Google Places Changed--Again!!

[terry56]

Google places layout has changed again (well, at least today)

Now map is alone in right hand column, and businesses listings for each 7 places are ABOVE normal SERPS.

This means even if you rand #1 in the serps, IT"S BELOW THE FOLD..

 

[-Jericho-]

This just depends on the keywords you use. Sometimes there will be regular site listings above the places sometimes not. You will also even see the places results mixed with regular results.

Nothing new.

 

[lethbridge]

just wait til you see the Hotpot upgrade. I seen it about a month ago, its going to be a major change and fantastic for some of us.

 

[-Jericho-]

just wait til you see the Hotpot upgrade. I seen it about a month ago, its going to be a major change and fantastic for some of us.

It's on the site if anyone's interested:

http://www.google.com/places/

 

[Wings[SENSE]]

just wait til you see the Hotpot upgrade. I seen it about a month ago, its going to be a major change and fantastic for some of us.

May I ask you why do you say it will be fantastic for some of us?

 

[alphius]

another form of review,

 

[KBC-12]

Hotpot, as I see it is Google's attempt at pursuing social location search.

Video Explaining Hotpot:

http://www.google.com/support/hotpot/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=1067589&topic=1067594

 

[terry56]

Ok guys, I were not the only one to notice this.
Neil Shearing blogged about this Yesterday

http://www.neilshearing.com/2011/01/17/google-changes-seo-game/

From his post:

Now Google has rolled out an even more aggressive version of Google Places (see above image, click to enlarge) which positions the map ahead of the Adwords ads on the right-hand side of the page and fills almost the whole of the left side of the page with what looks like organic results but are actually enlarged listings from Places, meaning the first organic result fall "beneath the fold".

This is what I said in my original post BTW.

 

[PoolShark]

It seems pretty clear to me from the things I have read and my own observations that there is no doubt that all of these changes are more profit driven than user experience driven. After all, Google is a public company and not a non-profit.

In terms of these changes, "being fantastic for some us" I have to disagree. From an SEO standpoint, there really isn't much that you'll be able to do. With HotPot, the listings will be completely user driven, not SEO driven.

The challenge will be in coming up with ways that your clients can encourage and promote their customers to vote them as popular places. Do that and combine it with a well thought out plan to increase a company's quantity of citations on the web, and I believe those companies will benefit the most.

Just my thoughts on this ever changing SEO game

 

[christoss1959]

The challenge will be in coming up with ways that your clients can encourage and promote their customers to vote them as popular places. Do that and combine it with a well thought out plan to increase a company's quantity of citations on the web, and I believe those companies will benefit the most.

Just my thoughts on this ever changing SEO game

Bots sound more likely than users voting..

 

[PoolShark]

HotPot will work around that from what I can see - looks like it will all be tailored to specific users and their social network. So in order to influence the listings that are shown, you first have to vote on your favorite businesses and then other suggestions will be shown to you based on your likes and the likes of your social network.

So use all the bots you want - they won't matter. Every result is custom tailored to the individual user.

Having said that, I expect bots to play an initial role in the suggestions that are served up (after all, if you haven't voted for anything or created your social network, there is no way for HotPot to work to its full potential until you do). However, HotPot will be more geared towards "learning" what you like and then serving up "more relevant" results based on your input and what your friends and family like.

This is, of course, all speculation on my part, but time will definitely tell. I highly doubt that the folks over at Google over looked the potential downfalls with current voting systems and the use of bots. From a consumer standpoint, I like their solution.

From a marketing and business standpoint, it presents some challenges.

 

[theironlemming]

Hotpot definitely looks interesting.

Google is definitely trying to take a larger role in the social media aspect.

 

[KBC-12]

From a consumer standpoint, I like their solution.

From a marketing and business standpoint, it presents some challenges.

I agree with this so much!



I know the 10 spot in the SERPS gets 3-4% of the search traffic. BUT, does anyone remember what the number was for people who actually even scroll below the fold?
I know it was pretty minimal.

 

[myshoeslace]

Google places layout has changed again (well, at least today)

Now map is alone in right hand column, and businesses listings for each 7 places are ABOVE normal SERPS.

This means even if you rand #1 in the serps, IT"S BELOW THE FOLD..

Still people are too much aware of this fact. They do know what Google maps are and what search results are. So it isn't much to worry about

 

[durjoy]

HotPot still buggy . they have bug with reviews as well.

 

[terry56]

Check out this blog post on Ineedhits that talked about Google id dumping Yelp reviews:
http://blog.ineedhits.com/search-ne...t-recommendations-now-appearing-16419009.html