How to Diagnose and Fix Google Maps Ranking Drops

Review your Google Maps performance metrics in Google Business Profile Insights

You can obviously identify a ranking drop by comparing ranking grids over time, but the first true sign of a ranking drop that’s causing a real-world issue is a decrease in calls coming from the business profile. You’ll need to review your call data to see if calls coming from the business profile are down month-over-month AND year-over-year (important for seasonality). If you do not have dedicated call tracking for your business listing (which you ABSOLUTELY should), you can use the call data in the Google Business Profile Insights tab as a directional dataset. Insights only show calls made from mobile devices and are based on just tapping on the button, versus a placed call, so you are not seeing “true” call data if you rely on Insights only.

Ranking loss

You are still visible in Google Maps, but just in noticeably lower ranking positions. You may have dropped out of the top three map pack, which can account for serious traffic loss. Dropping out of the map pack can indicate a number of causes, such as competitor shifts, category problems, or weakened ranking signals, such as fewer reviews.

Check if competitors have also lost rankings or if the issue is isolated to your profile. If several businesses drop at the same time, it may be a local algorithm update. If only your listing is affected, then it points to a problem specific to your own profile.

For example, the first ranking grid here shows a Moz Local GeoRank by Competitor report, where a business and two other listings are competing for the top three spots. Fast-forward a month, and the second ranking grid shows the business has dropped from position 3 to 9, while the other 2 listings stayed in the map pack (top 3). So the business we are tracking lost rankings, while all the competitors stayed more or less the same. This indicates a likely isolated ranking signal issue on the listing that saw the decline, rather than an algo update. 

Filtered or suppressed listing

Your listing disappears entirely from Maps for your top keywords, or appears only some of the time, creating a pattern of inconsistent visibility. This often indicates that Google’s local filter is impacting your listing, possibly due to duplicate listings or a competitor that is too close to your listing. 

Check for conflicting listings at the same or a nearby address, within 200 ft of your business listing pin. If you see a “Swiss cheese” pattern on a ranking report, where you are ranking for some pins but completely missing from the rankings for other pins, check whether a nearby competitor has the opposite pattern on their report (i.e. they are ranking for the pins you are not).

Suspension or disabled profile

If your profile shows it’s suspended, not visible to the public, or changes cannot be published, you may experience ranking drops. 

If your profile is suspended, it falls into one of two categories:

• Soft suspension: still visible to the public, but reverification is needed to make changes
• Hard suspension: profile is removed completely from Maps, and you have zero visibility. 

Both types of suspensions require a reinstatement process, which is most likely video re-verification. Only a hard suspension would cause your rankings to drop, as with soft suspension, your profile is still on maps and should not lose any rankings.

Traffic or call drop despite stable rankings

If your ranking position has not changed, but calls, clicks, and direction requests have dropped, the cause may be tracking issues, website problems, changes in the Google results layout, or changes in user intent. First, investigate your measurement setup to make sure it’s not a simple tracking issue. 

Then, compare before-and-after screenshots of the search results for your top keywords. Recently, in mobile search results, I’ve seen a trend where the local pack is being replaced by an AI Overview, and that AI Overview is showing local businesses. Seer Interactive did a study that shows the presence of an AIO in the search result significantly reduces CTR for everything showing in the SERP (including Ads!).

Location pin or geographic boundary issues

Oddly enough, sometimes Google can change its definition of a city’s boundaries on Google Maps. So, if your map pin now suddenly falls outside the city you aim to rank in, your rankings for location-specific keywords won't be as strong as businesses that are still “inside” the city borders (e.g. “Albany pest control”).

Compare the city Google assigns in the knowledge panel with the one you expect your business to be in. In the example below, the business has an address “in” Albany, but according to the borders set on Google Maps, it falls outside Albany, and Google notes it as being in Albany County. This will directly impact its ability to rank for searches that contain “Albany”.

Fix for listing or website signal issues (competitor shifts)

There are tons of ways you can optimize your Google listing if you find that rankings have slipped due to under-optimizations compared to the competition. 

• Review and optimize your primary category and all nine secondary categories. Make sure you are using the right primary category based on the keywords you want to rank for.
• Encourage customers to leave more reviews, specifically content-rich with photos!
• Optimize your GBP landing page and other relevant pages on your site to strengthen relevance for your top services and improve map rankings for those keywords. 
• Test linking your Google Business Profile to another page on your site that already ranks well organically for your key terms. (If you link to the homepage now, test linking to an interior page for your top service instead.)

Fix for filtered or suppressed listings

Depending on what is causing the listing to be suppressed or filtered, you have some options. Luckily, this is one of the easier issues to fix!

Duplicate listings: Make a map edit or contact Google Support to remove any duplicate listings for your business found at this address.

Local filter: Identify any competitor listing that is too close to your pin and see if you can move your pin far enough away (over 200ft) from your business found at this address, but still be at the same “location”.

Suspended listing: Appeal your suspension using Google’s appeal management tool. 

Map pin outside city borders: Identify if your map pin is outside the intended city border. If you are close enough to move the pin inside the borders, do that. If not, consider getting an office inside the borders and moving your listing to that address.

Fix for SERP layout changes

Sometimes, the fix is to run more Ads. We have seen a trend in the local space where Google is increasingly placing call buttons on Ads and not organic listings. If you notice more Ads are taking up space on the SERPs compared to last year, consider spending more on Ads if you are already running them, or see if you can start running traditional Google Ads and/or Local Service Ads (LSA).

Fix for call and traffic drops due to issues with tracking

Validate that call tracking and UTM parameters are accurate and live on the listing. If not, add them back ASAP. Sometimes Google will update the phone number on a listing if it doesn’t match the website.

Pro Tip: Add your dedicated GBP tracking number (your call tracking #) as the primary number, and then add a number that matches the website (usually your true “local” number) as the secondary number on the listing. That way, you have clear insights into GBP calls, as well as a number that matches the website, which should help prevent Google from updating the phone number. 

Set up ongoing rank tracking and SERP screenshots

Use bi-weekly or monthly reports for rank tracking. If your industry is highly volatile, you can track weekly, but this may create false positives if you see rankings fluctuate week over week, which they often do. 

Take screenshots of Google results for your top keywords regularly. This will allow you to identify future SERP layout changes, which you can bet on happening!

Set up alerts for changes to your Google listing

Monitor for changes to your profile, you can turn this on in the notification settings, and Google should send you email updates if there are changes to your profile. 

Ranking and visibility drops are a signal, not simply bad luck. A structured diagnostic process helps identify the true cause before taking action. Targeted recovery steps tailored to the type of drop will help you regain performance faster.

What’s next? Start with Step #1. Pull your Google Business Profile Insights, GSC, GA4 and rank tracking data. Check your ranking and mark the date the drop began. Move to Step #2 to classify the type of drop. Use Step #3 to uncover the root cause and then apply the relevant recovery tactic from Step #4.