Fortunately, when there are problems, there are solutions as well. The same goes for reduced Google local rankings as well. Being familiar with the steps for troubleshooting this issue, you can easily combat the local ranking failure for your website. So, without letting you wonder anymore, let me walk you through a tutorial that will outline the steps that can turn beneficial when it comes to troubleshooting a website’s falling Google local ranking.
Step 1- Check for reports of mass issues or bugs
Talking about mass issues, the thing that you need to discover is whether a single issue is causing your website’s Google local ranking fallout or whether there are a number of issues causing the problem. You can start discovering this by visiting the Google and Your Business Forum where you can search for the problem you’re experiencing with your website. If you detect multiple threads reporting your identical issue, right from the time you’ve been encountering the problem, then there are good chances that a specific bug or a recent Google update might have been the reason for the problem. Once you’re clear on the issue, you can re-access the forum for related solutions that have been provided by experts.
Step 2- Check out for any Google Quality Violations
Check whether mistakes have been made in relation to the naming of your business, phone number, address and other related components. Remember, breaking even a single Google rule can cost you a lot on your Google rankings. Hence, be sure your website hasn’t violated any of these rules.
Step 3- Watch out for any duplicate Google+ Local Listings
Excluding multi-partner practices like law firms, hospitals, restaurants etc. every business is allowed to have just a single Google+ Local Page per location. If your business website has more than one Google+ Local Page, it is likely to cause a lower/lost Google local ranking. While sometimes, duplicate Google+ local listings are created intentionally, there are times when they are built by spammers for undertaking hazardous manipulations. In either of the cases, duplicate local listings can cause a considerable harm to the website under focus.
Components that allow you to detect local listing duplicates include the name of business, address, phone number, product/service categories and product/service descriptions. Even if you find it challenging to detect any variance, it is better to check your website for duplicate listings, especially if your website is facing local ranking issues.
Step 4- Discover Website Quality Issues
Yet another critical reason behind a lower/lost Google local ranking is a bad performing website. As an entrepreneur, it’s your website’s on-page quality and methods you use for marketing it that play a vital role in the local search rankings. While troubleshooting local ranking issues for your website, it is recommended to look into aspects including the following:
- Is your website optimized for the local search engines?
- Do your website’s title tags contain related keywords?
- Does your website feature clear and crawlable navigation?
- Do Google Webmaster Tools indicate 100% crawling of your website?
- Does your website look professional or is it full of spelling and grammar errors.
Wrapping Up
So, these were the 4 basic steps, which if followed seriously can allow you to troubleshoot the lost/low Google local ranking for your website. I’m sure you’d have found these steps easy-to-follow. Don’t forget being friendly with Google means a greater customer base. Hence, make efforts to ensure that your website is in sync with all the standards that form the basis of a well-defined search engine friendly website.
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Author Bio:
Edword Jones is a web developer by profession and a writer by hobby and works for OSSMedia Ltd a leading Custom Joomla Development company. He loves sharing information regarding Drupal, Joomla, Magento and Wordpress development tips & tricks. If you are looking for Joomla Developers for Hire then just get in touch with him.
