Google Map Penalty or Odd Filter? Listing Goes Missing

[peteboyd]

Hello Moz.

We have a law firm client who practices criminal defense law.  Historically, he has been ranked for _years _in the map pack and first page of search for a variety of phrases.  This is a law firm with twice the number of reviews of the next competitor, solid back links, and open 24 hours a day.

Over the past 30 days, he now appears inconsistently in the map packs. Sometimes he is in the C slot and sometimes he does not appear at all.  Most of the time he is not listed for specific legal phrases for DUI, DWI and criminal defense.

When he is not listed in the A, B, or C slot, then he is actually gone completely.  You click on More Places and his listing for the map is just completely gone.  You can scroll down from listing 1 through 20+ and not find his firm in the Map listings.  You would think he would just be further down on the list at 5 - 10.  But it is just missing.

However, when you change the filters for either rating or reviews, he suddenly will appear.  In fact, he will be near the top of the list, but only on filtering. You can even clear the filter and he stays listed in typically the C slot too. However, if you refresh the page, he is gone again.

My question is simple:  Do you think there is some type of data issue or penalty in place?  Or is this just how the filters work - suddenly showing a list that should appear in the main area.

PS:  If I am not clear on the above, I can send video evidence of this oddity.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Pete,

Quick questions:

1. Does the lawyer share a building with any other lawyers?

2. Does the legal practice have a Google My Business listing for the business + listings for multiple attorneys at the firm?

3. Is it possible to share the name of the business with our community? It's okay if you can't, but looking at a live example would certainly be helpful in taking a stab at identifying what is going on.

Looking forward to your replies!

[peteboyd]

Lawyer shares a small office building with 40 other businesses.  Two other businesses on same floor are also criminal defense firms.  This is not a Regis style office suite, rather a regular office building with many tenants.  Each has its own office number.

Firm only has one Google My Business.

Can't share right now.  Just trying to see if anyone else has experiences a similar filter where the listing won't appear at all on maps, but on ratings/hours filter it will appear in a high slot. At first glance, it appears some penalty is in place.  Maybe if we can't get anywhere we will share the domain.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Pete,

Thank you for the further details. Given that your client shares the same building with other attorneys, your scenario hints at the possibility that what you are experiencing is the effect of Google's Possum update, which influences the local finder results for businesses in the same category/same building. Joy Hawkins does a good job of describing this phenomenon in the #2 point in her article at Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900

If your business appears absent from the map at the automatic zoom level, but then appears in the results if you zoom in on the map, chances are strong it's Possum. As you can't share the identity of the client, please try that experiment and see if it fits. Possum was released in September 2016 and was believed to impact well over half of the Local SERPs.

[peteboyd]

Agree, it is most likely the filter Possum update.  They are absent on More Results, but appear on filter or zoom. Thanks!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Pete,

Glad I was able to help you identify Possum.