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Google Places, Local Search, and SEO: Major Changes!
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Google has rolled out major changes in how Google search results appear if the search has a logical local search component. So, if you are a business that depends on local business searches such as 'Roofer San Francisco,' or 'San Francisco Attorney,' these new changes make it IMPERATIVE that you manage and promote your Google places listings.
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By Jason McDonald
Senior SEO Instructor - JM Internet Group.
Posted: November 8, 2010
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Contents:
Google Places - How it Works
Google Places, which used to be called Google Local as well as Google Maps, is clearly a major imperative of Google. Some estimates are that as many as 50% of all searches contain a local component. Google Places allows businesses to claim their listings, and by obtaining reviews from customers come up frequently on local searches. Typical companies that need Google Places are companies whose customers are local, and use local geographic keywords in their search and/or search keywords that have an affinity with local search. Common examples -
- Restaurants - 'Sushi San Francisco,' 'Chinese Restaurant New York,' even a simple search for 'Pizza' will usually trigger a Google local search. Restaurants depend more and more on Google Places / Local search as well as Yelp for many inbound customers.
- Contractors - Painters, Contractors, Plumbers, Roofers, Garage Door Repair, etc. Anytime a potential customer enters a search query like 'Garage Door Repair' or adds a geographic such as 'Garage Door Repair Fremont CA' - these will trigger a local search.
- Professionals - Attorneys, Therapists, Chiropractors... Any of the local service professionals - like contractors - depend on customers to come inbound from Google
How is local search triggered? Either the search query is logically local, as in 'Pizza' and thereby generates a local component; or, the searcher enters a geographic such as 'Bed and Breakfast New York City.' In the former example, the IP address (physical address of the searcher computer) will determine which results display; in the latter, the use of a geographic term such as 'New York City' will overide the IP address... So you can search in San Francisco, for example, for Bed and Breakfasts in New York City.
None of this is new. What is new, is the new layout to the Google pages.
Major Changes in the Google Places / Local Search Layout
What has changed? In the past, local searches triggered a small box of Google Places results that often dominated the page at the top. This already made it imperative for local business to attempt to get on the list, get to the top of Google places results.
The new layout goes much, much further. Now the local search results are broken out, one by one in the same format as Google organic or natural results. For many searches, this pushes the natural / organic results down beyond page one. If, for example, there are more than ten Google Places / Google Local results, a searcher may not see the regular Google organic results until page two.
For example -
The Google Places results appear usually first, and have the big red balloon next to them. Notice how for many searches, they CROWD OUT the natural / organic search results almost entirely!
Implications for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google Places
This change in the Google search layout has MAJOR implications for local businesses. Much has been made of Google Instant, but really I think in the long run Google instant will end up more as an annoyance than as something major in Google SEO / Search. Instant is just too instant, and often doesn't provide useful search results.
This layout change in terms of Local Search, in contrast, clearly pushes natural / organic results further down the page. This heavily rewards truly local businesses and hurts businesses that may not be geographically local but still rely on local business. Example: companies that do business in New York City or San Francisco, but actually physically reside in the nearby suburbs. Their SEO choices have now narrowed significantly, as it is much harder to get to the top of Google Places / Local searches.
Perhaps Google's larger strategy is to not only compete with Yelp, Foursquare, and Facebook Places... but also to encourage companies to advertise on Google Places and/or AdWords in order to maintain their local presence. Time will tell.
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