Back in November 2021, Google rolled out a local search update. The aim was to rebalance factors that could improve local search results. Effect of this update has recently been observed with most of the business listings.
Following are some of the changes which have taken effect.
Local Listing Area
This update in google local listing is also named as Vicinity update. Google has reduced the reach area radius of local listings. For explanation purpose, if earlier, local listing reach area was 10km, now it has reduced to 7km. The reason for this update is to show local businesses in search results, which are more accessible and closer to the user.
Although, the coverage radius might have reduced by e.g. 25% in some cases, but this change could effect up to 40% reduction in calls or leads received from the listings as the businesses will be visible to much fewer audiences.
Which businesses are more likely to get effected with this update?
The Losers
Businesses which ranked well in the local listing far from their offices
Local businesses which had a good Google local listing optimization with related keywords in the business name.
The Winners
The businesses with less optimized Google local listing and which weren’t too well ranked in that vicinity will start getting better visibility and reach.
What to do if your business has been negatively effected by this update?
Since December, if views, calls and clicks on your listing have been effected, then you need to revisit and work on the following factors:
Landing Page
Optimize the URL(landing page) of your business website which has been added to the listing’s website field. The landing page must have
A clear Call to Action(CTA)
Open and close timings
Contact details
Business address
Embedded maps with location pin
List of services and products
Backlinks
Improve backlinks on your landing page of Google local listing.
There could be two types of backlinks which the business would need on its landing page:
Links from websites related to your local area listing
Backlinks from websites which are related to your product and services
Citations
Your citations need to be updated with the correct information. Citations refer to the name, address and contact number of your business on paid or free google business listing directories or referral websites. If you have recently changed business contact details, you would need to update all your citations. This will help in google local listing optimization. With such uniform business information present across various sources, Google crawling bots will give a vote of confidence to your website.
Content
Content is king. Google crawls through your website, takes information on the business’s products or services and adds it to the business’s google local listing. It is of paramount importance that the website content is properly structured and optimized for better user experience.
Check the following:
Make sure that the information on your products and services are correct and updated.
Secondly, check if your website has a simple content structure and is easy to navigate. Test your website by asking random people who have not interacted with your website before. If these random users could not find relevant information on the webpage, it means its not optimized for Google bots as well.
Also test your website on the mobile device and see if it provides a good user experience.
Conclusion
Implement the above mentioned points on your website and you will see better engagement on your Google local business listing. Please note that improvements will not come through overnight. SEO demands patience and one must consistently work on Google local listing optimization to see its effects rolling out.
