Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Google Pack Adds Ability To Segment Results by Rating & Hours
Sergey Alakov, an active local SEO from Toronto, just noted on Twitter that Google has finally rolled out the ability to segment all local rpack esults on both the desktop and mobile by ratings and by hours. The feature had been first spotted in tests in early September and the tests have recurred since then. It has been available for restaurants (only) since April.
The buttons drop down at the top of the Local Pack and when selected provide a view of the results within the Local finder increasing the likelihood of those folks that meet the criteria more likelihood of being seen even if they are not a top of pack result.
There currently are typically ratings and hours to choose from. Although is some verticals, like cars, there is also distance. There may be other filters and there may be times when it varies from desktop to mobile. If you spot different filters besides ratings, hours and distance please let me know.
If there are no ratings or only one business with ratings, like this search, then only hours are offered and no option is given to chose by rating. Likewise a search for “best” something in a city seems to occasionally remove the ratings option as well although not always.
With the advent of an increased focus on attributes it is conceivable and likely that the options for filtering will increase as well as Google gets broader and deeper attribute details. I can imagine that one of the first might be accessibility.
Obviously this new feature encourages users to look at the higher rated businesses and stay at Google longer. Google once again comes down on the side of higher rated businesses getting a leg up in the search results. It also obviously favors Google reviews and Google site visits over third party reviews site.
Here is a mobile screen shot:
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Comments
4 Comments
A useful feature which adds benefit to the user. This was being tested for a while and I was hoping it would roll out.
Thanks Mike.
Great read Mike. Do you think Google will again crack down on review spam and inadvertently crack down on valid reviews as a result? Seems like an open invitation to SOME to try to inflate review score.
Also, interesting to see the cars vertical showing distance because Google has increasingly reduced organic visibility for some areas in which car dealerships are outside of a 45 min drive radius, but we know some consumers are willing to drive those distances based on price and service.
Seems like the distance feature now opens up another venue for those customers willing to drive a farther distance.
Curious, for the top rated filter, do we know how “far out” Google would go to show a top rated business? Is there any distance cap you’re seeing? Assuming a business would still have to score highly on the prominence and relevance scale to show up, but is Google capping the radius at some distance?
The distance thing is the most interesting to me, especially with how Google will handle more relevant local results to bigger brand results that may be further away.
I like to think immediate distance will be a bigger factor than ‘authority’ but we will have to wait and see when this rolls out on a wider scale.
This is great update for increasing user interaction. Comparable to the wheelchair accessible article, I’m not seeing this on the search terms I tried it on so far, but I’m sure this will roll out soon. Not sure if you’ve seen it but google has started removing map packs for certain local business terms in major cities and replacing them with Google sponsored and verified listings. Try searching San Francisco plumber and you’ll see what i mean.
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