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Google Places search
You may have noticed a new look to Google’s search results recently. That’s because more than 20 percent of searches on Google are related to location and Google and others believe that location based searches and marketing are set to increase – see last month’s newsletter – Location based services.
This is what Google had to say about the changes:
“Today we’re introducing Place Search, a new kind of local search result that organizes the world’s information around places. We’ve clustered search results around specific locations so you can more easily make comparisons and decide where to go...........Place Search results will begin appearing automatically on Google when we predict you’re looking for local information. In addition, you’ll find a new link for “Places” in the left-hand panel of the search results page so you can switch to these results whenever you want...........”
Here are some screenshots of the new results.
| Places mode | Everything mode ‘sure’ |
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So, what Google is doing is making local results more prominent. The ‘Everything’ mode is still quite similar to the previous local search layout, but in the Places mode much more detail is given on the results. And here, the local search is much more like a traditional results page now, so being at the top of that will become crucial.
And don’t forget: “……..Search results will begin appearing automatically on Google when we predict you’re looking for local information.” That is your search result defaults to Places if Google thinks it’s a local search. Google thinks it’s a local search “If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search for the category of business and the location” (see http://www.google.com/help/features.html#local)
If Google isn’t sure whether users are seeking local information, [and you can see that it’s not yet ‘perfect’ as for the same search it has delivered different results pages above from below] there’s another type of result that will appear, which Google refers to as “Places Mode.” This shows some local information (indicated by the red pushpins) mixed with general web results as below. However, you can still go to ‘Places’ by clicking on the left navigation.
| Places mode | Everything mode ‘unsure’ |
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Of course this has some clear implications for search engine optimisation and your website:
- Search features only local businesses on the first page, so many directory style results are effectively being demoted, and this may well diminish the importance of directories.
- Many businesses have concentrated their local SEO on getting into the results and not having a very strong places page. It’s a reasonable bet that the page itself will have more of an impact as more people compare results.
- As Places results appear in mobile searches and as more people use mobile devices for search, there will be further reinforcement.
- Because Places uses Google Maps people can find transport and directions information and this may well also have an impact.
- Places may produce better conversion results for local businesses
So, what can you do to make sure you benefit?
Firstly, don’t ‘be clever’. Google has guidelines to ensure listings are ranked based on their relevance. So many people think they can ‘fool Google’. Well maybe they can, for a while, but they don’t like it and if they catch you……they may penalise you or completely remove you. So, read their ‘Quality Guidelines’ which you will find at: http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528 and http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=176519
Secondly, claim your listing. You want an ‘owner verified’ listing that shows that you have claimed the result (you may already be on places as Google collects data such as reviews, business hours, photos and more from local directories and various websites). This can be important as only verified Google Places business owners, can respond to reviews posted directly on Google in the "Reviews by Google users" section on the Place page. Reviews in the "Reviews from around the web" section are syndicated from review sites across the web and if you’d want to respond to a review in there then you will have to do it on the relevant site from which it came. You can find out how to respond to reviews here: http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=184310
Thirdly, make sure you have a good Places page. Places is pretty comprehensive and allows you to put in the following:- Company/Organization
- Address
- Phone number
- Website
- Description
- Email address
- Categories
- Hours of operation
- Payment options
- Photos
- Videos
- Additional details
- Coupons
- Menu for your restaurant
- Reservations page
- Posts
That’s a lot of information and things like good images, interesting offers (coupons) such as N% off or buy one get one free may make all the difference as to whether someone comes to you or a competitor.
Written by Richard Hill
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