A few days ago Google announced a major change to its search results for local based search queries. Google have now decided to integrate the local results into the main organic search results. This change emphasizes Google’s stance on local search, they have even stated that more than 20% of all searches on their search engines are related to location

The below screenshot shows a current local results in Google UK for the search term ‘dentists in Manchester’

Here you can see the following changes

• 1. Only two Organic listings at the top
• 2. The map on the right hand side where the PPC ads are
• 3. Local citations are sometimes shown in the main SERPs
• 4. Links to the reviews page

It appears that Google are aiming to raise the importance of having a Google Places listings. One quick check I performed was checking keyphrases without GEO modifiers, such as the keyword ‘limo hire’. Here I can see that Google realizes that the user is looking for a local listing and Google automatically insert the new Local listings into the SERPs based on their IP address.

These changes will certainly have a big impact for the following type of web sites:

• Directory sites – Traditional directory sites used to perform well for a wide selection of local searches, they may not appear anymore unless they have lots of authority
• National sites – You may have a site which covers the whole of the UK, this change means that if you don’t have a bricks and mortar building you may not list as well
• Sites which don’t have a physical address – Sites without an actual physical address will now struggle to rank for local queries.

But what should you do to try and combat this change? local SEO is no longer about trying to get yourself into the top 7 local listings as before, meaning having an optimised Google Places listing will be even more important. One obvious tip is to get your sites physical location into as many top directory sites as possible such as yelp.com, yell.com, thomsonlocal, city search, yahoo local and many more…

Google are even listing some important directory sites underneath the local listings in the SERPs. If Google are showing which sites are important, GET YOURSELF LISTED IN THEM!

Final thoughts
Google and other search engines realise that they need to be more local, this will be especially important to the massive mobile search market. Google know by pushing their local service they will become a resource for people looking for local information, which may well see their overall traffic levels increasing!

This new change is also opening up the market place to smaller retailers who cover their local area, making it easier for them to take some business off the larger retailers. I think this is a smart move from Google and will result in users finding what they want easier, which at the end of the day is the biggest goal for any search engine.