Apex Internet Blog

Google Places Pages Get Fresh Look

Late last week Google unveiled the first of what are expected to be a number of upcoming changes to their Google Places pages.

The biggest change we’ve seen is Google’s move away from displaying review snippets from 3rd party review websites, opting instead to display snippets only from reviews added directly on a business’s Google Places page. Previously snippets from dedicated review websites such as Trip Advisor were regularly shown on Google Places pages, however this no longer appears to be the case.

A renewed focus on reviews

The new layout places a heavy emphasis on user reviews and in particular those reviews submitted by Google users directly onto a business’s Places page. With the revised look you will still be able to see a business’s rating stars in the search results when performing a search for a local business, but the number of reviews shown next to the stars will relate only to those reviews and ratings that were submitted directly on the relevant business’s Google Places page.

What’s more, while links to 3rd party review websites will still be present, only snippets from the reviews left directly on Google will be eligible to be shown on the Google Places page.

The focus on reviews is further emphasised by the inclusion of not one, but two large red “Write a review” buttons. The screenshot below provides an example of Google’s new-look Places pages.

What do these changes mean for businesses?

The reduced emphasis on 3rd party review website suggests that Google believe they now have a sufficient quantity of good quality, useful reviews to provide consumers with a fair idea of the quality of the business they are looking at. By taking this approach Google will have more control and better understanding of their reviews than they did previously when using reviews from other sources.

What this means for your business is that getting your customers and clients to place their feedback directly on your Google Places page is now more important than ever before. However, this doesn’t mean you should stop working on getting reviews and citations from other 3rd party websites too - when it comes to getting reviews it’s always best to have a diverse portfolio of sources (e.g. www.finda.co.nz) that add credibility to your business and could also possibly protect your business against algorithmic changes to Google Places in the future.

What else has changed?

Other important elements of the old Google Place pages that have changed include the citations/references section. Previously each Google Place pages would display a selection of other web pages that referenced the business, however these have now been removed. Citations/references were once considered the equivalent of ‘links’ in traditional organic Search Engine Optimisation, hence the removal of these elements is likely to have some impact on local SEO techniques.

Other Google Places changes that are thought to be on the horizon include increased personalisation of the local search results, plus additional upgrades to the Google Places experience on other Google platforms and across different devices. Stay tuned and we’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes and what they mean for your business as they happen.

Categories: Search Engine Marketing
Posted on: 26th Jul 11 by Mark Vassiliou
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