Digital Marketing Update: Google Place Search

What is Google Place Search?

There are many people who use search engines to search out local eating places, local spas, supermarkets or dental clinics. Sometimes they might be looking for a combination of things like a restaurant that serves Italian cuisine and plays jazz, a supermarket that also has a diner or a cosmetic dentist who also does orthodontics.

Previously, a local search like this would give segregated results with information about stubb's in different parts of the web page but now the information is well grouped with links and relevant information from all over the web in one place. The results now appear marked with red pins and a floating local map on the right hand top corner. This map keeps sliding down as we scroll down the page.

What's New

Place search effectively assorts data on the web around specific places or locations. This sort of search gives users easy to compare results and therefore choose the best option. It's also becomes a ready advantage for Digital marketing experts who work hard to promote their sites. The moment we conduct a search with a specified local location, place search will start displaying search results as per that location. Besides the layout there have been some other changes as well. The organic algorithm has been combined with the local listing, which is why now local results come with complete information from the company's description to its image and reviews as well.

The Way to Go?

Place search is bound to have a significant impact on your business, especially if your ranking is good. This in turn will have a domino effect on the methods of digital marketing. Since Google places pages are now showing up in most of the searches, it provides goods visibility to companies that have a good ranking and people can have access to the information they need. Conversely, this in turn can reduce the traffic flow to that site and therefore a subsequent decline in its prospective sales.

The merging of the algorithms has also narrowed down the scope for website placement in organic result. Before, sites with a good local exposure and strong SEO could possibly occupy places in both the 7-pack as well as the main organic section. Now since the positions have merged, each site has only one opportunity to be positioned.

The Way Ahead

Also as a part of the new layout, the map on the right corner top covers the area of three sponsored links on the result page, so at any give time there are three pay per click or PPC advertisements that remain unseen by the viewer. It is of paramount importance that digital marketing techniques are revolutionized. Advantage definitely lies with a business that has true physical presence as its chance of showing up in place searches is higher. This is probably because it has more reviews on review sites. A competent and experienced team of SEO experts understand this aspect and can promote site traffic by developing a new digital marketing strategy that can guide the traffic back towards the site.

Another existing digital marketing strategy which has been practiced for a while now and has proven to be the best so far is to have the website listed across various review sites and search engines.

Developing an online digital marketing strategy equipped with the knowledge of the potential glitches of the place search is what can possibly help an SEO team promote their website to its fullest potential.

Qudos Digital is a leading digital marketing agency and can be contacted on 020 8891 2077 or info@qudosdigital.co.uk

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