Two people can search "plumber near me" at the same time, in the same town, on the same street, and see different businesses ranked in different positions. This used to be rare. Since May 2026, it is normal for local search results.
A Google core update rolled out the week of May 18, 2026, and it made local search rankings roughly 48.7% more volatile, according to an analysis published by Sterling Sky. The study examined 8.16 million location-specific search results and found that 97% of them became more volatile than before the update. The effect was strongest on mobile organic results and on searches that include a city or place name, like "roof repair Denver" or "electrician Teaneck NJ."
For trades businesses, this means the number you see when you Google yourself is one sample from a wide range. It is not your ranking. Someone across town might see you in a different position, or not at all.
What the May 2026 Core Update Changed
Google's core update did not just shuffle a few results. It fundamentally changed how local search results behave. Three patterns stood out in the Sterling Sky data.
Mobile organic results were hit hardest. The local map pack moved too, but much less than the organic listings below it. A contractor who was tracking their organic ranking on mobile saw wild swings, while their map pack position stayed relatively stable.
Searches with a place name in them, called geomodifier keywords, took the biggest hit. "Plumber Teaneck NJ" fluctuates more than "plumber" alone. This matters for trades businesses because most local searches include a place name. "HVAC repair Bergen County" and "electrician near me" are exactly the type of queries that became more volatile.
The volatility happens for logged-out users with no browsing history. This is not personalization based on past clicks. Google is showing different results to different people even when neither person has searched for anything before. The instability is built into the search results themselves.
Why There Is No Universal Position #1 Anymore
Before this update, a contractor could check their ranking, see position three, and trust that most people searching that keyword saw them in position three. That assumption no longer holds.
The Sterling Sky analysis included a concrete example from a Phoenix business. Before the update, their rankings followed a clear geographic pattern: they ranked well everywhere except right inside Phoenix city limits. After the update, the same keyword put them at the top in one area, invisible in the next neighborhood, and back near the top a few blocks later. The grid looked like someone had shaken it.
Three months later, in August 2026, the pattern was still just as messy. Google has not reverted the change. This is the new normal for local search.
What Trades Businesses Should Do About It
Stop Checking Your Own Rankings
When you Google your business name or your target keyword from your office, you see one result out of many possible results. That single search tells you nothing about what most homeowners see. A contractor who checks their ranking once a week and sees position five on Monday might be position one for most of the city on Tuesday. Or the reverse.
Stop treating one search as your ranking, because it is a snapshot, not a measurement.
Track Calls and Leads Instead
The number that matters is how many calls and form fills your business gets from Google. If calls are trending up month over month, your local search visibility is working, regardless of what any single rank check shows. If calls are flat or declining while your rank checker says you are ranking well, the rank checker is lying to you.
Set up call tracking on your website and your Google Business Profile so you know which searches are sending you actual phone calls. That is the metric that pays the bills.
Use UTM Tags on Your Google Business Profile Links
Add UTM parameters to the links on your Google Business Profile so you can track in Google Analytics which searches send clicks and calls from your profile. This tells you whether your Google Business Profile visibility is turning into real business, not just impressions.
Google's AI Overviews now pull from your Google Business Profile and website, so your profile data feeds both the map pack and the AI Overview. Tracking which profile clicks turn into calls tells you whether your visibility is working across both.
Focus on Consistency, Not Position
Since no single position is stable, the businesses that win are the ones that appear consistently across the most searches, not the ones that rank first for one specific query. Consistent business information across the web is what makes a business appear reliably. A plumber with matching data across Google, Yelp, Angi, their website, and their Apple Business Connect profile will appear in more searches overall than one who ranks first for one keyword but has inconsistent data elsewhere.
The same signals that help AI engines like ChatGPT find and recommend your business are the ones that stabilize your visibility in Google's volatile results. Complete data, consistent information, specific services, and active engagement signals.
Get Hundreds of Data Points, Not One
If you want to understand your visibility across a market, you need hundreds of searches across different locations, devices, and times. A single rank check from your office is one data point, while a rank tracking tool that checks daily across multiple locations gives you the pattern. The pattern tells you whether you are winning, and the single check does not.
What Still Works in Local SEO
SEO is not dead. The businesses that dominate a market still show up more often than their competitors across the majority of searches. What changed is that no single screenshot tells the truth anymore.
The contractors who get the most calls are the ones with complete Google Business Profiles, specific service pages on their websites, consistent information across directories, active review generation, and regular profile posts. They do not obsess over a single ranking position. They measure success by the phone ringing.
If your calls from Google are trending up, your local SEO is working. If they are not, no rank position on a screenshot will fix that. Fix the data, and the calls will follow.
FAQ
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Why do my Google rankings keep changing in 2026?
Google's May 2026 core update made local search results approximately 48.7% more volatile, according to Sterling Sky's analysis of 8.16 million search results. The same keyword now shows different rankings to different people, even in the same city. Volatility is highest for mobile results and geomodifier searches that include a place name.
Is there still a position number one on Google?
There is no universal position one that everyone sees. Two people searching the same keyword in the same city can see different businesses ranked first. Your position is now a range across different searches, locations, and devices, not a single fixed number.
What should contractors track instead of rankings?
Track calls, form fills, and lead volume from Google. Use call tracking and UTM tags on your Google Business Profile links to see which searches send actual phone calls. Lead volume trending up over time is the real measure of whether your local SEO is working.
Does the May 2026 Google update affect mobile or desktop more?
Mobile organic results were affected most, according to Sterling Sky's analysis. The local map pack moved too, but much less than organic listings. Trades businesses that track mobile rankings saw the biggest swings.
How can a trades business stabilize their local search visibility?
Keep business information consistent across Google Business Profile, Yelp, Angi, your website, and Apple Business Connect. Complete every profile field, generate reviews regularly, post updates on your Google Business Profile, and build specific service pages for each trade and location you serve.
Run your free AI visibility audit to see where your trade business stands across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Siri, Gemini, and Perplexity.