Understanding Google Places & Local Search – Developing Knowledge about Local Search

Interesting Forum conversation on the impact of the Huge Expansion of the Google Onebox at SEORefugee.

Local businesses in Universal search from Google LatLong. Note the comment: We’re excited about this first step in the integration of local results in Universal search and will continue to let you know about developments in this area over the coming months.

Taking advantage of universal search from Google Webmaster Central has some good ideas for other ways to be sure that your business shows up in the Universal Search universe. Perhaps Dave will become a video star? There is no reason to limit your reach to local and organic to achieve reach.

At SearchEngineLand Greg Sterling has given a mini review of the Maps layout in: Universal Search Spawns New Format for Maps.

From Greg’s post: In conjunction with Universal Search, the Google Maps team created a new “text view” that features images of local businesses and a smaller map. The placement of ads is different, below the map on the right. And there’s a pull-down menu to adjust distance.

Here’s an example for “coffee houses, New York.” The traditional “map view” is a click away. One way you get to text view is by clicking on “local business results …” in what formerly was the Google Maps OneBox (now Universal Search). You can also get there from the “text view” link within Maps.

Several other new features and bugs of note in the restaurant listings:

-Google has added a choice to view the menu provided by other sites (i.e. nymag.com & restaurantrow.com)

-There are a number of interface issues that give a distinct unfinished feel to the product. For example now when you select the business listing for more details and are presented with a summary of all data, there is no apparent way to return to the list view. Likewise when you view the reviews. The menu choice takes the user off-site completely which is different behavior than all other links.

The deep links of the Map product have a rushed and unfinished feel to them with little internal consistency and too much requirement for back button use.

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Here are two screen shots of on the Onebox returned for “city + st” search on Google today. Note the differences in map size and the inclusion of the “get directions” field and button in one of the results. I have explored a number of hypothesis as to why & when the difference occurs (existence of adwords, proximity to searcher, population) but none of them consistently offer an explanation. Ideas?

Many of the changes that we have been seeing in google Maps over the past few days have been part of Google’s new Universal search upgrade. These upgrades magnify the importance of Google Maps as they allow for “The best answer is still the best answer” local results to be inserted in all of Google’s organic search results. This will lead to a dramatic increase of exposure of local data. Greg Sterling estimates that as many as 40% of ALL searches have local intent and as Google figures out which ones are (even without the city, st modifier), we will be seeing Google Maps data much more frequently.

Google’s One-Stop Search to Yield Text and Images – NY times (reg. req’d) An overview of the changes announced at Searchology

Google Maps ‘Text View’ Part of Universal Search – Greg Sterling gives an inkling of the many changes to come in Maps in this and future upgrades.

News & Local Blending in Google 2.0: Google Universal Search- Danny Sullivan has an indepth article on all aspects of the new technology at SEL.

Google’s Universal Search Patent Application – Bill Slaski covers the relevant patent applications at SEO by the Sea.

Very Cool Google Experimental Map view  from the new Google Experimental Search area (via Greg Sterling at Screenwerk)

Google Maps has recently upgraded the information that is now displayed with the business. The display now includes images, reviews and owner provided description if available. Note in the after results image, that when an owner entered description was not available, reviews were substituted. This highlights why an owner should control their listing.

Here are two images, a before and after:

                                                        

                                                        

                                                        

                                                        

                                                        

                                                        

Earl the Pearl has reported at SEO Refugee of the expanded presence of the Local OneBox on broader geographic phrases and broader business categories. He notes:

Onebox maps are now returned on searches by state names, ie Used cars Florida, Nursing School Pennsylvania. Previously its appearance was more locally focused for queries like used cars Miamia and nursing schools Philadelphia. The onebox also shows for industry secondary terms. Previously it didn’t.

All of which injects the google onebox, the google maps inserts and the google maps algo serps more prominently throughout a far greater variety of localized searches in serps.

These results are appearing both interspersed in the results(as noted by Barry S at the SeRoundtable.com), at the top of the organic search results AND and can achieve featured OneBox status.

It is hard to underestimate the effect that these type of results will on these very broad (geographically) search terms will have on traffic (state + business category). It puts an all new emphasis on the OneBox and its importance for visibility. (more…)

*From Geeking with Greg – Google News Personalization Paper while it speaks directly to Google News the overview of personalization is of importance to all search.

*From Bill Slawski at Seo by the Sea – Yahoo’s Clickable Map Advertising with Product Inventory Displays

Here are two screen shots comparing the Local OneBox before and after the recent upgrade (first noted by Matt McGee). Something that had escaped my attention was that while the width is the same, to accommodate the additional pins, Google has truncated some of the business names. Note the difference between “The Beefeaters Restaurant” examples.

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I have been a fan of Goog-411 since its pre-beta days as 520-Find. I found it to be the fastest, most focused voice activated directory assistance. It seemed a natural extension of local search in an incredibly interesting direction. Not without its problems, but very useful as a business tool when driving down the highway, with the promise of opening up Google Maps data to millions of additional users.

My imagination though as to its uses was limited. Creative souls posting at the Goog411 Google Group have found a number of ways to use it to avoid long distance charges (although your mileage may vary):

*Free International call completion to landlines via free Skype to #800

*Free calls from pay phones

*Free calling from Canada to the US Businesses

Obviously, these tactics simply shift the cost to Google. One wonders what Google’s costs are for the call completion component of the service (which is its most valuable competitive advantage) and what value they receive for it. It is also of interest that the Google employee (your Goog-411 operator) seems to support these uses.

Google’s newest blog, Google LatLong covers the all of Google’s geographic products and should be of interest to anyone interested in local search.
Here is what they have to say:

Welcome to the Google “geo” blog. As web mapping (dare I say “the geoweb”?) matures, we’re finding that we have a lot more to communicate about new developments in Earth, Maps, Local, and our APIs. The tools are becoming more powerful, more accessible, and more interrelated — not only to each other, but also to the web at large and to things like search. Things are changing so fast we thought a blog focused on this topic would be the best way to communicate with you, both about our products and about the overall development of geo on the web.

So… what is the “geoweb”? Some people will scratch their heads and call it buzzword proliferation. Others, including Mike Liebhold, who has a long history of thinking and writing about this area, have a very well defined notion of what they believe it is (or should be). I don’t think that there is agreement on what the geoweb is, but I think there is a lot of enthusiasm and energy across many fronts to make it happen. I expect the “it” will evolve substantially over the next few months and years as we (the geo ecosystem on the web) collectively figure out how “earth browsers,” embedded maps, local search, geo-tagged photos, blogs, the traditional GIS world, wikis, and other user-generated geo content all interrelate. Those of us who work on geo products and services at Google believe we have an opportunity to make the web more useful — and ultimately, to improve people’s lives through better information and understanding.