GBP Product Descriptions
Overview
Adding a city name before a practice area keywords in product descriptions on a GBP (Google Business Profile) needs to show consistent enough results to suggest changing current best practices used when writing product descriptions.
Purpose & Hypothesis
This case study aims to determine if adding a city name before a practice area keyword in the product description impacts rankings. Changing “call a motorcycle injury lawyer…” to “call a Houston motorcycle injury lawyer…” to monitor if adding a city will impact rankings on Google.
Products are shown on the front end of a GBP to display products and services that are offered by a business. Optimizing as many aspects of a GBP as possible allows for better rankings. The more we can show Google where businesses are located and what they offer, the better the rankings.
This case study focused on 4 law firms that are located within the same state practicing the same type of law. At least 4 different keywords were changed for each firm to monitor the impact of adding a city name before keywords in the description. Each client’s rankings were monitored before changes were made to product descriptions, again after 24 hours, and then once weekly for 4 weeks.
Data
Analysis
The study involved tracking the rankings of 28 keywords across four law firms, each located within the same state and practicing the same type of law. Initial rankings were recorded to establish a baseline.
Analysis of Rankings After 24 Hours
After 24 hours, rankings for law firms with the most room for ranking improvement showed the most increase in rankings. Law firms that had high rankings initially showed a decrease in rankings. Out of the 28 keywords tracked across 4 law firms, 9 out of 28 keywords showed an increase in rankings, 4 keywords showed to make minimum to no change, and 15 showed a decline in rankings after the first 24 hours post description change.
Analysis of Rankings After 4 Weeks
Tracking the rankings over a span of four weeks allowed us to observe longer-term trends. After 4 weeks of tracking, out of all 28 keywords tracked across 4 law firms, 4 of the keywords showed improved rankings, 4 of the keywords showed no change, and 20 of the keywords showed a decrease in rankings. This longer-term perspective highlights the complexity of Google’s ranking algorithm, which considers a multitude of factors over time.
Please note that other digital marketing projects were not halted during this testing phase, which can effect the data. However, no other changes to the GBP were made directly during this time.
While the analysis indicates that law firms with initially high rankings saw declines, we should explore the potential reasons for these declines. Adding a city name may inadvertently trigger penalties or affect other Google Business Profile (GBP) aspects. This aspect warrants further investigation to understand the causal factors behind these fluctuations.
Conclusion
The most isolated impact on the rankings after changing the descriptions is best displayed after the first 24 hours. Beyond this initial timeframe, the results become increasingly susceptible to external factors that may influence rankings. It is important to note that less than half of the tracked keywords showed an increase in rankings. There was no discernible consistency in terms of increases or decreases in rankings based on a specific keyword.
In light of the data collected through this case study, it can be stated more conclusively that the impact of adding information to a GBP becomes negligible after the initial 24-hour period. While adding information to a GBP can’t ‘really hurt’ your chance of rankings, it does not trick the algorithm or instantly have a positive effect. Therefore, the evidence suggests that such changes do not significantly contribute to enhanced rankings once the initial 24-hour window has passed.