Yesterday, I did my typical search for a local business to get their phone number so I can call them to place a food order, which I do on average once a week and the knowledge panel showed up differently. It had both a shopping card panel and then below the local panel. Others in the local space are noticing that their local knowledge panels are no longer showing up for some keyword searches and in some cases, two knowledge panels (which has been rare) is now showing up for them.
A Local Search Forums thread has some local SEO experts talking about the change. One person complained that his agency lost his knowledge panel for a branded related query. He wrote:
My agency lost its knowledge graph for exact match branded search terms.What actually happened is that we now show up only for "[agency] + city" or "[agency] + country". Therefore, we lost our knowledge panel for branded search terms (which we had for more than 6 years).
I think this has to be algorithmic change. GMB listing and overall site health are ok. In addition, the site is ranking on Google Maps for related search terms.
A few others then checked theirs and said "me too" - they lost their knowledge panels for branded terms as well. Here is the example of when it shows the knowledge panel and when it doesn't for one agency:
- A Servant's Heart Web Design and Marketing - full name - does not show KG
- A Servant's Heart Marketing - partial name - does not show KG
- A Servant's Heart Web Design and Marketing Oceanside - DOES show KG
Here is an example of someone else noticing the changes in the knowledge graph algorithm:
Found something that looks like a double Knowledge Graph. Got this when searching for brands LG, Solar City and few others. Do you think it's a bug or a test or anything else? @dr_pete @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/UqOjpJC6xJ
— Vitalija Ba (@vitaminute) December 13, 2017
Did you notice changes in if your knowledge graph panels are showing up different now or for different styles of queries?
Forum discussion at Local Search Forums and Twitter.
