Possum Update

Before September 2016, Google's Local Pack algorithm showed businesses independently of their physical address. Two tax attorneys in the same office building, or two dental practices in the same professional plaza, could each get a top-3 spot for "attorney near me" or "dentist near me." Possum ended that.

After Possum, Google filters the Local Pack so that only one business per unique address appears for any given query within a geographic area. If you search "coffee near me" in Manhattan and two coffee shops are at 125 East 42nd Street, Google shows one, not both. The losing business may still appear in Maps results further down or on a map cluster view, but it's no longer in the primary three-pack.

The filter solved a real problem: search spam and abuse. Bad-faith operators could create shell businesses at the same address to capture more real estate in the Local Pack. A locksmiths service might create "Locksmiths Pro," "Pro Locksmiths," and "Locksmiths 24/7" — all shells, all at one address — and occupy three of the three pack spots for a category query.

The update eliminated this approach. One address, one business per query in the pack. Legitimate multi-brand operators (a real estate brokerage that also runs a title company from the same office, or a dental practice with a separate cosmetic dentistry brand) could no longer use address duplication to multiply Local Pack visibility. Google expected them to either merge the brands or operate from separate addresses.

Possum had a second, less widely discussed effect: it expanded the geographic range from which a searcher could trigger local results. Before September 2016, searching from far outside a business's service area would sometimes exclude it. After Possum, a searcher further away could see the same business. This worked in favor of well-ranked local businesses — they could appear for a broader set of geographic queries.

Possum created a hard rule: if you operate multiple brand-distinct businesses from one address, only one appears in the pack per query. Agencies with multiple service lines, real estate firms with in-house title companies, and dental practices with cosmetic specialists had to adapt. The standard post-Possum playbook is: separate addresses for separate brands, or accept pack visibility loss. Some operators chose to consolidate brands rather than lease additional space. Others kept the separate addresses but deprioritized secondary brands in organic search strategy.