Google announced (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/place-search-faster-easier-way-to-find.html) that it was going to make a major change to the way search results are presented, emphasising local search queries. This appears to have been rolled out and as we can see local search results from “Google Local” are appearing. See the example below, where there is a map in the right hand column, pushing search results down, also the marker pins being listed in the main search results.
I’ve seen blended results, where google local listings are blended with organic results. See below.
This will I am sure primarily affect organisations that are targeted to a specific area, but don’t have a physical address. Local listings will appear ahead, pushing results down to the second page if you happen to be the low half of the first page.
It’s also yet another driver for paid search, however with increased costs of paid marketing the affordability for small businesses becomes a significant problem.
I’ll be watching visitor levels carefully to measure the impact of this. Fortunately SEO embraces a more holistic view of a businesses presence on a search engine. You need to be sure that you’ve optimised your Google Local entries to appear as high up the list as possible though, as well as locally built links for multi-location businesses.
I’m not clear how this algorithm works, as there are some varied results. Also, from the various accounts we use here at Cenetrix, one doesn’t show the new results pages, whereas others do so I’m sure this will be phased in and evolved. Time will tell, but hope we find out more from Google soon.
