Pay attention to Google Local Search
This week I searched for “mooloolaba accommodation” in Google Australia and was pretty excited to see local business results at the top of the organic results. This is the first time I’ve noticed local results in this onebox format and in this position. The Beach Club Mooloolaba are clients of mine so it’s very satisfying to see them at the number one position (I have permission from them to use this example in the post).
The implications are significant:
- It changes the first page of results considerably. The local listings are at the top and take up quite a bit of space. 3 results are pushed onto page two whenever Google chooses to display local business results. For example, the “mooloolaba accommodation” search returns three sponsored links in the yellow box followed by 3 local business listings. That’s pretty much all the space taken above the fold. I imagine it will have an impact on PPC advertising.
- It’s a great opportunity for smaller businesses who have found it tough to compete for a top 10 position
- In addition to the page one presence there’s a lot of information provided for each business including contact details, descriptions, payment options, photos and reviews
Clearly, it’s now going to be very important to pay attention to local search. There’s been some discussion centred around when local business results are displayed, how to get a business listing there and how to optimise for the top 3 results that are displayed on the first page.
When do you see local business results?
If the search query contains a business type and a location, you may see local business results but not always. The narrower the geographic area the more likely Google will show results in the one box format. Mooloolaba has one post code. A search for “sunshine coast accommodation” encompassing several post codes doesn’t display local business results.
How do you get a local business listing?
There’s a link for business owners at the bottom of the local business results page. It takes you to Google Maps where you can create a listing.
Information is currently being pulled in from a variety of local directories as you can see by clicking on “more information” associated with any business listing.
The important question - how do you optimise for local search?
This post speculates on 10 likely elements of Google’s local search algorithm. Here’s a summary of the main ones:
- the business has a presence in several of the sources from where Google is pulling local search information and where the details match across all sources so that Google is more likely to trust the information (keep your local business listings up to date!)
- the web site is optimised for local terms eg a physical location and phone number on the web site (every page?)
- The number of reviews for the business included in the local listing may also play a part.
Any observations on local search examples, particularly in Australia, or any thoughts on the impact? I hunted around to see if I could find any recent mention from Australian bloggers and found this post on the Rave About It Blog.
Posted in SEO
August 8th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
We saw local results appearing in the onebox for US local searches a while back and it is great that this has now flowed on to Australia and is helping small to medium sized business’s. I love this change as a user is presented with the relevant information they need without having to look for it - telephone number, location etc.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Hi George,
I’m not sure exactly when the onebox results started appearing here in Australia. All I can say is that I’ve only just noticed it for searches I perform periodocally. It’s also hard to pinpoint exactly when they are showing these results as well so I imagine they are rolling them out.
I agree that it’s potentially good news for the user as long as the results are perceived as quality.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Christine,
I first noticed them on the 30th July so yes it is very new and I think Google have been testing and rolling them out periodically as some local searches I performed last week (that didn’t return a local result) are now appearing.
August 9th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Hello George,
You touched on a subject close to my heart. Sensis profits fell 10% even though they increased their marketing spend, so local search is hotting up. I’m not sure that goolge is doing the right thing and drifting away from their core business model, which was to show related pages when a search was conducted.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
I found this article practical and helpful. I just added several local business’s through the google local business center, it was easy.
You will receive a call at the end of the process which will ask for a verification pin, so make sure the business can answer the phone!
August 12th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Hi Christine, I’ve seen this on local searches too. What’s frustrating is when searching for local content, and you get US content - even though using the .com.au and pages from Australia. For example - try searching for “palmdale cemetery” (no quotes) for example. You so get 3 local results first, but then some really irrelevant listings from Palmdale CA, so it would appear there still needs to be a bit of tweaking.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Hi Meg,
Thanks for the example. I thought it was worth a separate post.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
Ahhhhh…. God old universal search in action. It’s great to see this blending of results as it gives the user a FULL search experience and SEm’s a great big headache + the opportunity to work with clients in a much more holistic fashion.
this year at SMX we have Marissa Mayer from Google coming out to keynote on this very topic, along with optimisation sessions with Danny Sullivan.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Hi Christine
I was just searching to see who ranked for “google local business” in Google AU and it was this article - http://www.google.com.au/search?q=google+local+business&meta=cr%3DcountryAU well done
February 3rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Hi Barry, Thanks for dropping by and commenting. It’s true what you say. Changes are happening so quickly. It’s very interesting and doesn’t fit neatly into traditional sem offerings. All the best for SMX this year. It’s sounding great already.
Hi Neerav, Good to see you here too. I rank for lots of things
Seriously, I’m interested in local search. Small businesses aren’t catered for very well within the sem industry.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I’ve been submitting my clients to Google Local and updating their Google maps listings. Now someone is promising them that they can “guarantee” placement in the top 10 listings that show up and though I’ve told my client that no one can guarantee this, this company insists that they have a “special relationship” with Google and can.
Any advice on how to explain that this is not the case?
April 16th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Jordan, I have also had clients tell me that they have been approached by some companies also saying they have this ’special relationship’. The way I deal with this is to tell them that these companies may be able to guarantee top 10 listings with keywords that are not competitive or that they may be referring to an Adwords campaign. From what I can see, most people don’t really trust this claim anyway.
Good Luck!