Cursed to 4th place

[Timur]

After the November-December madness, my rankings seem to get back to normal (more or less) except for one thing. My main competitor who is approx 200 feet away from me, and whom I did outrank for a long time, now is outranking me. Because of him, I am almost always in the 4th position at any given map point. In the meantime, he has twice as few reviews, 10 times fewer photos, and no new reviews for the past 6 months. Here is what I did to outrank him with 0 effect:

- posted updates every day for a week

- gained at least one review a week for two months

- added products with service pages

- added offers

Again, zero effect.


The only thing that I can think of is that this competitor has worked at his place longer than me for a year or so. Does it affect rankings that much?

 

[Brian - TGL]

What tool are you using to determine rankings on map points?

Whitespark has a comprehensive list of ranking factors (age of the GBP IS a factor, but it's quite low on the list, #28):

2023 Local Search Ranking Factors Report from Whitespark – Increase local SEO rankings

Whitespark’s 2023 Local Search Ranking Factors survey results! Learn from the top experts in local search about what’s working to drive rankings and conversions in local SEO, and what’s not.

whitespark.ca

There is a lot of content to dive into in the list.

 

[Timur]

@Brian - TGL Brightlocal, Gridmybusiness, Localo + I drive around and check manually. It`s not a software mistake.
Thank you for the list, don`t see anything that would make me "aha" yet

 

[keyserholiday]

Are you talking about your GBP or website rankings?

 

[Timur]

@keyserholiday GBP

 

[keyserholiday]

Neither GBP complies with the TOS. Your competitor created a second GBP that has the keyword added to it. That gives them a ranking boost. I know they created this second location because when I click on the website link, they link to their main GBP. Their main GBP has keyword stuffing, too. I would redress the second location near you to get it removed.

 

[Timur]

@keyserholiday Hi, thank you. It`s a franchise so they have now their GBP connected to the main website that has (assumingly) tons of backlinks.
I am not sure I understood right what you mean by redressing, could you explain, please?