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Google Diversity Update: How to Fix Ruined Rankings
There has been a change to Google’s algorithm that is substantially changing traffic for tons of businesses we’ve been analyzing. I’ve spent the last 3 months analyzing tons of our clients and doing tests to see if I can figure out what changed and why. It took me so long because I actually didn’t believe what I was seeing.
TLDR:
- Google’s “Diversity Update” limits how often one domain can appear in both local pack and organic search.
- If your Google Business Profile links to the top organic page, that page may get demoted in organic results.
- Linking to a different but still relevant page can help maintain both local pack visibility and organic rankings.
- The update mainly hurts big brands that dominated both spots, while smaller competitors may benefit.
- Businesses hit by ranking drops should revisit their GBP landing page strategy to recover traffic.
The Diversity Update
Google’s ‘Diversity Update’ is an algorithm change aimed at providing more varied results by limiting the number of times a single domain can appear in top search rankings. This update significantly impacts businesses that previously dominated multiple listings, especially across local and organic search results. Businesses now need to optimize their online presence strategically, diversifying content and reinforcing their local SEO to maintain visibility and rankings.
The good news is that I have figured out some patterns which I’m going to share with you today, and it is going to completely change advice that myself and other respected SEOs have given in the past. In fact – some of my advice on how to set up a Google Business Profile is going to be completely opposite of what I was advising before. I’m going to dive in and show you what we’re seeing, but more importantly, what you can do about it. While we have seen dramatic decreases as a result of this change, we also found a way to get around it, which we’ll be sharing in this article.
What is this algorithm change?
If you dominate local pack rankings, Google will demote your organic rankings. I named it the diversity update because I believe what Google is thinking is if they already showed a user a business in the local pack, they don’t really want to show that same business again in the organic results down below.
What is the impact of this?
This has been pretty substantial for a lot of brands we do SEO for. For example, this home services business lost a total of 242 clicks in the fall on just one of their locations.
What has changed: How you rank in the local pack now has an impact on how you rank organically. This was never the case before. I’ve worked in this industry for almost 2 decades (man, I sound old) and have never seen anything like this. We’re having to completely retrain how we approach this for clients, including those in specialized sectors like home care SEO.
When did this start happening?
We saw this start back in August 2024. The thing is, this has been rolling out more and more over the last few months. We have clients that were fine in August but were impacted later in the fall in October or November. But I didn’t see it earlier than August, so that’s when I believe it started.
Who is this hurting?
Lots of big brands dominate both local pack and organic rankings. This is having the biggest impact on those companies that ranked really well in both sections on Google prior to last fall.
How do you fix it?
So it turns out that this demotion is applied on a page level. So, previously, we used to always say you want to link your Google Business profile to the page that ranks strongest organically for your main keywords. That is NO LONGER TRUE. Doing this is likely to cause your organic ranking to decline.
But, if you link to a different page that is still relevant to the keywords, you can still dominate both. I’ve spent the last 3 months testing this on tons of our clients to find a solution. For the sake of time, I’m going to walk through one example in detail and explain exactly what we did.
For this client, we changed their Google Business profile to link to the page that was ranking highest organically. And then the insane stuff started happening.
Their organic ranking tanked. I mean really tanked. They went from the #1 position to around 10th.
Why? Again, this comes back to the change Google made. Google saw that this page was already listed in the local pack and then was like, well we don’t need it twice in the search results and applied a demotion to shove the organic position down.
I will mention that local pack rankings did go up a bit with this change. So you absolutely do want to make sure your business profile links to a page that is relevant to the terms you want to rank for.
But this is where it gets tricky. See, dropping from position 1 in organic is a big deal. The client gets a ton of traffic from that position, and we have lots of clients that actually get more leads from organic search than their Google Business Profile. So we do not want to sacrifice a ton of organic ranking for a small gain in map pack rankings. The net result would be negative.
So we decided to be sure of what we were observing, we’d change it back and see what happens. So we changed the business profile back to what it was. And guess what? Yep, they got their #1 organic rankings back.
So if you’re noticing a decline from this update, your action item should be to re-visit what page you’re linking your business profile to. If you’re linking it to a page that has had a drop in organic visibility in the last 6 months, you should consider trying a different page. You might get your organic rankings back when you do.
Again, this is one example, but we tested this same thing on tons of different businesses over the last few months and observed the same behavior.
What if I see examples where this isn’t happening?
You will. I am confident that you will see lots of cases still where a site dominates both sections, with the same URL. Think of it this way. If Google’s algorithm gave a score to every business and this is now one of the factors that adds or subtracts from that formula, you can still be the #1 result even with a demotion.
Pretend Business A has 90 points. They have lots of links, lots of content. They deserve to be #1. Business B has 70 points in comparison. Well, if Business A gets a demotion of 10 points because of this – guess what, they still end up with a higher total than business B.
What you want to look for is businesses that used to rank high in the organic section for a local query back in the summer of 2024, and no longer do.
Who is this helping?
If you have lots of service area pages that rank in cities where you don’t have business profiles, you likely saw an increase.
If you’ve been hit by this update, don’t panic. The fix is actually pretty simple: Check what page you’re linking your Google Business Profile to and make adjustments as needed.
If you want us to audit your business and tell you how this update is impacting you, feel free to fill in one of our contact forms.
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Yes we have noticed a significant drop in our rankings. Not even showing up in the GBP (maps) locally like we should. It’s flooding in and around Chicago, and we are not being seen. This really hits us hard as we are a small Mom/Pop company. What I don’t understand is why are they doing it? Why do something that is going to “hurt” local small businesses with limited resources. That’s what I don’t understand. You have legitimate businesses out here that provide great services for years! It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Yes we have noticed a significant drop in our rankings. Not even showing up in the GBP (maps) locally like we should. It’s flooding in and around Chicago, and we are not being seen. This really hits us hard as we are a small Mom/Pop company. What I don’t understand is why are they doing it? Why do something that is going to “hurt” local small businesses with limited resources. That’s what I don’t understand. You have legitimate businesses out here that provide great services for years! It just doesn’t make sense to me.
Really sorry to hear you’re having this experience. It seems recently, Google updates have been hitting small, local businesses harder than ever. Big brands with tons of locations aren’t immune to negative impacts from updates, but they do have an easier time dealing with the fallout because of their size. Small mom & pop companies don’t have the same luxury. While I don’t think Google is intentionally doing this to hurt small business, all the same, that doesn’t change the true impact these updates can have on a small business’s bottom line. At the end of the day, Google is a for-profit company, and they just do what they need to ensure they are making as much revenue as possible.
Really sorry to hear you’re having this experience. It seems recently, Google updates have been hitting small, local businesses harder than ever. Big brands with tons of locations aren’t immune to negative impacts from updates, but they do have an easier time dealing with the fallout because of their size. Small mom & pop companies don’t have the same luxury. While I don’t think Google is intentionally doing this to hurt small business, all the same, that doesn’t change the true impact these updates can have on a small business’s bottom line. At the end of the day, Google is a for-profit company, and they just do what they need to ensure they are making as much revenue as possible.
Could a fake parameter count as a different URL? Not UTMs but something like ?something=somethingelse
No I don’t think so, needs to be a completely seperate page.
Could a fake parameter count as a different URL? Not UTMs but something like ?something=somethingelse
No I don’t think so, needs to be a completely seperate page.
This is a bit shocking to hear that companies are not using their ‘homepage’ as their GBP link. Why would you use anything other than your homepage? It doesn’t make sense. Companies “typically” have one GBP profile with no other additional GBP’s (departments)… so why would you use an internal link? Would you link to a “services” page?
Single-location businesses often use their homepage. Many multi-location businesses prefer to use dedicated location pages, so they can tailor the content to the specific area where their GBP is located, which is a better user experience.
This is a bit shocking to hear that companies are not using their ‘homepage’ as their GBP link. Why would you use anything other than your homepage? It doesn’t make sense. Companies “typically” have one GBP profile with no other additional GBP’s (departments)… so why would you use an internal link? Would you link to a “services” page?
Single-location businesses often use their homepage. Many multi-location businesses prefer to use dedicated location pages, so they can tailor the content to the specific area where their GBP is located, which is a better user experience.
Very, very interesting!
But what about the reverse situation? My Google Business Profile (GMB) dropped from position 1 to 3, while organically, depending on the keyword, my website still ranks 1 or 2. I’ve used three different local SEO tools, and all show me at position 1. However, when I check manually in Incognito mode or a normal browser, I still see myself at position 3.
I’ve already checked my competitors’ activity, including their recent updates, reviews, and category changes. I also analyzed the proximity factor, and none of these seem to explain the drop. What’s going on? Thank you
We have not seen the reverse happening. I suspect there is something else going on to cause your GMB to drop in ranking position.
Also, I would trust rank-tracking tools over a manual search. Often, even in incognito mode, Google serves personalized results. If you do the same search over and over again, and never click on your own listing/website, Google will stop wanting to show you that result because they know you won’t click on it.
Very, very interesting!
But what about the reverse situation? My Google Business Profile (GMB) dropped from position 1 to 3, while organically, depending on the keyword, my website still ranks 1 or 2. I’ve used three different local SEO tools, and all show me at position 1. However, when I check manually in Incognito mode or a normal browser, I still see myself at position 3.
I’ve already checked my competitors’ activity, including their recent updates, reviews, and category changes. I also analyzed the proximity factor, and none of these seem to explain the drop. What’s going on? Thank you
We have not seen the reverse happening. I suspect there is something else going on to cause your GMB to drop in ranking position.
Also, I would trust rank-tracking tools over a manual search. Often, even in incognito mode, Google serves personalized results. If you do the same search over and over again, and never click on your own listing/website, Google will stop wanting to show you that result because they know you won’t click on it.