Apex Internet Blog

Google's Place Search and its Impact on Search Results

You may have noticed a change to Google’s display of search results over the past few days when doing a local search i.e. product/service town name. Google introduced this change on October 27 and are quickly rolling it out across the Globe.

Google Place listings are now integrated with organic listings into search results, where previously they displayed as a cluster of results at the top of the page. The map has also moved from the top of the page to the right-hand side above the Sponsored Links.

Previous Google Places listings contained limited information (highlighted in blue):

 

But the newly integrated listings (again highlighted in blue) can include user generated content such as reviews, average review ratings, company descriptions, images, website links, addresses and phone numbers:

As you will see, they are also taking up a significant amount of real estate on the first page of Google where up to eight integrated Place listings can display for a local search.

What does this mean for your website?

Essentially the search results are the same - it is simply the layout that is different. Having said that, businesses that have a Google Places listing can now capitalise on this change by having the expanded integrated listings appear in search results. If you do not have a Google Places listing, (many of which, in NZ, are automatically created from a Finda Business Directory listing) then you run the risk of fading into the standard organic results which may affect your local search traffic. If you do have a Google Places listing and it appears in the integrated search results then it is imperative that you claim the listing and ensure that it is updated to reflect your company information. It is also very important to ensure that images are updated and wherever possible ask your clients to add reviews to your listing – recent online polls have shown that customer reviews and evaluations have dramatically influenced buying decisions. You should also make sure that your online business directory profiles are up to date with accurate information. By doing this you will be able to exercise some control over what is displayed in the search results and the more thought that is put into this step will result in higher click-through to your website.

Categories: Search
Posted on: 3rd Nov 10 by Karyn Ogier
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