What is Google Possum?
Introduction
Google possum is the unconfirmed update, but it is documented. It will appear to most significantly impact google’s local finder and local pack results. Because the update came into existence but was not entirely by Google. But the local SEOs have been left to assume the potential update purpose and tangible effects.
People perceive the google possum as the purpose for diversification of local results. Well, this was the factor it provided. Now, one of its challenging side effects was filtering out authentic business listings if they share the google categories with the same entities in the same work environment. Some results showed that google possum affected 65% of google local search results in many businesses.
How to Know if Possum has hit you?
If your google my business listing has been blessed with high local pack or finder rankings initially. Then it vanished on September 2016, then the reason for this is the possum. So it can be a problem if your business shares a category with another business in the same building, even if you have a different address element.
Try to do proper research for your keyword, and then you can zoom in on the map view next to the local finder to discover if your business listing reappears. If you find the business to be reappeared. The chances are the google Possum filter has hit you.
How Can you Recover from Possum?
There is no easy or quick solution to get your visibility back if google is filtering out the listing due to shared location. In addition, if you add the fiction or even actual suit number to differentiate your address. It won’t be the google filter in any way.
So what you can do is apply these possible ways that can help with this problem:
Always keep in mind that google always shows the most relevant business results for the users. This is because you are improving your local SEO, including your content, links, domain authority, number of native reviews, and citations.
This will help you to prove to google that if it is going to show one business in the category from the same building, it will be yours. And when we talk about google possum. It will represent an excellent opportunity to audit the competitor who the possum does not filter out.
Possum has set a stage for filtering all the listings based on shared affiliations. Now, this leads to question the wisdom of building multi-practitioners like real estate agencies, medical and legal work and other similar business models. If google shows the listing of only one business in your location. The listing for the main business gets filtered out.
This can create inequality in the workplace and confusion for the clients. The impact of local SEO industry needs to continue to learn the benefits and risks of multi-practitioners listing. And also, how the diversification of google categories may result after the possum.
Possum appears to be the presence of multiple businesses in the same category and the exact location. You need to experiment with changing your primary Google my business category. Changing the categories can significantly impact your ranking and trafficking.
More Facts about Google Possum
The name Possum was given by Phil Rozek, the international go-to guy for local visibility systems as to fit the new scenario in which local business listings can appear to be missing but still, it does exist. These listings are just playing possum.
Only a few studies have been conducted on the effect of the possum on either local or organic search engine results. It will highlight the need for further investigation.
Impacts of Google Possum
The local search industry has seen some of these impacts given below with the update of the possum:
Business beyond city borders interchanges the rankings
The singularities of increased local rankings of the firms that will have a postal mailing address inside their city are physically located beyond google’s concept of that city borders.
It has been observed that the companies that are located beyond the borders will have lesser chances of earning local ranking for queries from within the city.
Filtered results based on association
Before possum, it was easy for businesses to share associations meaning the same google category in the same building appeared in the same local finder. But after possums came into existence, google filtered out these associated listings at the automatic zoom levels in the maps.
