Tanking Local Rankings? How to Turn Them Around If They've Gone Down
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Your visibility has plunged - in Google Maps or in the organic results or in both. You're probably in better shape than you think. You'll get in better shape still if you put together a working theory as to what happened and put it to the test. In this presentation from Local U Advanced Virtual (Nov. 2, 2022), I lay out practical ways you can turn around a local rankings drop. I cover specific ways you can rule out possibile culprits, avoid overreacting and undoing good work, start climbing back up, and minimize drops in the future.
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Tanking Local Rankings? How to Turn Them Around If They've Gone Down
- 1. Tanking Local Rankings? How to Turn Them Around If They've Gone Down #LocalU @localuniv @philrozek Headshot Phil Rozek
- 2. #LocalU @philrozek 1 basic goal: Climb up the local rankings again
- 3. #LocalU @philrozek 2 notes: 1. I’m not covering super-obvious stuff 2. Troubleshooting takes trial and error, not perfect understanding
- 4. #LocalU @philrozek 1. Study Search Console 2. Keep detailed records 3. Action isn’t always needed 3 general rules:
- 5. #LocalU @philrozek 1. Make sure Search Console / Analytics didn’t break Check this if: - You see a flat or near-flat line
- 7. #LocalU @philrozek 2. Identify the dropped pages in GSC Do this if: - You still have SOME visibility - Local organic rankings are important
- 9. #LocalU @philrozek 3. Identify the informational and brand-name search terms in GSC Do this if: - TRAFFIC is strong, but local rankings have dropped
- 11. #LocalU @philrozek 4. Test out your solution on a lab rat if possible Do this if: - You have a low-priority business location, a side hustle, or a hobby site
- 13. #LocalU @philrozek 5. Point your GBP landing page URL to the homepage Try this if: - Landing page is well-optimized - Most backlinks point to homepage - Strongest competitors use homepage
- 15. #LocalU @philrozek 6. Compare your GBP landing page to the best-ranking businesses’ Do this if: - A different competitor outranks you - Or no business has a clear advantage: location, name, age, recognition, etc.
- 16. #LocalU @philrozek 7. Find any competitors lurking in your building or very nearby Try it if: - Your Maps visibility plummeted - Your building has multiple renters
- 18. #LocalU @philrozek 8. Hammer a rising spammer Do this if: - You’ve dropped mostly on Maps - You’re behind a business w/ a fake address, extraneous GBPs, or a fake or keyword-stuffed name
- 20. #LocalU @philrozek 9. Show your address on your GBP page again Try this if: - You “hid” your address and dropped - Your competitors show their addresses
- 22. #LocalU @philrozek 10. Consider a rebrand Consider this if: - Nearby competitors’ names are similar - Those competitors often rank well - It appears their visibility has improved as yours has tanked
- 23. #LocalU @philrozek 11. Move one GBP page farther from another Consider this if: - They are in the same city or very close - One is MUCH more visible or profitable
- 25. #LocalU @philrozek 12. Carve a niche for a “practitioner” or “department” GBP page Try this if: - You have multiple branded entities - Each entity has a specialty - Sometimes the smaller entities rank where the main one doesn’t
- 27. #LocalU @philrozek 13. Load tanked search terms onto pages that still rank well Try this if: - Some pages are still ranking well - You’re heavily siloed: you only targeted the term(s) that dropped on the page(s) that dropped
- 28. #LocalU @philrozek 14. Lean on the homepage Do this if: - You’ve tried to get subpages to rank for your major terms - Those pages have dropped - Homepage has the most inbound links
- 30. #LocalU @philrozek 15. Look for missing chunks of content or wiped title tags Check this if: - You don’t check your pages often - Major work was just done on your site - You use Yoast, All-in-One, etc.
- 31. #LocalU @philrozek 16. Inventory your backlinks and reclaim any good links lost Do this if: - You’ve worked on links in fits and starts - You’ve sponsored or joined orgs. - Your rankings climbed up some time after you started getting links
- 33. #LocalU @philrozek 17. Lay down more internal links Do this if: - You don’t spend a LOT of time internally linking new pages and posts - You reworked your nav menu recently - “Money” pages are only accessible in a couple of places
- 35. #LocalU @philrozek 18. Consolidate and 301-redirect pages w/ overlapping rankings Try this if: - “Queries” in GSC shows similar pages with many impressions for about the same term(s) - You’ve gotten good results from some blog posts or “city” pages
- 37. Thanks! #LocalU @localuniv @philrozek Headshot Phil Rozek Email me (phil@localvisibilitysystem.com) if you want more examples, have something to share, or have a question.