Google Local SEO –What Gainesville Business Needs to Know for 2011
This will be a two part article focusing on changes Google is making with local search results. This first article will help explain the transition in greater detail, while the follow up article will shed insight into what you and your company can do to keep up with the change.
Google dominates and continues to lead the search engine market, accounting for almost 70% of all U.S. searches conducted. 2011 will prove to be no different as Google plans to bring in the New Year with changes to their local search that could have a big impact on North Florida business.
It it is no secret that Google has long craved to capture market share in what is quickly becoming the current "big thing" in internet marketing: local seo. In fact, Google unsuccessfully made attempts to purchase the growing company Groupon last month for a reported $5.3 billion.
In part due to the failed acquisition, as well as to increase their own presence in the market share, Google turned inward and has begun to change their search algorithms once again in an effort to increase emphasis on the locale of search queries.
You might be wondering, “what is local search?” and to be quite honest, that is an easily answered question. Local Search is a search query that contains not only the “what” that you are searching for, but also the “where” about said search information. An example of local searches might be:
- Gainesville, Fl Water Damage
- Ocala Pizza
- Gainesville Auto Insurance
- Color Copiers Gainesville, Fl
Simply put, Google Local search is designed to give you as much information about your search inquiry as possible. With this in mind, let's take a closer look at the evolution in Google Local searches and how Google will begin to shift their results with a Local search emphasis.
The Phasing out of Google Places’s 7-pack
You might have noticed a big change in Google’s Local search listings last year that prominently displayed the Google Places “7-pack”. Featuring a map and the seven top listings in Google places (formerly called Google local) with location tags on that map. This style of local search result can still be commonly found in many searches.
While this type of result provides great exposure to local businesses that have taken advantage of the free Google places listings, it hurt many companies who had invested money into search engine optimization and who now found their sites much further down on the first page of search results. As a result, this can equate into a big loss in website traffic and fewer web referrals (read: revenue and ROI). Ouch!
Google New Local Search in 2011
Late last year we began seeing local search results evolve again. Instead of displaying your organic search results, Google places results are now integrating with web results. What you will now find is that instead of the Google places 7-pack, you have results that look like this:
Nick-named the “Google places 0-pack”, this new search result attempts to provide the best user experience for the searcher by combining Google places information (contact info, reviews, images, map locations, etc.) with your organic search listing (your website’s summary information). This gives preferential treatment to local businesses and further illustrates the huge emphasis that Google is placing on local search.
The bottom line is that Google’s focus is to provide the best search experience for its users, all the time and every time. Search spam is growing more sophisticated everyday and by integrating their search results with local business and map data, Google can identify legitimate local businesses and position them above sites that do not have local prominence. What, then, can you do as a company to take full advantage of the integration? Stay tuned as part two of this series will take a deeper look.
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