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I also wanted to add that before this change, we ranked in the top 3 for 16/24 of my top tracked search terms.  Now we rank for 1/24 of them.  I can get us to come up on most of them after I click on "top rated" on a mobile site.

The official address of the restaurant, store, and marina is 505 Glen Cheek Dr. However, if you plug 500 Glen Cheek Dr into a GPS or Google Maps, it takes you to about the same place. The dropped pin actually looks like it is in the water a little.  I don't think anyone else is officially using this address. Although, some of the other charters do what we do.  Eventually, they could end up changing just because they notice that we did.

I have the same feeling you do... I feel like I should wait.  Plus, if I made an address change, it would be a ton of work.  And I would never be able to truly change all of the citations.

Thank you Miriam, I am pins and needle to see how this shakes out. I would like to expand on why this does NOT improve the user experience. In our case, there is a cruise terminal right next to our Marina. Anyone searching for a fishing charter would think they have 1 choice. And like you said, if they are booked, then who? Then they would have to take a taxi to the next fishing charter instead of seeing there are 8 to chose from within walking distance.

I also want to point out that we come back in the results of you choose "top rated". So why not show us to begin with?

My husband wonders if there is any connection to Adwords (I told him I don't think so, that would be unethical). We had stopped using Adwords because our position was good. We just turned Adwords back on because of this change. It feels like organic search results are almost irrelevant on mobile now. You have to go past 3-4 ads, the 3 pack and then you get to organic results. So, now to be found, it seems like you either have to have ads or be in the 3 pack.

Ugh!!!  It really is that.  I did a lot of searches and each time a different fishing charter comes up for 505 Glen Cheek Dr.  This is so aggravating.  Our marina has the most hard core competitors... actually the best fishing charters there are in the area. Plus, there is a party boat at that address and since they are so large, they can afford a good SEO. The other marinas don't have as much competitiveness, so Google really isn't showing "the best" results to their searchers.  How do we get this feedback to Google?  This is clearly a BAD idea!  There are so many businesses that share a building or strip... this really is unfair to any business that shares an address. This is our family business and how we feed our family and our captain's families. These changes really stress me out.  

Miriam,

It really looks like Google is only picking ONE person from each address to display.  This makes me wonder if I should take the painstaking task of changing my address slightly.  For instance, people can still find me if they type in 500 Glen Cheek Drive versus 505 Glen Cheek Drive.  Since we don't receive mail at the marine (our office is at home), then I only need it for driving directions.  Of course, I can only change the ones I created. There are no doubt a ton of citations that I didn't create with my address on them.  So then that might be worse because then Google will see 2 addresses. What do you think?

Thank you,

Amber

1.  Yes, my address is Cape Canaveral, but we are located at Port Canaveral.  So, that does get confusing.  And even more, there are multiple private charter boat companies, including a larger head boat, a restaurant, marina, and marina store all at the same address.

2. YES, I read the entire article!! Thank you!  I saw examples of EXACTLY what is happening to me!  Thank you for that link.

3. I did look in the console and my web master tools to see if any actions had been taken against me.  I didn't see anything.  And when I called GMB, he said my account was not suspended.  He just kept giving me the "you need to optimize your site" speech.  He kept iterating for me to refrain from editing and to only add photos and review responses.  I think Moz local edited my listing in July and I edited it after I saw the drop.

4. I don't know how to see my edit history.  But, he told me it was edited in July and again in Sept and kept telling me that was way too frequent.  Conversely, in the video he sent me, Google says to "keep your information up to date".

5. I will post in that forum and see what happens.  Good idea, thank you!

Okay... I did what you said and zoomed in and back out.  I did find myself, so that is good news. Now, I just need to figure out how to reach the top again.  I also noticed on my phone that if I click the filter at the top for "top rated" then I pop back up to the top.  I haven't seen these options before, so maybe they are new. It does seem like there is A LOT of flux going on here.

Thank you for all of your help and keeping up with me!

When I search for my business name, it shows the Google my Business knowledge panel on the right hand side.  It has my name in big letters.  Under that, it has my reviews.  Then under that it says in gray letters "Fishing Charter in Port Canaveral, Florida"

Hi Miriam,

Thank you for taking a look.  My issue is not resolved.    I used to appear in the top 3 for nearly every search term.  So for instance, on my knowledge panel, it says "Fishing Charter in Port Canaveral, Florida".  But, if I type that in a search bar, my business is not listed in any of the map results.  (But I still rank #3 on the organic search results).  I have more reviews than most everyone else.  And a 4.9 rating.  And there are business that are closed down showing.  And businesses that seem to have never claimed their listing showing.  I'm just not understanding why I am not.

I called Google My Business and they were not really any help at all.  He kept telling me that I made a recent edit and that makes popularity go down.  I told him that I dropped out of the results and had edited after the drop.  There was another unverified business listing there.  It was listed as an AdWords account.  So, we got rid of that.

Another thing... if I look at the Google Maps analytics, I am still getting views.  I'm just not sure how I am still getting views when I can't even find myself on maps using a variety of search terms.  Is there any way to see what search terms are used for maps?

My website is www.sealeveler.com and the name is Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters. I have been getting these recorded calls saying my business is not verified from "Google" for a long time now. I always just hung up. I know it wasn't Google because they say they don't do automated calls. But, I guess somehow there was a duplicate listing for some time now. I have no idea how it got there.

I noticed that my Google Local page does not show in any search results anymore.  Looking at Moz Local, it appears that I had 250 views on August 30th and 0 after that.  It just dropped overnight.  I looked at Google My Business and I noticed that I had a duplicate listing (no idea where it came from).  It wasn't verified though.  I deleted that.  I also noticed that my address has been changed to Drive instead Dr.  I was very careful in making it the same everywhere, but it changed without me changing it.  Perhaps someone so kindly "suggested an edit" and I didn't see that happen.

Anyone have any ideas.  My organic search ranking is still strong.  #3 for most search terms.  And we have a very strong Google Local reviews.  I mean, it even shows business that have been permanently closed over me!!!  And we have photos, great reviews, and regularly post to Google+.

I seriously need some help.  I am a small business owner that does all of my own SEO because I can't afford a good SEO.

Also, I've tried to call Trip Advisor... no luck... they don't have a phone number.  I've tried emailing them, no luck there either.  Its a black hole.

Incentives are technically against Trip Advisors policies.    I don't think you are even supposed to offer anything in return, 5 star or not.  I usually try to play by the rules because getting burned can be worse sometimes.  Was thinking about having a contest... but that seems to be against the rules too.

Incentivizing is against Trip Advisors rules.    They don't want to you to even offer something in exchange for review.  And you certainly can't ask to offer anything in return for a 5 star review.

Yeah, honestly... I'm not sure how you can change a business based on tourism to not be reliant on Trip Advisor.  I don't really like them to be honest with you.  It is a headache managing the reviews and the process. I rank well on all organic searches .. 1 to 3 on most of the terms I track.  But, its the market dynamics right now.  Most people go to Trip Advisor to find things to do while on vacation... or at least check out your reviews.  And if there is someone that out ranks you, then they will go to their webpage regardless of finding you first.

Do you have any suggestions, because I am all ears...lol!  

This might be too off-topic for Moz, but I think many of us might face the same issue, so I thought I would ask.

Love them or hate them, we get 90% of our business from being #1 on Trip Advisor.  My biggest competition is trying very hard to take over that #1 spot, so we are working to keep it.

Has anyone found a seamless way to ask customers for TripAdvisor reviews?  We email, text, ask over the phone.  But here the problem, Trip Advisor is not the easiest site to leave a review on.  If you are on your phone, they want you download the app.  Some people don't like to download apps. Or, if they have the app already and click "yes" to open the site in the app, it goes to the app store instead.  There doesn't seem to be as much of an issue on the PC, but most people do everything from their phones now.  And if something is a little bit hard, people are less likely to go out of their way to leave a review.

So, here's my question.  Has anyone found a better way?  Maybe a form on my website?  Or a process that seems to work better?

This does have some SEO implications in that my Trip Advisor page does show up in search results quite a bit as well as much home page.  Sometimes they are #2 and #3 together.

This is an example of one of our blog posts... one of my favorites.  Maybe I should highlight these better somehow...

http://www.sealeveler.com/flfishingblog/summer-time-highs-lows-go-pros/

Thank you again so much!  It is amazing to find people willing to help out us small businesses. You have no idea really how much I appreciate it!

The blog is listed on the front page about 3/4 the way down (http://www.sealeveler.com/flfishingblog/florida-fishing-blog).  I have been thinking I should put it in the menu, but my husband doesn't want me to change the menu. I would have to get rid of something that's there, or make a pull down menu.  He is against pull down menus because he thinks a large portion of our customers get confused by pull down menus (a large portion of our customers aren't very computer literate and always compliment us on the simplicity of our site). But, our customer base is slowly changing to those that are used to technology. But, he likes how simple our menu is... so I keep it.... for now.    If I make my move to Wordpress... this will provide an opportunity for menu redesign.  lol!

Our blog is a combination of fishing reports and fishing stories told by my husband.   Many of them are about customers and are pretty good stories.  One of them has a video our customer sent to us and allowed us to use.  A teenager put the video together and did a great job!  We have been lacking on the stories lately because I have been starting a new business and put most of my focus there.  We will need to get back on the stories though.  We have also started fishing forecast reports, which are getting a lot of attention through facebook.  And, I plan to start to share fishing charter videos via the blog as well.

I agree on the boats page and I need to do that.  It is validating to hear you say that as well.  We are in the process of upgrading many of our boats and plan to take better photos as well.  So, thank you for mentioning that.  It puts more of a fire under my backside to hear you say that.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my site!!!  So kind of you!

I will make the updates on NAP on the Contact and Location page, good suggestion!

I have tried to balance my on-page SEO for searches for 4 of the local cities and do rank 1-4 on most of them.  So, maybe that is why the optimization isn't as clear as it should be.  I used to have keyword pages for each of the locations (when that was sort of the thing to do and I didn't know very much about SEO). Over the last 2 years, I have been redirecting them and re-organizing my site. Sometimes I feel like it might be easier to start over rather than keep tweaking my current site.  I am considering a move to WP.  I am just afraid of hurting my current rankings.

When you say "your content is on the modest side", what would you suggest I do to build it up to more impressive heights?  Are you talking technical on-page SEO?  Or, better/more photos?  Better on-page organization?  We are trying to start doing a better job at our blog (which is on WP), so my site is sort of an html / WP hybrid.  And I do know that I need to optimize image sizes, it is on my list of things to do.

Sorry if my questions seem rudimentary, I am not SEO trained and do it all myself.  I just try to do what Google says in their guide and what Moz says in their articles.

Sea Leveler Sport Fishing Charters

Thanks Robert!  I appreciate you taking the time to help me again!

Yelp calls me all the time.  I just can't get a warm fuzzy about their offering.  But, I get what you are saying.  I will look at them again and see if it makes sense now. I will check out Amazon services... that hasn't even crossed my mind!  And, I will keep an eye out for this Google services you are referring to.  I am surprised at some of Google latest changes, including getting rid of the Adwords side bar.  We don't use Adwords much anymore though.

I have to be honest, we have more business than we can handle right now.  But, I am always trying to stay on top of things, and hopefully not keep all of my eggs in one basket.  As you know, Google can flip a switch at any time and leave us upside down and then my phone stops ringing. It just makes me bang my head against the wall to see competitors that only take a couple of charters a month and not even have their Google local page filled in outranking me. Crazy!

Thanks again!