Google Not Confirming If Google Local Changes Are Due To Googlebomb Fix

Google has noted the local ranking changes but won’t say whether it was related to the Googlebomb fix for the racist local results in Google Maps.

It was suspected that those ranking changes might be related to the Google Maps Googlebomb fix that rolled out around the same time that it was recognized these local ranking changes, but Google wouldn’t disclose if the local changes are related to this fix or not.

Even though Google noted the changes are happening, they simply confirmed the usual saying that Google is always changing things and improving their algorithms. Yesterday, Gary Illyes from Google also confirmed investigating the reports of these local changes. But Google will not add more to what changed and why.

Recently, Google Maps received negative attention for showing racist results in their Google Maps listings. Soon after, Google issued a formal apology stating “we’ve started to update our ranking system to address the majority of these searches — this will gradually roll out globally and we’ll continue to refine our systems over time.”

A couple days later, local SEO experts noticed major changes in the local results.