first

Very weird development. Why is google working so hard to get smb’s to claim listings and then hit them with this feature? Seems sort of “Yelpish” IMHO.

Couple of things:

1. Lets face it. Few visitors go to the places page…though that number is increasing and radically increases when you consider mobile web.

2. Its buried on the page. Of the few people who go to places page, how many are going to scroll down to look for DIRECT COMPETITORS!!!!!

3. Who owns the Places Page? SMB’s aren’t paying for it. Google is encouraging them to claim listings. With or without claimed listings, Google creates them. Google is now experimenting with a mechanism to monetize listings in Maps via photos videos, coupons, etc.

4. Places pages already show good and bad information. Various citations or reviews might already promote negative commentary about a business along with all the positives that a claimed listing might provide.

5. Its a blatent smack across the face to the businesses who have a places page.

Bam…here is all this stuff about your business…mostly good…possibly some negative reviews…..and then BAM BAM….google gives the viewer your direct nearby competitors’ places pages. What gives

6. Could this be a roundabout way to make some money off of SMB’s.
(pay google….and your competitors don’t show….or some other crappy maneuver).

Like I said….seems “Yelpish” to me.

Lends itself to trying to force someone to advertise via fear. Very crappy way to do business.

So much for “Do No Evil”

From a purely-user centric point, I have to say, I don’t have a problem with this. If I’m looking for something (Chinese food, a used car, a camera shop) I might like to know of other local options.

From a business owner’s standpoint, blech! Just as I’ve started to think of a Place Page as ‘my’ page, I see all of those fellas who I’m trying to outdistance taking up space on my own page.

But, as Dave so wisely points out, above, a Place Page is not my page. It’s Google’s page and just as MC can make sense out of using a businesses’ name for their own totally bizarre purposes, I can definitely see how Google can make sense out of using a Place Page to draw users deeper into the Maps experience.

Yup, some bad feelings will surely arise out of this.

Sorry for the slow response…wrote this just prior to departing the GetListing Local University in Spokane….

@Andrew when you add this to the “enhanced listing” experiment the only thing keeping them from being more like the YPs of old would be the high pressure salesmen. 🙂

@Taylor
I doubt that Google will get into the extortion game ala Yelp just yet they are subtler than that (at least not until the next recession 🙂 )

@David
They do “own” it and while the page does not get seen very often at this point, one assumes that is a providing Google their “platform” of the future.

@Miriam

The user experience might be improved particularly if searching for a museum, zoo or a nearby lake. Given that “Places” are many things, not just businesses, there is plenty of logic to its inclusion but the logic that was used was not either well thought out or sophisticated enough..

It also might makes sense from a readers POV to show “complimentary services rather competitive ones. than but ….

From an interface point of view:
1)The whole page is a mess …way to much stuff, way too long
2)Does it really need one more element that far down the page?
3)Could they not come up with an interface element (and a neater page) that provided access to the information WITHOUT putting competitors on the very same page?

Google at the latlong blog noted (again with no little irony):
You’ll notice that we do not limit these suggestions to places sharing any specific characteristic; instead, we use a broad set of signals to come up with what are hopefully the most interesting suggestions. We’re still working on refining these signals, so bear with us if your serendipitous discovery of a new place is even more unexpected than you’d anticipated.

Perhaps they will tweak the algo to not show so many direct competitors, & perhaps not show any. In the meantime, they have demonstrated to me once again that they are tone deaf as to SMB’s and their perceived needs.

OK, one more thing. I just read the post on the Lat/Long blog. Posted after we scooped ’em here.

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/02/nearby-places-you-might-like.html

And notice how Tammy Stern, so generously links with the “title rel=”nofollow”” attribute as the business name. Where is she linking to? Wait for it. No, it’s not the actual businesses it’s the motherf#*!ing places page!

So much for the Google toadies claiming they’re not indexing them. We all know that a preponderance of links can overwhelm a noindex.

I was nice in my last comment but damn these people piss me off with their total ignorance (or negligence) in the application of their own systems.

Geez!

!– rant ends –>

In too many cases Google search, and the impact of Maps holds undue enormous power over businesses. Its an extraordinary phenomena.

It acts in ways completely oblivious of this impact and power. Other powers, larger than google need to start bearing down on this monsterous entity.

This particular phenomena is not the place where that “make or break” power and impact are felt the most. Nevertheless its one more example of how Google marches forward oblivious to how its actions dramatically effect businesses like no other advertising/marketing/visibility entity before it.

It will be interesting to see how google determines which competitors listings show up in this new ‘nearby places you might like’.

At first glance it appears as though there is a category link, like in the example you give – which makes sense. However, after a bit of digging I came across a listing where there doesn’t seem to be any connection between the business itself (plumbing supplies) and the ‘nearby places you may like’ that google displays (Jeweler, Music Instructor, Closet Accessories, Pet Groomer Golf Instructor…).

This is the link to the particular listing:
http://maps.google.ca/places/us/buffalo/new-york/clinton-st/146/-schaefer-plumbing-supply-co?gl=ca

The geographical connection also seems to be quite lose ‘nearby’ can be up to 30 miles away – in a different city – that doesn’t really strike me as near by – especially in the local world.