will continue to be until Google changes the way it determines ranking. I have strong reservations in giving Google credit on this, since history tells us they don’t really have a plan in combating spam in the local search arena.
All the evidence suggests this is NOT an algorithm update. Unless the evidence suggests otherwise, anyone that is trying to make money off of you with their secret information on what works post-algo, they have some snake oil to sell you.
What You Need To Know Going Forward
Whether this Local SEO change is just a quality update or an algorithm change, the focus is around quality. Based on my tracking, businesses that have a lot of supporting content both for their industry and location, have been doing well.
Sites with thin supporting content, for example, a site with just a home, about, services, and contact page, are not doing as well.
It goes deeper than that though.
Sites with a strong citation and social media “fortress”, are doing better than those with a weaker footprint.
I believe the days of citations being the local version of a backlink, are long gone. I don’t believe citations, NAP consistency, or any of that crap directly matters for ranking improvements anymore. However, I do believe a lack of citations can prevent rankings, and be seen as a lower quality business and possible lead broker/generation site.
Most of the listings experiencing a loss in rankings that I’ve looked at, have a strong correlation with low citation footprint, which supports the idea that this is related to a quality update and not an algorithmic change.
Maybe citations aren’t as important for ranking benefit, but if they are being used as a signal that determines whether a business is legitimate or not, then it does have indirect influence. So don’t worry citation sellers, you are still needed, you’re just a commodity now but hey, commodities still make money.
Core Algorithm Change?
When Search Engine Land, and SEroundtable both reported possible changes to the core algorithm, the evidence being used is just a handful of complaints on various forums.
I’m skeptical of people claiming an algorithm change. Yes, we understand that Google makes 1,000+ updates/tweaks each year. Are the complaints and hype about a new core algorithm, valid?
Let’s take a look at what John Mueller from Google has said:
@iqseo @dawnieando @methode @BecomeKnown I’m not aware of anything special that we announced, but we’re always making updates.
— John Mueller (@JohnMu) September 5, 2016
@dawnieando @BecomeKnown @iqseo We make a ton of updates that don’t get announced (at 1000+/year, that would be hard).
— John Mueller (@JohnMu) September 5, 2016
My thoughts: No major update, just RankBrain related.
When I looked at my Google Webmaster Tools, it shows an update happening on August 31st.
WMT hasn’t updated since then for me, but apparently it is a bug and being worked on.
Google has said what is displayed in Webmaster Tools is an error, and not a real update. It’s fine to be skeptical when it comes to Google and trying to determine whether they are telling the truth or not. In this case, I believe they are telling the truth.
The data I have looked at, suggests that the ranking fluctuations are less about SERP movement and more about how Google is handling the search term to understand user intent, history, and the end goal of finding the information they want.
For example, this update should impact local organic search more than a broader national search.
If this is a tweak to RankBrain, then it isn’t about ranking signals, it’s just about understanding the intent of the search. For example, if you are in New York and you’re searching for a bed and breakfast in Portland, without a state identifier, Google will use historical data, previous searches, location, etc. to determine which Portland results should show up for you. Portland, Maine will more likely show up for a New York searcher, than Portland Oregon.
This update can also benefit a broader national keyword selection by using supporting content to see which sites are the most relevant to the user’s intent.
All in all, everything I am seeing, suggests this isn’t a core algorithm change but a tweak in RankBrain. Rank Brain isn’t something that is a ranking signal, it’s just something that Google uses to determine the type of results it will display.
This would explain why Wikipedia has dropped for certain keywords that have a high level of buyer intent. It also explains why Wikipedia has gained for keywords that seem to be early research stage keywords that have less buyer intent. The same applies to Amazon, many pages dropped that have keywords with low buyer intent, while keywords with higher buyer intent have increased.
This also should effect many local directories. It seems that Thumbtack was hit pretty hard on a local level in organic search, while sites with more location relevance have increased. Yelp, same story except when it comes to the research phase of a specific business.
There’s very little evidence that supports the case for this being a major algorithm change. Everything suggests it is related to Rank Brain.
Final Thoughts
Ranking fluctuations are normal. When one person brings to everyone’s attention, negative movement in the SERPs, everyone seems to freak out, race to their rank checkers, and if there’s movement they automatically assume it’s some new major algorithm change.
Instead of freaking out, thinking the sky is falling and the world is going to end, it’s time to take a deep breath and look at evidence objectively and adapt your strategy if necessary.
In this case, there’s a lot of hoopla but little evidence to support it. Be prepared to get bombarded with emails by marketers wanting you to join their next “no fluff” webinar where they teach you how to rank post algo, and spam images with exif data so you can rank. :/
I’d rather sit over here keepin’ it real than hoping to extort a few bucks from people that are naive.
Questions? Comments? Flames? Post em up below!
Good stuff man, as always. Keep it comin’ 🙂
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you’re able to get back on the more frequent content posting here because I always love to read what’s on your mind. No fluff 😉
Definitely going to be more active with publishing this month. Glad you liked it!
I did enjoy your emails up until now – however the subject line in todays email is in very poor taste….is this supposed to be funny??
This is the subject line from Income Bully (copied and pasted)
“Local SEO Have You Shakin Like Michael J Fox?”
what were you thinking? I find this disgusting and offensive. I will be un-subscribing.
I thought it was funny. See ya.
rahahaha Income Bully gives no fucks
Zero. lol.
I like your attitude f em
Someone doesn’t understand marketing. I didn’t mind the email, if you’re so offended you can’t learn that’s your problem.
Very true. It’s kind of like what people were all offended about with Neil Patel’s ad, and “objectifying” women. I wrote about it here: The Wussification of the Modern Marketer
Obviously my goal wasn’t to offend, but I think it’s silly to consider every single person’s sensitivities. Looks like the email has stirred a bunch of opens, clicks and action so it did its job.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
The subject line is dumb its meant as a joke; not a good one either. Wear looser panties they’re making you uptight.
I don’t expect people to enjoy my sense of humor. Before I hit send, I did wonder how many people would be offended. I just didn’t care.
Thanks for the post!
Im a little confused though… What do we do from here? I haven’t been hit too hard in most cases. One of our main keywords we did move from 2 to 4 in our clothing store Plus 2 Clothing. Then my local lead gen sites have dropped a tad too.
Do you think the only thing that needs to change is having more supporting content? Anything else or have I missed the point of this article? Should we do nothing?
Cheers!
Thanks for the comment and question Josh. The point overall is that the majority of people will only see minor ranking fluctuations. Doing nothing is never a good idea, but completely changing your strategy would definitely be a terrible idea if you’ve already been getting results.
More supporting content will definitely help. In my opinion, that’s one of the biggest reasons people aren’t ranking as well as they want.
The post as a whole, was just trying to calm down on the speculation and hype people are putting out when there is no evidence of anything special. Google removing GMB descriptions, is a bigger impact than either of these alleged algorithm changes based on what I see.
So, pretty much the same strategy you had before, will continue to work. Just add in a bit more supporting content and you’ll be good. 🙂
Hey mate,
Thanks for the clarification. I’ll get some more supporting content scheduled and do some more outreach then!
Keep Killing it!
That definitely can’t hurt!
The sites you mentioned that talk about the changes are kind of a joke if I’m being truthful. I do enjoy some of the news related articles they put out but they don’t treat the site with a journalistic point of view.
I do SEO day in and day out. I didn’t see anything major in the hundreds of keywords I’m tracking. I’m not even talking about one site, I’m talking about the entire SERP.
I think your take is accurate. I commented on one of the posts about this and also mentioned I thought it was a quality update and rankbrain related, not major algorithm change.
The more things change, the more they stay the same my friend. Solid advice once again.
Good to know there’s other people like me out there. Or maybe that’s a scary thought?
It’s always best to approach these things cautiously. No sense in overreacting. I’ve seen some emails go out today where people are pushing webinars and courses already, just to take advantage of people.
What industries were you tracking if you don’t mind sharing? The ones I’ve seen notable changes are related to plumbing and attorneys, but then again, those are commonly abused with spam so that still supports the thought that it is a quality update and not an algo change.
Nasty Nate. That subject line was most def bad taste, but I loved it.
This aint incomesissy.com it’s fuckin incomebully.
Good info though for sure.
True dat!
Thanks Nate! Man, I love your blog! Thanks for this update. I heard the rumblings in Facebook groups and forums over the weekend, but I didn’t know what to think or who to believe .
Thanks1
Marc
Time to create some memes making fun of the over-reactions lol. Kind of like how people in Missouri are freaked out about the earthquake aftershocks that knocked over a patio chair. Even with major shifts in the algorithm, not much ever really changes.
Dude, I was just about to email you to find out where you’ve been hiding, and then I get the 2 emails from you. I have now adjusted to your yearly disappearing act, come mid-summer. Glad it’s Sept., you’re back(per your annual routine) and comin’ on strong as ever.
This is really good info.
Your joke was kinda in bad taste, but hey even Michael J. Fox makes fun of himself. This world would be a lot more fun if people would lighten up a bit.
Now, where’s that Local SEO course I’ve been waiting for???
Totally with you on your last 2 points there Aunt D – maybe not the classiest joke, but that’s not what I’m here for. And yeah, what about that course?!?! ;0)
It’s in the works, not my primary focus and I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to wait a little longer for it.
Hey, I’ve never claimed to have good taste. LOL.
I’m waiting a bit on the SEO course to see what happens. Though this wasn’t anything major, I do expect some changes to happen in the next couple months that would force me to change up a bunch of screenshots in the course. Especially because of the potential decrease to a 2 pack.
Yep! – Looking forward to your Local SEO course, for sure…
Thanks Roger!
Excellent post thanks, we have had a ton of clients reporting being spammed with your “local search is messed up buy this from us before your business dies” the mice always run to the cheese!
I am with you more or less citations are the low hanging fruit for local businesses – do it, do it well but they alone are not enough.
Yeah lol… whenever there’s rumblings of that stuff it is exploited to the max. haha.
I think at the end of the day just putting out quality content regularly probably has a better return for most people than learning the intricacies of SEO, beyond the first basic level understanding
I agree with you when it comes to broad, non location dependent stuff. I think as far as local SEO goes, if you’re based in Chicago selling carpet cleaning services, and you put out content that gets visitors from across the country it isn’t going to be as beneficial or targeted as local SEO.
Can a locksmith business in Topeka Kansas benefit from great content? Probably, but you have to wonder what the return would be in comparison to local SEO. Overall though, interesting take, and can’t say I disagree too much with that.
To understand the most recent updates ( that are in question ) I think you have to understand what they are. Since early this year ( 2016 ) we know that”Panda” is now a integral part of the Google Algo. ( ** and if you pay attention you know that along with Panda 4.2 there were 2 other unnamed updates in 2015 that appeared to address quality – I would suggest these were test roll outs ) So in essence “Quality” is now a built in mechanism. There is no Panda.., but there will continue to be the factor of “Quality” at play. All the aspects that I consider “Quality” ( they are to long to list here ) are without question creating these moves in recent unnamed updates.
What is interesting with “Quality” updates is the scope of change that occurs.. its not just local, its not niche specific, its literally global in reach. Local, Paid listings and General Search are ALL affected. – this in itself is a GREAT indication there is a “Qualty” update taking place.
To suggest that pumping out great content is the answer… well as much as that is correct.. I think it is a myth as well. One of the KEY elements of SEO is understanding what keywords to target. You can call them keywords.. or you can call them content topics.. how ever you like. You can write the best content in the world.. however if your SEO efforts are not going to allow the content the light of day… then it wont do you much good.
As an example topic.. you have a site about xbox One. The chances of getting a great article in the top 10 let alone top one hundred let alone the top 1000 SLIM and NONE… but to write about a very select micro focused topic such as “How to connect a Xbox one controller to a PC” brings your competing pages from 146 mill, down to a small manageable 3 million. KEYWORD selection and ultimately TOPIC selection are very much functions of SEO.
I believe writing content is but 10% of the battle.. knowing WHAT to write, and what terms / topics you stand a chance at achieving decent placement for.. thats the other 90%
Exact match domain names and exact match business names are getting preferential treatment by Google in organic search and in Google Places. I have noted quite a surge in this practice the last year. As business owners and new startups get wise to this, I imagine it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.
I have been on the hunt for new local competitors using spammy exact match business names and I have been fairly successful in smacking them down in Google Map Maker. I can not make them go away entirely but I can cause them to stop showing in the 3 pack.
Google has a 2004 patient for eliminating exact match, poor content entities but they damn sure don’t seem to be using it.
Yeah, I’ve also been able to remove some via map maker. It isn’t guaranteed but the obvious spam businesses go away. I think the problem with implementing the patent, is that overall it would reduce quality. It isn’t just for the domain, but the URL as well. What happens if they implement it right now? I think spam sites take over the top 3.
Tricky situation, but you are absolutely right, it will get worse. I have a feeling that we’re going to be in the same spot for a while, until it does get unbearable. THEN, maybe something will be done.
I deal primarily in organic search.. what you are saying plays it self to be true… However, its kinda far from the truth. If you REALLY look at the algo for the 2004 patent.. its how to CONTROL exact match… how to give merit to other sites without the EDM. Yes.. we see insertcityheatingandcooling in #1 all over the place. But if you look at organic search you start seeing less edm and more bobsheatingandcooling/insertcity. THIS is where the patent kicks in. Not going to say it negates the EDM, it equalizes it. Laymans terms would be that it negates the left preference of keywords. So as long as the keywords are there, they carry equal weight. In local search, this means URLS can be seen as equal, regardless of the company name.
I would suggest NON EDM urls are far superior in every way if all things are equal. If we were to look at Dallas as an example market dallaswidgets would be a preffered URL. BUT… Dallas isnt just Dallas.. its Garland, its Richardson, its Irving, its Mesquite. dallaswidgets becomes VERY limiting. Bobswidgets/dallas bobswidgets/garland, bobswidgets/irving opens up the potential search reach
In the world of SEO, single focus, long term, only gets you in trouble. multiple layers of focused market targeting is what keeps you/your clients in the game. kinda like not putting all your eggs in one basket.
I always say in SEO if something is trending… its something to stay away from. As much as SEO changes, it remains the same – for those that diversify their reach, and stray away from the easy. EMD is easy. Structure based URL’s I would suggest is the path to smart SEO.
When I discuss EMD’s, I’m referring to use in local search. If you’re in Dallas, you’re not going to rank in the maps in Garland, or Ft. Worth. If you have locations in those other cities though, it would be wise to use an EMD, at least until they stop working because the advantage is humongous. Agree on organic though, for the most part!
Interesting you say that… if you happen to look at “Dallas Plumber” on google. you will see #1 ALL 3 of the 3 pack… not a one is in “Dallas”. #2 dig a bit deeper here and you will find “Ben Franklin Plumbing” not only in the 3 pack for “Dallas” but for “Plano” as well. – what I find to be of interest… look even deeper.. and you see half if not all of their ( ben’s ) dallas listing is a scam.. their address doesn’t even exist for starters… but I digress… even the EDM listing is a scam. The issue with Local search isnt EDM.. its the ease of gaming it. its down right sad actually. straight up blatent, easily checked and verified – ( you can use the image from google maps and in about 10 seconds determine the address does not exist lol ), and companies like “Ben’s” still have freaking listings. and here is why I refrain from local search for the most part ( i do partake obviously, but im not out to make a living doing it )