Last week Google revealed the latest shift in its local search strategy and introduced a new, re-vamped version ofGoogle Places called Place Search. This is a shift that may soon be felt – if not already – by any business focused onoutshining their local competitors on the search engines (and what business owner isn’t focused on this goal?). Getting found by your customers on Google may now be a whole different ball-game and re-visiting your local search strategy is something your company may want to add to its internet marketing. To-Do list.
What are the changes in Google Place local search?
First off, the local search 7 box has been eliminated and it now blends local and organic results. (Take a look at what it used to look like here.)
Consequently, this might affect many small and medium sized businesses that initially were ranking in the top 10 on the 1st search results page and now might find themselves pushed to the 2ndresults page. Another one of the changes exhibits Google’s enhancements to predict your location and generate local results even without including a city name or location in your query; it’s a feature that may be convenient, but may also correspondingly affect your business’ ranking on the search engine results page. And, obviously, the map has moved to the right hand side of the results page.
How to get ranked with the new Google Places Page
With these new implemented changes from Google, it seems it might be harder for businesses to get ranked well if you don’t have a properly-implemented Google Places Page. This is precisely why WSI is calling for our own internal Think Tank: discussing the possible effects this may cause for businesses of all industries is a top priority for WSI Consultants. The digital world is never at a stand-still; it’s endlessly evolving and it’s our goal to ensure your business is growing along with it. It is – after all – critical to your business’ online presence that you claim, optimize and participate on your Google Places Page! In light of this significant change from Google, contact us to learn more about how to optimize your brand’s online presence.
