Mike Blumenthal

On the Near Me result above, the CTAs are almost at the bottom of the page below the events and alternative suggestions. While on the Anchor Bar Buffalo NY search below they are much closer to the top and above the events.

Google has long spoken about the immersive search experience as a way to give the user the answers they are looking for. Without leaving Google. Probably not a bad idea in general for much of local. But in this case, while a searcher may get immersed in looking for event details from the business profile …

Why does it Matter? The Local Finder, rolled out during the summer of 2015, as a listing view that replaced the single listing view that had been rolled out during the fall fo 2014. It has been a fast reliable and lightweight way to explore more listings related to the primary search without the overhead …

But the fact that there appears to be a rhyme or reason. Or at least the beginnings of one. Google has the best image recognition technology of the major players and that seems to be finally impacting local results.  In this screen grab of the new Local Scroll Pack this use of image recognition to …

As Dan Leibson of Local Seo Guide noted in a conversation discussing these results: “I’m curious how this will net out. I would imagine for retail brands that focus on diverse products e.g. big box, they could theoretically net out ahead”. I think that is largely true IF a brand is surfaced for the categories/attributes …

And here is an ad from the storage industry:

On non-restaurant searches, the suggested alternative categories show the bright, red Maps pin instead. When the suggested alternative search categories are expanded, the Local Scroll Pack becomes a rainbow of seductive color. With the first rollout, I worried that users would not interact with the local listings as frequently. But, while we await full rollout, …

It is interesting that this new Brand Scroll Pack is being displayed and obviously tested simultaneously with a segmented display that splits the results of a typical, single location brand search into multiple segments in the results. See Joy Hawkin’s write up on the Local Search Forum.