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Local SEOs Navigate Through Major Shifts
Back on December 8, I posted on the Local Search Forum to see if anyone else in the local SEO industry was seeing a large amount of fluctuations in local search results.
To my surprise, I was not alone. And after weeks of deliberation, Google finally confirmed that they, in fact, did release an update targeting local search:
Our November 2021 local search update has concluded. It began Nov 30 and ran through Dec 8. It involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results. General guidance for businesses remains the same as covered here: https://t.co/uyXFfmUEIR
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 16, 2021
This was one of the first updates that Google did not notify the public about before it was released. Per Danny Sullivan at Google, “We have a lot of updates all the time and don’t announce them all. We do try to announce those that are likely to be noticeable. That was a miss in this case; we’ll work to do better going forward.”
Answering Your Questions on This Update
Here is what we have gathered so far on this new update for local SEO:
What Changed?
While Google has not come forward to state anything specific, Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky posted an article with her insights on the update, naming it the vicinity update.
In her findings, she states that she is noticing:
- An increased priority on proximity
- Smaller, more zoomed-in map packs
- Less of a focus on keyword stuffing
Who Was Impacted?
Sullivan confirmed on Twitter that the update is indeed global, and in Hawkin’s article, she commented on how it seems to be hitting every industry, but especially those that are keyword-rich and notoriously spammy.
How Can I Improve My Local Rankings?
While there is no clear solution for businesses that have been impacted by this major update, Google advises that businesses keep these 3 things in mind to improve rankings:
- Relevance – Is your business relevant to the search query?
- Distance – How far is your business from the location of the search?
- Prominence – How well-known is your business? (Reviews, links, directories, etc.)
