aptDigital Weekly (#9): The Biggest Local Algorithm Update in 5 Years

Hi, I’m Alex and this is the aptDigital weekly newsletter. Let’s use sales, marketing, and strategy to help your appliance repair business grow.

This Could Help (or Hurt) Customers From Finding You Online.

Last month, I wrote about Google rebranding from Google My Business (GMB) to Google Business Profile (GBP), and big changes they snuck in behind that announcement. If you missed that email then you can read it here.

And if that’s not enough for you to wrap your head around, Google struck again:

• Google redesigned how the local map pack is displayed on the search engine results page (source #1 | source #2 )
• A local algorithm update (the biggest one in the past 5 years) was recently completed. It impacts the proximity that a business is eligible to appear on the maps and penalizes profiles with keywords stuffed into their business name (source)
• The Google My Business app is officially being retired (source)

Have you noticed an impact in your business from one (or all) of these recent changes? Whether it’s positive or negative, I’d like to hear about it. Just hit reply and let me know.

In lighter news, the 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors annual report has been released. A notable takeaway from this year’s report (and ironic, given the recent algorithm update) is that the #1 GBP ranking factor is to use keywords in your business title, which is a thin line to walk in the appliance repair industry.

Access past issues of this newsletter here.