All Change With Google Places Again

[dotcomdesigns]

I've just been reading that Google is expanding the size of the area it shows on it's map. The effect of this is that businesses further out *may* get shown on the map now, whereas before they were not. I guess G thought it was a little unfair to penalize businesses because they were not in the centre of town.

Great for your clients on the outskirts of your city. However this has resulted in removing other listings that were previously in the small map. From what I can tell, it means things are more competitive.

Google has a patent called 'local sensitivity' since it's approval in 2009. And they may have been tweaking this recently. It won't effect every business. The example I read was if you're looking for a pizza you probably are not willing to travel far, so a smaller map will show. But if you are looking for a garage service you'll be prepared to travel further out hence a larger map.

Some guy on Google's forum with a laptop repair business in Croydon (London suburb) has gone from position 1 on GP places to page 4 with the map resize I wouldn't want to be taking his call this morning!

It looks like the 7 pack is dying and has been replaced with a 3 pack. I've seen examples of a 2 pack making it very difficult to get into this. But that means 7 to 8 slots available for normal listings with good old fashioned SEO

Full story here:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/02/08/many-google-places-search-results-are-showing-an-increased-radius-for-search-results/

 

[dragon123]

Google are there to taunt us damn them!! Thanks for the info dotcom just goes to show that we need to keep on our toes at all times.

 

[skillz]

Thanks for the heads up. Could you PM me link to said forum?

 

[Tommybee]

I've seen a lot of my competitors go really heavy into google places... wonder how that's going for them now.... lol

Good info.

Tom

 

[b1step-ahead]

google places is a crazy space right now. Its kinda like what Craigslist was 3 years ago- evolving fast.

 

[xenoxen]

In my location(Europe) it changed yesterday to the 7 pack again. It was 3pack 3 days ago and now back to the old setting.

Damn google! They are playing and changing so you won't be able to suit your offer for client. damn you googl..

 

[BlackHatHustla]

Same thing happend with one of my sites... Went from 1st place to 4th... Any tips on how to recover?

 

[mikey9991]

That's where you can justify the monthly payments. looking at the bright side!

In my location(Europe) it changed yesterday to the 7 pack again. It was 3pack 3 days ago and now back to the old setting.

Damn google! They are playing and changing so you won't be able to suit your offer for client. damn you googl..

I still see 7pack here in California along with 3 packs. more like 50/50 depending on the keyword used.

Interesting read on that link. If it's going to be proximity search results then there would be multiple 3 or 7 packs in one city depending where you are searching in that particular city. Good be good and bad.

 

[blackwp]

I mentioned this already in another thread, I'm also located in Europe and see now 3 regular Google Places listings, also I see something with some kind of google places listings mixed up in the organic results.

It shows the map when you click on +Show map --> address here

Anybody see this too?

 

[3v0|v3]

This is good for the people doing offline services! More work = more money.

 

[mikey9991]

This is what I see for "san francisco dentist" - 7pack

http://content.screencast.com/users/mike9991/folders/Jing/media/d14f3bd8-75f9-481e-af47-e857428be475/7pack.png

 

[MitchHoward]

This is good for the people doing offline services! More work = more money.

yup, constant change is good. It eliminates the "get rich quick" guys. Real marketers roll with the punches and find a way to make the change profitable