{"id":4796,"date":"2015-12-07T07:12:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T07:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?p=4796"},"modified":"2023-12-05T10:14:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T10:14:58","slug":"local-traffic-diversion-starts-ugly-fight-with-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/local-traffic-diversion-starts-ugly-fight-with-google\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Traffic \u2018Diversion\u2019 Starts Ugly Fight With Google"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"normal\">Local search traffic is an important part for local businesses with online presence. Moreover, it is also an integral aspect of the mobile search results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">According to an estimate, this local search traffic represents somewhere between 30 to 40% of the overall mobile search results. It is, by no means, should be taken lightly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">However, a recent issue \u2014 which Google claims is only a \u2018bug\u2019 \u2014 has started an ugly fight on the web. And many people \u2014 it also includes <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yelp.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">Yelp.com<\/span><\/a> \u2014 is pointing fingers at Google.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Let\u2019s start by explaining with the problem is, though.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">The problem that surfaced out is that for a few local navigational searches \u2014 for example, <a href=\"http:\/\/www3.hilton.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">Hilton<\/span><\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tripadvisor.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">TripAdvisor<\/span><\/a> \u2014 Google isn\u2019t showing the intended search results as it should. Instead of that, Google is showing its own Local OneBox at the top of the results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Yelp \u2014 along with many other people and local search experts \u2014 are claiming that it is being done intentionally by Google. Why? Because they can.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">However, Google is claiming that is just a bug which is awaiting a fix. Yelp doesn\u2019t buy it. They say it is intentional, and that it is a cheap trick for traffic diversion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">When Yelp was contacted to comment further on this issue, they explained that one of the ways Google identifies local search results is by \u201cco-occurrence signals\u201d. It is Google\u2019s own term. According to Yelp, Google uses this co-occurrence signal to divert traffic that would otherwise go to third-party websites, such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yelp.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">Yelp<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tripadvisor.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">TripAdvisor<\/span><\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/\"><span style=\"color: #1155cc;\">ZocDoc<\/span><\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">As I mentioned earlier, Google claims that it is not intentional. Instead, it is just a \u2018bug\u2019, and a fix will resolve this issue very soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">We will be keeping an eye on this to see if a fix comes up soon makes this problem go away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"normal\">Until then, which party are you going to believe?<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/e01\/2334039881\/\">E01<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/foter.com\/\">Foter.com<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\">CC BY-SA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Local search traffic is an important part for local businesses with online presence. Moreover, it is also an integral aspect of the mobile search results. According to an estimate, this local search traffic represents somewhere between 30 to 40% of the overall mobile search results. It is, by no means, should be taken lightly. However, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[33,36,37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Local Traffic \u2018Diversion\u2019 Starts Ugly Fight With Google<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Local search results matter, but Google&#039;s actions raise questions. Is it a &#039;bug&#039; or a traffic diversion strategy? Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/local-traffic-diversion-starts-ugly-fight-with-google\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Local Traffic \u2018Diversion\u2019 Starts Ugly Fight With Google\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Local search results matter, but Google&#039;s actions raise questions. Is it a &#039;bug&#039; or a traffic diversion strategy? 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