Google’s Big Update with Local Search Results

 

Google MapsGoogle made a major change on Thursday, August 6th, regarding the way local business will now be displayed in search results. There are many different opinions being posted about how this will affect your business and local search results. There might have been even a little fear mongering with some SEO companies!

Previously, when you would do a local search for a Carpet Cleaner in Huntington Beach, Google would display the top seven businesses in the maps section for the keyword, Carpet Cleaner. If you were lucky enough to be displayed as one of the top seven, your address and phone number would be appear for the searcher, who could call you right from that page.

 

So, what has changed? Well, Google has altered everything, and now there are only three businesses listed on the SERP with no phone number or address visible at first glance! Not only that, but when you click on one of the three businesses, you are directed over to a map section with twenty other businesses for that keyword!

 

What Does This Mean for My Business?

Google’s algorithm update can actually benefit any type of business! Why? Well, as long as you are in the top twenty, your business will be shown in front of more potential customers merely by default. For those businesses that were in the top seven before, you might see a change, but so far most of our clients are only seeing the upside of these changes.

Here is the best part: Creactive Inc ran a few tests using different IP addresses in the Huntington Beach area. It turns out that the ranking for each business changed according to IP address location! In other words, Google granted the top spots to the businesses that were closest to the searcher’s IP address from which he or she was searching.

 

What are the main factors that Google uses to Rank My Business?

 

website_designEveryone wants to know the secret to their business being ranked highly on search engines. It is not a secret! Everything you do, including every piece of information you post about your business, all of your listings, your website, social media, your Google Places page, all contribute to reaching the best possible ranking! 

What have we found to be one of, or maybe the most important factor in getting those top spots? The website! Many companies throw up a website but do not properly optimize it, they steal content from another website, or simply do not give enough information about their services and fail to properly use their main keywords. The end result is your website becomes just a business card that sits in your wallet until you hand it to a prospective client.

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