Google Places: Is Your Business Going Places?

What is Google Places?
Google Places, formerly Google Maps, is the local search results in Google which can appear for both definitive and ambiguous localized search queries. For instance, Google Places results can appear for clearly local searches like “colleges in Rogers, Arkansas”, but also vague searches like “bookstores”, where the user may or may not be looking for nearby bookstore establishments. For the “bookstores” example, Google would still deliver local search results based on your location (via IP address). Google Places has been known to help level the playing field for local businesses, helping even those without websites gain web exposure.

How has Google Places changed?
Until recently, Google Places results would appear right next to each other, just to the right of a Google Map. The Google Places results would show up to seven listings.

Now, Google has taken steps to make the Google Places listings more prominent and integrated within the search results. For clearly local searches, the new Google Places listings are still next to each other but are now fused with their regular search listings. These evolved local listings are the same distance apart as regular listings, allowing them to take up more real estate on the first page of Google.

As you can see, the Google Map now appears just above the paid listings on the right column of the page. For an unknown reason, sometimes the Google Map will scroll down, covering the paid listings, as the searcher scrolls down on the page. This does not appear to be triggered by browser or operating system types.

For searches where the need for local results is vague (like “bookstores”), the Google Places listings are not fused with their regular listings, but listed right on top of each other (very similar to before). And like before, they are listed in groups of seven. Sometimes they will rank at the top, but many times they appear farther down on the first page. The two biggest differences to the previous way Google Places was displayed for vaguely local searches are; the Google Map is now on the right and the listings are slightly more spread apart than before.

How should my Google Places optimization strategy change?
Like many Google algorithm updates, the need for us to jump ship on the basic optimization principles isn’t warranted. While the strategy itself doesn’t necessarily need to change, the importance placed on optimizing your Google Places listings probably should. For the new fused listings, it is still unclear whether the ranking is dependent on the optimization of the regular listing, the Google Places listing, or both. For what it’s worth, my guess is the last option. The PlattForm team will continue monitoring these changes and report any new insight as discovered.