Why Is Your Google My Business Listing Losing Rankings

You have done everything on your part, but are still ranking low. Why? You have tried looking at everything, but haven’t been able to find out the reason. How could you possibly figure it out then? If you find yourself in such a situation, this is the checklist you need to go through.

Eligibility

First of all, you must ensure that you have a clear real address, and that you make in-person contact with your customers. If any of these two is not fulfilled, you are just not eligible for a Google My Business listing, meaning a loss in ranking. Next, make sure that the keyword phrase you are hoping to rank for is relevant to your city and state.

Spam issues

Are you a victim of spam? Do you even know if you are spamming up your site by not following the guidelines set by Google? Some of the most common spammy acts seen online include improper business name wording, incorrect website URL, incorrect phone number, keyword stuffing the business name field, and ineligible locations. Ascertain that you are not following any of these wrongdoings.

Duplicacy

More than one verified listing representing a single entity means it’s a case of duplicacy. To check for this issue, you need to get all the past and present names, addresses, and phone numbers and plug it into the free Moz Check Listing tool to check for any Google My Business duplicates. If the name, address, and phone numbers match between the duplicates, you can ask Google to merge the listings. But, if there is a mismatch, you will have to use the “Suggest an edit” link in Google Maps, toggle to “Yes”, and then select the radio button to “Never existed”.

Missing/inaccurate listings

You can use the Moz Check Listing tool to find any missing or inaccurate listings. This is important because Google can pull information from anywhere on the Web and put it into your Google My Business listing.

Suspension

If your listing was verified initially, and has suddenly gone unverified now, you should suspect a soft suspension. Identify the cause of un-verification and make sure you are not breaking any of the guidelines mentioned above. After rectifying it all, you can re-verify your listing. However, if your listing has totally disappeared, it is a hard suspension, and it’s difficult then, you have no option but to plead to the Google My Business forum for help. You need to rectify your mistake and be prepared to prove that you are eligible and 100% compliant with Google’s guidelines.

Local Service Ads (LSA)

If yours is a service area business and you are seeing a loss in rankings, you need to divert your attention to what Google’s Local Service Ads has been doing since the past 2 years. It has removed service area businesses from 3-packs and downgraded them to the bottom of ad units if they haven’t signed up for LSA. Also, they have removed home-based businesses from local results due to the lack of a visible address. So, if you are a service area business experiencing a ranking loss, there is no other option but to qualify for LSA’s program.

These are just some of the possible issues your Google My Business listing may be having. There is so much more to the issue, which only professional SEO services in Bangalore will be able to identify. Therefore, it is better to hire such services, and let them do their job, rather than messing it up by solving it on your own.