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Lately I have been monitoring my site's performance, especially now that the Penguin 4.0 and Possum local algorithm updates have been rolled out.

The site has a new design and it went live around August (a month before the updates). I have created legitimate local links from reputable sites and was doing really well, then the updates rolled out and my site's performance started to decrease:

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I have done auditing for my links and I can guarantee that they are not spam and came from good reputable sites. I have also done a content audit, which I update once or twice a month, and is all original content.

Is there something else specifically related to the local algorithm update that I should be concerned with?

dan
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user71125
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  • the graph is from serpbook and I matched the data in Analytics and manual query and literally I can't find my site on the keywords that it used to rank. – user71125 Oct 18 '16 at 07:44
  • OK, I reworked the question so it was a bit more specific to the local algorithm update, and added bits from the comments, and reopened it. There's been a lot of fluctuations related to the updates, so you might bounce-back a bit, but perhaps others can suggest things that might be critical to the updates. – dan Oct 18 '16 at 07:47
  • Why did you tag this as [Tag:local-seo]? Local SEO refers to improving visibility within Google maps results for a local business. Does that describe your website? If so, have you seen your problems with your local results as well? – Stephen Ostermiller Oct 18 '16 at 07:50
  • since the site is related to local services. I can still see my listing in google my business after verifying the ownership on page 2 when viewing google maps. The problem that I have found on my local results at the moment is that I used to rank for a service + local location but now based on the graph and manual query my site just disappeared. – user71125 Oct 18 '16 at 07:53
  • Is it possible that your location is far outside your physical city (or incorrect in some way), or a duplicate of another listing (same address or phone number)? – dan Oct 18 '16 at 08:00
  • could be but I have verified other 5 branches on google mybusiness and requested a merge on these branches on one same account before the possum update. But some of my competitors are doing well and they are located within the same city. – user71125 Oct 18 '16 at 08:09
  • The results you're seeing might actually be related to the filtering added by the update: several branches can be consolidated into one listing if the same phone number or address is used. The nickname Possum was chosen because, businesses owners think their listing is dead, but it has only been filtered or playing possum. See this for more. – dan Oct 18 '16 at 08:29
  • thanks for the reference and it does make sense. However the main branch of the business is located in the center of the city that we used to rank. Do i need to optimize my other branches/offices? – user71125 Oct 18 '16 at 08:48
  • I'm not sure I follow what you mean by optimize, but I'd suggest taking a look at number 2 and the rest of the points here. If you think you've narrowed down a possible issue based on the above, you can add it as an answer below and accept it so this question might prove helpful to others in the future. (BTW, be sure to use @, like @dan, to make sure that user gets notified of your comments). – dan Oct 18 '16 at 09:03
  • @dan i have confirmed that it was possum since I have searched and compared results based on different areas. our business would appear on the map results(first page) and on the MAP tab the But still can't figure out why our site won't show on the first page(blink links) – user71125 Oct 19 '16 at 00:27

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