Yesterday we reported on massive local search changes with Google, stemming from two theories:
(A) A bug with Google's location algorithms, thinking searchers are not in the right place.
(B) The Google Maps Googlebomb algorithm made massive changes to local search rankings.
(C) Both, A and B, which is what I think is what is going on.
I did email Google about this, looking for a response, but Google has not responded yet.
Gary Illyes from Google did confirm on Twitter that they are investigating. Gary said, "we are looking into the numerous reports we got about this."
@screamingfrog @JohnMu we are looking into the numerous reports we got about this. Thanks for the ping!
— Gary Illyes (@methode) May 26, 2015
Again, I am still waiting to hear back from Google with more details.
As far as I know, this is the only on the record recognition of the issue with Google's local results. At least, the only mention I can find since this was reported.
We will keep you posted on anything new.
Forum discussion at Twitter.