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Google is now showing local search results
Google is rewriting the local search space. They’re now showing local search results — a map, business listings, and more — even when searchers use generic terms that don’t include a local word.
This has potentially huge implications for searchers, local business owners, big businesses with a local presence, and search marketers, too. Google is changing the game where local search is concerned. As Andrew Shotland asked, is every search local now? No, but we’re getting there. Google must be very confident in its ability to identify local intent, and its ability to minimize the ongoing map spam problem.
Singularity and plurality sometimes matters. Local results will show on a search for “attorneys”, but not “attorney.” Same thing for “real estate agents,” but not the singular version of that. In other cases, local results show for both “plumber” and “plumbers,” for example.
The search marketer focuses on business-related queries, but this extends to non-commercial terms, too. A search for “parks” brings up a mix of listings — some community parks, local government listings, mobile home parks, and even a funeral home.
A search for “restaurants” or “italian restaurants” probably has local intent, and both of those generic terms show the local 10-pack for your area. But I also get local results on a similar, but not necessarily local search for “italian food.” You get local results on generic words like “liquor” and “burgers,” both of which might or might not mean I’m looking for something local. It’ll be interesting to watch if/how Google tweaks its algorithm to perfect its local targeting on generic terms.
This is great news for small/local businesses. With this change, small/local businesses will now be getting exposure on at least hundreds, and probably thousands of prime keywords. Search marketers often tell small business clients that they don’t want to rank for terms like “lawyer” or “doctor” because they’re too generic, and the competition for those prime terms would be beyond their reach. But, with Google showing local results on this prime real estate, a big door of opportunity has just opened up. A doctor in Topeka can get visibility on the term “doctor,” but only when local folks type it in.
Likewise, this should be good news for local search marketers who understand the ins and outs of optimizing local business profiles and web sites and can get their clients listed in the 10-pack or 3-pack. It also further kills the value of ranking reports, because rankings are now even more tied to geography and even your choice of ISP.
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