Mike Blumenthal posted about a new SERP that Google is playing with for local results. This isn’t a Maps result but a Google.com result for a local query. I wasn’t able to reproduce it so I’ll show Mike’s screenshot.
Here’s the current page for “Dentist, Chicago”:
Here’s Mike’s annotated page showing the new elements, most prominent of which is the floating map on the right. In addition star ratings are visible (on the right) for each local listing.
Google is likely exposing selected people to this to watch CTRs etc. It’s uncertain whether this will roll out broadly.
The page surfaces more information so that the user doesn’t have to click to the Maps page to see things like reviews/ratings. One might see this experiment as consistent with the effort to surface more information on the top-level SERP generally.
While they’re at it, I’d like to see some experiments with this page too:
The map is “visual” and attractive but not always helpful in making choices among local businesses. In fact, much of the time it’s not at all helpful.
Back to the experimental page above. “Tag” ads, which are now rolling out now, would be de-emphasized (maybe rendered meaningless) in the SERP format Mike exposed. Their purpose is to “call out” the advertiser from within the 7-Pack. That, however, would no longer exist if the above page goes live.
July 6th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Interesting news.
One thing to note is that the top ranking snippet on the second is actually the top ranking “normal” search listing. The 7-pack listings in the first image are no-where to be seen in the second….
July 6th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Yep, the 7-Pack is gone. And with that I assert so will the value of Tag-vertising that Google introduced.
July 6th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I’ve done some digging and the picture doesn’t show the whole story. The 7-pack seems to start after the 3rd organic listing:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/NewSerpsPlastic.jpg
July 6th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Yes, saw that shot. 7-Pack is broken out into more conventional display of listings. My guess is that we won’t see this new local SERP show up in the exact way it looks above. It offers fewer listings to users (pushes most below the fold) and substantially kills the value of Tags. But I suspect we will see something new from Google here in the relatively near future.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
AS a local guy, I’m liking this. As a PPC guy, I’m hating this. This is pushing the 4-4 positions down. Those are prime places. I’m not impressed.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Olivier:
I don’t think we’ll see exactly this configuration. But Google is experimenting for a reason; something isn’t working in their minds with the 7-Pack approach.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I don’t know if adwords will let this happen. That’s prime PPC real estate. We’ll have to see.
July 6th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I disagree Olivier. It seems to me that rather than pushing text Adwords Google wants to push sponsored listings which would sit well with this new SERP layout. I’ve never been very successful with normal Adwords on location based searches anyways…
July 7th, 2010 at 9:43 am
I have the practical experience to disagree with that Caliban. I actually gave a presentation on one of Greg’s panels at SMX West in 09 where I showed how we’d been very successful in location based searches via adwords. Still are come to think of it.
July 9th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
[...] per vedere le pagine dei risultati di ricerca rivoluzionate? Google sta infatti sperimentando una nuova grafica per le ricerche locali, con i risultati provenienti dalle mappe sempre più in [...]
October 27th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
[...] come as a surprise to close Google watchers. A number of people previously spotted Google testing these pages in the wild and have written about them in some detail, including Chris Silver Smith, Mike Blumenthal, David [...]
October 27th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
[...] for a while. Way back in July users saw Google testing this new SERP ‘in the wild’ – http://www.screenwerk.com/2010/07/06/whither-the-7-pack/. Google is due to roll out this new SERP in over 40 languages in the next few days and we’ll [...]
October 28th, 2010 at 12:01 am
[...] Google hat gestern, die schon vor einigen Monaten getestete, Place Search weltweit in die Suchergebnisse integriert. Die neue lokale Suche mischt lokale [...]
October 29th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
[...] won’t come as a surprise to close Google watchers. A number of people previously spotted Google testing these pages in the wild and have written about them in some detail, including Chris Silver Smith, Mike Blumenthal, David [...]
October 29th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
[...] won’t come as a surprise to close Google watchers. A number of people previously spotted Google testing these pages in the wild and have written about them in some detail, including Chris Silver Smith, Mike Blumenthal, David [...]
November 15th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
[...] or location SERPS. Google has been testing these change over the previous few months, spotted by many a blogger. So what are the changes and what implications does it have for local businesses and sites such as [...]
November 24th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
[...] won’t come as a surprise to close Google watchers. A number of people previously spotted Google testing these pages in the wild and have written about them in some detail, including Chris Silver Smith, Mike Blumenthal, David [...]