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12 Jul

Google Places: Changes to how it’s Displayed in Search Results

BY

Google have rolled out changes to the way a places account is displayed in Local Onebox in the search results. I think this is a permament change as I’ve used a number of IPs to check it out and they all reflect the same change.

What changes have been made to the Local Onebox?

  • The website’s first listing which previously sat below the Onebox now sits above the Onebox
  • The more info link has no changed to “Place Page” which now appeas under the business name
  • There is now a Map Pin next to the name of the business
  • The business name no longer links through to the website

Google had to do something about what was Google Local Business listing – as I’ve discussed before the system was a mess, the rebrand to Google Places was part of that reinvention, however these changes show Googles real intention – to create the new Yellow Pages by creating the biggest and most widely used Local Directory ever.

The fact that they’ve stopped linking out from the title of the business would also suggest to me that they are looking to provide more information and be a one stop shop rather than an portal for other people’s information.

2 Responses to “Google Places: Changes to how it’s Displayed in Search Results”

  1. Alex

    One change I have noticed has to do with relevancy. Previously, my site: http://www.proclean-glasgow.com showed up 4th in the organic listings and top of google places when searching for “carpet cleaning glasgow”.

    After the recent changes, the specific carpet cleaning page on my site:www.proclean-glasgow.com/carpetcleaning is now showing 4th on the first page, directing searchers to a page which better reflects what they are looking for – so perhaps no bad thing!

  2. Simon

    I think the recent changes represent a move towards normalising the Google Maps and Google Search algorithm – it makes a lot of sense – the way Places had been working was like back in the old days when meta keywords could be tweaked to get a site ranking.

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