When over 70% of all people search online to find businesses, a number which climbs to 89% for those aged 18-24, showing up in local search results is critical.

Google delivers local listings when you type in a geographic location with your search (e.g. “plumber Lancaster”) or when it thinks that it can deliver a relevant local result (e.g “plumber”).

The Google local team recently announced what I consider to be a huge change in the way they deliver these local results. They’ve called it “Place Search” and it affects almost all searches conducted on Google. The change is still rolling out, so some people may not see the new system for a couple of days.

Here’s the old look:

And the new (the coloring is mine):

The new system puts a much larger emphasis on providing information on local organizations, and pushes non-local listings down to the bottom, or even off the page. In delivering these results, Google is now taking into account the optimization of your website and the quality of your local search listing.

The aesthetic difference is obvious, and there’s plenty of information designed for professionals in the local search community, but what does it mean for us as business owners?

The big take away is this: Google is getting better and better at interpreting what people are searching for. If a someone is looking for something that could potentially be found locally, be that a business or a non-profit organization, they’re going to be served up local results in a much more noticeable way. Because of this, users are far more likely to see and visit local organizations after conducting an online search.

Hopefully, this means you.

Key Changes for Local Businesses

The (probably) good:

• Local businesses that are physically within the area you’re searching are a lot more prominent.
• More information is displayed in each individual listing (name, address, reviews, related pages).
• Your local results now get a decent description instead of just a business name and address.
• Directories like the online yellow pages are far less likely to show up. Instead, you’ll get local businesses.
• Multiple listings from the same company appear to be merging together. This leaves more space for other businesses to show up.
• If your website ranked well before in the non-local results, your business is now much more likely to rank well in the new local results.
• Because the reviews are right there in the first results, customer satisfaction is much more obvious.

The (maybe) bad:

• Because the reviews are right there in the first results, customer DIS-satisfaction is much more obvious.
• If you had multiple results displaying on the first page, your listings are probably going to get merged.
• Your competition will be more likely to show up.
• You’re going to need to optimize your website if it isn’t already.

The (potentially) ugly:

• If you don’t have a website, you’re probably in trouble.
• Local results are likely to push “normal” results that don’t have a maps listing off the page.
• Businesses that are not actually located in the city or geographic area their customers come from are less likely to show up. If you’re in Lititz, chances are someone searching in Lancaster isn’t going to find you unless you have an extremely strong listing.

This change shows a level of commitment to local search from Google that we’ve not seen in the past. While the final results remain to be seen, the relevance of what Google delivers can only improve. I think this change is a step in the right direction that will benefit businesses who have already invested in reputation management and search engine optimization.

This change comes at a time when people are more and more often turning to their computer or phone to find local businesses. Being visible in these new results is more critical than it has ever been.

What do you think of the changes? How has it affected your website ranking?

It seems as though this new layout is being rolled out to other locations. Check out the screenshot below for a recent search I ran recently for “Insurance Lancaster, PA”.

As was noted by Search Engine Land this is a pretty huge change. With it, Google continues to place more and more emphasis on local results. Organic results are being pushed further and further down the page, those companies lucky enough to show up in the maps listings are being given more and more space, and reviews, addresses, and other information is far more prominent. The map also follows users down the page now.

Since I’ve been tracking this particular term for a while now, I noticed another change – results that were ranking in the #1 spot organically, but not so well locally, appear to have had their results merged. The #1 ranking company in my screenshot was previously the #1 ranking company organically. As you can see, it now shows up in the local results.
A couple of tests returned mixed results for “Insurance New York” vs. “Insurance NYC”. In the former, the map still showed up in the right hand column, but less space was devoted to each listing.

This particular difference seems to be triggered by appending a state name onto the search.

You’ll also notice in my screenshots that Google is tracking my location (I’ve logged out and disabled web history to run these searches). Running the search through a proxy returned all of the results to the old “in-line map” layout.

This change first appeared for me on the 26th of October. So, does Google simply happen to be testing local search in Lancaster, PA? Or, is this more widespread?

Is anyone else noticing a difference in their listings for other locations?

Unfortunately, this kind of commitment is misleading at best. It’s certainly not professional.

Why? Because the only “people” that can guarantee you’ll be -anywhere- in Google is, well, Google.

There are many things we can do to help you get ranked. There are tactics and strategies that have worked in the past. At Kiwi, we can even say, “Yeah mate, no worries. We’ve got a pretty good shot at getting you there.” we know that it’s possible because we’ve done it repeatedly for our other customers. But we can’t. and won’t, promise that you’ll reach the first page.

Getting your website to the first page of Google is a great goal. It’s achievable, and can have a large impact on your business. There are too many factors involved that are beyond your control, however, for anyone to promise it.

Even Google itself agrees:

“Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.”
Google.com

(By the way, we don’t try to charge you for submitting to Google, either.)

Next time someone promises their Internet Marketing efforts will get you first place on Google, my advice would be to run away screaming. Barring that, take a second look and ask them how they’re going to walk their talk.

Do your Internet marketing efforts pass public inspection?

Boarded up houses and railway yards. There’s something eerie about them that sends a shiver down my spine while at the same time making me feel melancholic.

Is it because they’re an eyesore? Is it the decay, or the scorched-earth look of some of the worst tenements? Is it the unknown?

It could be, but I’m inclined to think that it is something else. That sense of melancholy comes over me, I think, because those boarded up and broken down houses, those abandoned factories and condemned steel mills represent the death of a vision, or a dream.

What happened to the families that lived in those old row houses beside the tracks?
What happened to that machine shop we just passed?
Did someone lose everything, move on, or just give up?

Whatever happened, the feeling these places evoke in me is clear. And, while it might be fascinating to ponder the possibilities, it isn’t exactly a pastime I’d want to engage in too frequently.

The thing is, if these abandoned buildings cause me to feel such things, what kind of feelings is a seemingly abandoned website, blog, or social media account going to cause in your customers? Are they going to be fascinated with what might have happened to your business? Spend a few minutes day dreaming, as I did, then move on?

Or, are they just going to move on without a thought?

In the end, it doesn’t make much difference. They all move on. You just lost a customer, and probably that person’s friends’ business as well.

With the ever-increasing pace of the online world, it doesn’t take years or decades for your online presence to become condemned. In some cases, that time is measured in a handful of weeks. For a first-time visitor, this window is even shorter. How much credibility is a new visitor going to give a blog that was last updated three weeks ago, or calendar showing events from last year?

Update regularly. Keep the connection with your customers strong. Don’t risk having that condemned sticker slapped across your online doorway.

Many of us were bought up to be “Seen and not heard.” I don’t know about you, but as a child I certainly wasn’t taught to crow my brilliance from the rooftops.

Ranked second for Local Search, "Internet Marketing, Lancaster, PA"

When it comes to Internet marketing though, that’s often exactly what you need to do.  After all, who do you expect to do it for you?

Before anyone starts shouting, “Your customers should! Social proof! You ALWAYS talk about social proof!” and looking for the pitchforks and sticks with fire on the end…

If you provide wonderful service, your customers should tell others how brilliant you are.

But, in order to do that, they need to find you. What’s more, once they’ve found you and discovered how amazing your products and services are, they need a way to tell others with minimal effort. That’s where an oft-overlooked aspect of social proof comes in: You MUST provide your customers a way to leave feedback that is convenient and quick. Doing this is key to any online marketing effort.

People want to tell their friends and family about positive experiences they’ve had. They want people they tell to experience the same great service or product for themselves. They’ll certainly spread positive experiences by word of mouth. But without a little, shall we say, nudge? Most people will not take the time to post a positive review online. Some people do not know how; others feel that it takes too long, or don’t know what to say.

There are three steps that any business should take to promote positive reviews:

1) Provide customers a place to leave them. Many of the local search providers allow this.

2) Urge customers to actually go ahead and write one. Figure out the direct link to a page that accepts reviews for your business, and get that link in front of people. If you don’t ask, no one else will. So, don’t be shy.

3) Give them a push in the right direction. Providing a starting point for someone to write a positive review will often help overcome the “Uh, I don’t know what to say” factor. Try something simple like “If you feel that your experience with us was positive, please take the time to tell others why.” with that aforementioned link attached.

Ranked second for Local Search term, "Marketing, Lancaster, PA" 2 weeks after optimization.

You really should be blowing your own horn. We’re doing it today because we’re proud of the Local Search results we’ve achieved for our own website. After all, sometimes even a Kiwi needs to unleash the rooster within…