From #2 TO Not Found in top 100 Results, WTF?

[Droidman86]

So my website was #2 for a targeted keyword on google.

(6 months ago: # (3 months ago: #6) (1 week ago: #2).

As you can see, it was moving up nicely, now it's not found on the top 100 search results.

Only appears #2/(B) in the local search section.

Could that be the reason? Websites that appear on the local search no longer appears in the SERP?

[Resultify]

Hard to say without knowing the domain or the keyword.

Fredrik

[irvingw]

That can't be the reason. Sounds like a site or keyword over-optimization penalty.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Jorge, In answer to your question - yes - if your site has not achieved a high blended/local rank (you say you are in the B position) for its core term, it is very common for it to lose its organic rankings. Since around the time of the Venice update, it has become quite rare for a business to have multiple spots on page 1.

Prior to this, it was common for dominant businesses to have a local pack-style ranking as well as 1 or 2 organic spots, all on page one. Now, examples of this are few an far between, though they do exist. There has been some interesting chat about this going around the local sphere. On the one hand, heatmap studies have shown that those blended local results draw eyes to them.

See this great article by our Dr. Pete, here at SEOmoz: www.seomoz.org/blog/eyetracking-google-serps

On the other hand, since Google's removal of the 5 star rating and replacement of it with the Zagat rating, PPC on the side of many SERPs has those gold stars, so heatmaps might look a bit different today than they did in 2011. I have heard tell of several reports of loss impressions/actions for business owners in your position who went from a high organic rank to their organic ranking being subsumed into the local pack. And the whole stars vs. Zagat issue is becoming increasingly noted. Here is an excellent video and article from Matthew Hunt of Small Business Online Coach on this issue that I recommend you check out:

http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog/proof-google-places-zagat-review-lowers-actions/

Now, the truth is that it is still really important to achieve a high blended/local ranking. Most businesses are dying to get into the local pack, so you can feel good about what you've achieved with this. However, the ideal achievement would be to attain one of those rather rare accomplishments of getting both a high local ranking and a high organic one. This is not a well-documented process. Here's a piece from Adam Steele giving some tips about it, but it can be difficult to achieve:

http://www.nightlitemedia.com/2012/05/organic-and-google-places-ranking-on-page-1/

I know one Local SEO who actually offers training on this if you sign up for her complete program and that is Linda Buquet of CatalysteMarketing, so if you discover that getting a double rank on page one is vital to your phones ringing, you might want to consider hiring Linda for training.

Hope this response is helpful!

[PixelgemsCreative]

I agree with this. Seems like a penalty.