Maintaining a strong web presence depends on a number of constantly evolving factors. If searchability was represented by concentric circles, Google and its ever-expanding slate of services would certainly be in the center. As technology and software change, so must algorithms and search functions of the internet’s largest organizer and purveyor of information available online.
Recently Google made significant changes in an effort to appear more consistently and seamlessly across all mobile devices. As these changes take effect they will likely impact a company’s searchability, search ranking, and map display functionality. Unfortunately, we are not in control of what, when, or how Google displays any company information in Organic search, Paid search, Google Maps, or Google My Business. The changes may also affect Google Adwords as all standard text ads must be converted to the new expanded text ads. Gmail may even be among the many Google services impacted by the recent changes.
We have been in regular contact with Google to work through the issues we have come across, while requesting repairs required as a result of the new G+ page designs. A major Google refresh like this means most company pages will temporarily not display as they should. However, as soon as Google’s system upgrade is complete, Google+/Google My Business pages have been transitioned to the new mobile-friendly display, and each company page has been updated and republished across Google and its connected services, we believe all of the recent searchability issues will be resolved and company pages will display as they should.
After reviewing information available from Google about these changes, we are recommending the following options to our clients:
Option 1. Do nothing and wait for Google to update/upgrade their systems, migrate and repopulate information, and complete this internet-wide transition. While we cannot determine exactly how long this will take, nor will Google provide an exact date for completion, our sources indicate this process may take 60 – 90 days.
Option 2. According to Google, there are steps we can take that will help produce faster results, improving a company’s current searchability. Based on Google’s guidelines, no one can promise these efforts will result in any long-term or consistent difference in search rankings. According to Google, taking the following steps will positively impact search results both during and after the Google and Google+ transitions are complete*:
- Update on-page SEO reflecting a company’s specific keywords
- Add tag words to names and homepage titles
- Resubmit websites using Google and Bing Webmaster tools
- Review/update major online listings to help propagate SEO changes more quickly
By essentially and temporarily forcing a company’s Google My Business pages to display as they should within the organic search while Google finishes its overhaul and database update process takes time. This expedited and concentrated effort will take our team 7 – 10 hours to complete.
Unless a company’s website is generating $10,000 or more in monthly revenue, we are recommending that our clients wait out the changes.
* Excerpt from Google Webmaster Guidelines – steps suggested are listed as bulleted items in our blog post: “The changing content, as well as updates to our ranking algorithms, can cause URLs to change position in search results, and possibly, though less likely, be removed. We understand that these changes can be confusing…While we can’t guarantee that any page will consistently appear in our index or appear with a particular rank,
