Local-based keywords positions are becoming unreliable.

Cristian Level X³

December 6, 2016, 2:44 pm

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Local-based keywords positions are becoming unreliable.

So for a month now I'm seeing some serious fluctuations in Google search results when it comes to any long tail keywords that contain names of cities.

I'm pretty sure this is the result of Google possum updates. Any Google search that is done for keywords that contain names of cities, local places or country names will show different results based on your individual location.

For example, if you are searching on google.be "ophthalmology clinic Brussels" but you are located in Antwerp, the results will be different. Google will see you have an Antwerp-based IP address and will include in the search results ophthalmology clinics in Antwerp even though you specifically asked for Brussel.

I've noticed this problem on a few of my client's websites, I can't give them a straight answer anymore when it comes to such keywords and their exact position because my results will be different because of my location.

To make matters worst most keyword rankings tools out there will give me a totally different picture when it comes to this types of keywords. Normal more generalist keywords are still fine and accurate but when it comes to local rankings there isn't a clear position anymore.

Explaining all this to my clients would be a nightmare so the best thing I can do is to avoid saying anything about local long tail keywords and stop including them into reports and keyword researchers. I will still focus on doing SEO for such pages to make sure they still get organic traffic, it's the only way you can know for sure SEO implementations have the desired effect.

What do you think about this? DO you guys have similar issues? Do you think Google possum is to blame or this is just a temporary glitch?

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Lynne

That is interesting Cristian and now I wonder how this will affect one of the websites that I am busy working on at the moment. They offer services in South Africa but often do the service for people living overseas.... now I wonder how that will affect some of the keywords that I have used.

Perhaps I should ask someone overseas to do some checking for me to see where some of the keywords come that have "South Africa" in the keywords!

I'm also wondering how that will affect the new local website that I am busy with setting up, I want to target people in our area looking for services in our town, but also people outside our town looking for services in our town. Hmmm the brain is now ticking again.

If you find out anything else about whether this is a temporary glitch or not I would love to know.

9 years ago

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Corzhens

I think you are using a tool for the search of keywords, isn’t that tool useful for this issue? I understand that there is not much worry if you are doing SEO work for your own site but if you have a client for that service then I know how you would feel when the client asks you about the issue. Maybe you can just explain that it is beyond your control for now but sooner or later you will find a solution.

7 years ago

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Barida

If you are using a mobile device to do this search, one thing that you should need to do is to remove the location icon from active to inactive. I believe that this is one way that you can easily get the right answers when you are looking to make such search on the search engine.

7 years ago

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SEOClerks

Local-based keywords positions are becoming unreliable.

Local-based keywords positions are becoming unreliable.

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Lynne

Corzhens

Barida

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