Google may have also pushed out a local search and map algorithm and ranking update over the past week or so. There has been some recent chatter and the Bright Local RankFlux tool has been off the charts for the past few weeks.
In fact, that tool has been showing major ranking fluctuations for about four weeks, since about November 10th or so. So much so, I’ve even asked BrightLocal if the tool is working properly , which I did not hear back on yet but there have been some bugs with the tool in the past month, which they said they are working to resolve.
This is what the tool is showing:
In any event, there is chatter about a local ranking update in the Local Search Forums that are more recent, as of a week or so. Here is some of that chatter:
I was hoping to see if anyone else has been seeing changes in the local pack over the past week?
My team and I have been seeing tons of new businesses, that were not in the local pack before, all ranking ahead of others. And the only thing they have in common is a high level of reviews.
Yeah, I’m seeing some major differences in a few that I just spot checked. It looks like changes happened around December 6th so they might not stick. Some of them are drastically different.
Nothing major, but yes, I do see some changes that appear only a few days old. (And those are only for a couple of clients, both of whom are lawyers.)