Comments on: Google Introduces Local 7 Pack, 10 Pack Dead?

By: How Google Might Use Phone Numbers to Determine Website URLs on Local Business Listings - Red Cardinal

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:12:15 +0000

[...] yesterday I was delighted to receive 2 comments on my recent Google Local 7 Pack post. So what’s so odd about that? I’m generally very lucky that people do comment on my [...]

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:22:45 +0000

This might be the answer to my previous question. Do you think this is how it happened?

http://screencast.com/t/uh0iS5eOr

Thanks so much for your thoughts,

Becky

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:10:19 +0000

Richard and everyone else,

Anyone have any ideas how this happened????

http://screencast.com/t/vLQFNIJn

Thanks,

Becky

By: Richard Hearne

Richard Hearne — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:15:25 +0000

Hi Mike

The problem is that they have to remove spam manually – it’s very difficult for them to know your business isn’t really called “Dublin Lock Smith, The Best Locksmith in Dublin” as that could be a legitimate business name. If you think about it you could really abuse the RBNs if Google decided to call your bluff.

I’d say that over time you can expect results to get better and better as they roll higher quality signals into the ranking algo for local results.

Rgds and thanks for commenting
Richard

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:02:04 +0000

Hi Richard. I’ve seen a lot of one box and three box listings turn into seven in the last few weeks. With ppc and local listings – actual seo results are almost half a page down. The fact that google local listings contain so many fraudulent listings is quite strange considering the work they put into keeping spam out of the regular serps.

By: Becky

Becky — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:05:44 +0000

Wow, very interesting. I’m about to launch a PPC campaign for a client and noticed it asking me if I wanted to link my ad to the client’s local business listing. When I finish it, I’ll let you know if I get a blue dot.

Becky

By: Richard Hearne

Richard Hearne — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:02:59 +0000

But the dots are also starting to join – did you notice that Google are offering custom phone numbers – “This call was brought to you by Google” – and you can start to see how Google Voice will likely integrate into their ads system down the road.

Google really is going after business sector, and they are doing a pretty good job in many cases.

Rgds to all
Richard

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:46:13 +0000

Becky,

Google obviously cleared up some space for Local Listing Ads http://www.google.com/help/lbc/listingads/

Very interesting.

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:34:44 +0000

Richard – I just started seeing it yesterday. The search was personal injury lawyer oakland. I’m in Colorado but have a client in Oakland that I was doing some research for.

In any case, no, it doesn’t show in the map. It appears in the sponsored listings (paid search area) right above the map. The ad also appears to have three URLs.

When I run it with SEMRush on so that the destination URL is displayed, there are three. Here’s another shot.

http://screencast.com/t/Am9H0GelSey

I also saw it again for a few other searches.

Becky

http://screencast.com/t/Am9H0GelSey

By: Richard Hearne

Richard Hearne — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:22:09 +0000

@Rob – agree that it’s easier on the eye.
@Michael – I’d say that increasing revenues is always foremost in mind when they make changes, but I think they also make many changes in order to improve the overall Ux (which also increases revenues).
@Leslie – for anyone dropped as a result of this change it’s going to be a bummer.
@Atl Movers – this looks like the real deal to me. Changes aren’t generally rolled out to full population unless the change has been decided.
@Becky – that’s a really interesting screenshot. Very interested to hear if you’re seeing this all the time and what query brought that up (also your location).

Rgds to all and thanks for commenting
Richard

By: Becky

Becky — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:52:27 +0000

Richard,

Just saw this for the first time today. Is this a new PPC trick? Looks like a special maps listing, but it doesn’t appear on the map.

Here’s the screenshot:

http://screencast.com/t/S81mA6RmzNX

Weird…

Thanks for what you share in your blog.

Becky

By: Atl Movers

Atl Movers — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:11:39 +0000

Any clue if this is the deal or if this is google hick up to change in a week or so?

Also we were number 10 just prior to the 10 to 7 seven change (we vary from 1st to 10th over the last year) but was unlucky enough to be 10th just before this change. Also lost 90% of the previously listed customer reviews any clue why google dropped tons of reviews?

By: Leslie

Leslie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:39:33 +0000

It looks much better and I am sure it will be much better for all that are listed now.

Can’t say that I am unhappy with this, I do quite like it when Google keep making changes, keeps me on my toes and in business…

I had a chat recently with someone who was in the ten list and as a result he said he wasn’t interested in SEO – why bother he said when i am at the top anyway?

Maybe this will be a reason to bother.

But the long term plan for most people working SEO must be to build out their own sites, esp the way consultancy is going just now. Then again if Yahoo! stop giving their results next year it might just make it interesting again.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:28:22 +0000

Definitely less cluttered looking. If you had a previous listing that was 8th – 10th and quite content with that position, then this is a bit of a kick in the balls. No doubt that those companies in such a position and with poor organic listings will maybe think about turning to PPC. I’m sure this had nothing to do with Google introducing the 7 pack, not half.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:26:23 +0000

I’m seeing the same as you (Google UK [web]), it looks better and is much easier to scan through the list comapred to the cluttered list of 10.