Web Designers Missing From Google Local

A couple of weeks ago, Google decided to stop showing local results for website designers. Type in "web design nuneaton", "web design coventry" or "web design" followed by any other geographical location and you just get the bog-standard organic search results - the ten-pack has gone AWOL.

And it's not just the phrase "web design" that's affected either. The terms "search engine optimisation (SEO)", "web marketing", "web development" and a plethora of other terms have ceased to show related local businesses. The whole industry has been pretty much wiped.

Fortunately for me, the changes don't affect me too much as most of my projects come from word-of-mouth and I still rank fairly highly in the organic results but I know of a few web designers out there that rely heavily on their Google Local ranking and are beginning to panic a little.

I know of no official response from Google as to their reasoning behind these changes, but we can always speculate :)

Ally Lennon of Big Orange Planet suggested that maybe Google is intending to offer services in the web design and marketing arena and is snuffing out the competition beforehand. I think his comment was a little tongue-in-cheek and he was quick to reject it himself :)

On the Google forums, djole suggested that perhaps it was Google's way of increasing revenue:

"Local business results place was getting their attention and they ware clicking on the LBR always now they use the paid results."

Whilst there may be some truth in this, I think the reasons are far less sinister. I'm guessing Google are experimenting with removing the local search results from organic search, and are using web developers as their testbed. As an Inernet company, Google know that web developers/designers/marketers are far more likely to notice any changes to search and send free feedback to them - slightly similar to the way they are using web developers to BETA test Google Caffeine.

Whether this is, as djole suggested, to increase Pay-Per-Click revenue or if it's simply to improve search results, we'll probably never know but, if Google get the desired results, I'd expect local search to be removed from organic search results for other industries too. Similarly, if Google don't get what they want from, I'd expect local results for web designers to return.

In the meantime, without an official response from Google there's very little anyone can do about it, so we just have to sit tight and see what happens - but it's always nice to speculate :)

Mysterious Changing Address: Google Maps Wrong!

This weekend, I was surprised to discover that the listed address in Google Local for one of my client's businesses was incorrect.

I had done nothing to change the listing and my client certainly hadn't either (as she doesn't know her Google Account password) so what was going on?

I checked her listing details and found that the address was correct, which led me to believe that the listing shown in Google Local was not the same one as I had created for her - someone or something had created a duplicate listing for the business.

At this point, I began to panic a little because the last thing a business needs is to have their Google listing hijacked by some unknown entity. As well as preventing the real owners from optimising their listing, an unscrupulous hijacker could use their control to tarnish a business' reputation.

Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. After digging a little deeper I discovered that although the address was correct, the map marker had moved some 2 miles away from where it should be. Google was generating the wrong address from the location of the marker.

I fixed the incorrect marker location in Google Local Business Centre and within 8 hours, to my relief, everything was back to normal.

I'm still none the wiser as to why the marker flew across town. If anyone else has had this same problem, I'd love to hear from you.

Tip #1: You Don't Need a Website To Rank High In Local Search

A popular misconception about local search engine marketing is that you need a business website get a decent ranking. I've even heard one person (who shall remain nameless) say that you can't get listed by Google and Yahoo if you don't have a website.

Nothing could be further from the truth - here's some screenshots to quash this line of thinking:

Both screenshots show the local search results for the phrase "builders maidstone", the first being from Yahoo! and the second from Google. The number one business in both cases does not have a website, yet they sit atop the rest, many of which do have websites.

Although a business website can be very useful (and maybe essential, depending on your line of work) to your overall marketing strategy, it is not essential to be listed in the major local search engines.

The Most Important Element of Your Google Local Listing

To benefit those readers who don't have a lot of time, before I begin with waffle I'll answer the question in the title - the single most important element of your Google Local listing is your business' name.

Although there are many other elements that combine to make a successful listing in Google Local, the wording in the Company/Organisation box can be the difference between a good listing and a great one.

A Real-World Example
To give an example of just how important it is, I'd like to share with you a listing I created for my web design business, based in Nuneaton.

My business is named Shore Dutton Internet Consultancy, and my Google Local listing was ranked in around fourth place for terms relating to website design and Nuneaton. I'd been running a few experiments and had created a second listing for the same business except for a few alterations in the address and a change in the business name to Shore Dutton Web Site Design.

This simple change catapulted my second listing into the top spot for the same terms ("website design nuneaton"), as can be seen in the screenshot below:



You'll notice that my original listing is ranked in seventh place despite the fact that it has multiple reviews, images and citations from authoritative websites. The new listing has no reviews, images or citations, yet sits in the top spot.

You'll also notice that all of the top five results have a variation of the phrase "web[site] design" in their title.

Conclusion
So, how can we put this knowledge to good use?

Whatever business you're in, make sure that keywords associated with your business are included in Google Local's Company/Organisation field. For example, if you are a plumber and you're legal business name is "Joe Bloggs & Son", your Google Local listing might read "Joe Bloggs & Son Plumbers and Heating Specialists".

In addition, be sure to use terms that people will use when searching for your business. The term "Building Services" may sound better for your legal business name, but the term " Builder" is a lot more relevent to your audience.

A simple tweaking of your business' name can result in a massive increase in exposure.

NOTE: A word of warning - If you have already claimed your Google Local listing, a change to your business name removes your listing from all search results until Google confirm the change (by sending a confirmation code via snail mail). This can take a few weeks to complete.