Some Google Places going back to old style?

by jr1228
7 replies
Is this happening frequently? I have seen two keywords revert back to the old style of listings in the past week.
#back #google #places #style
  • Profile picture of the author Sean D Kelly
    I have been paying close attention to google places recently but have not noticed this yet. For what types of searches are you noticing the old style?
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  • Profile picture of the author jr1228
    It seems to be random. For example, "laser hair removal" +city just reverted back to the old style, but "hair removal" + city is still the new style.
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  • Profile picture of the author KristofferIM
    I've seen this around too. Haven't figured out what the criteria might be for the SERPS to revert back to old school GP results yet though.
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    • I've seen the old style more and more too.

      I recently blogged about the fact that we all thought G was still testing since the layouts were so varied and kept changing. G said no, the change in layouts was here to stay and based on how much LOCAL intent they decided was in the search term, they'd show one style or the other.

      But all along Dentist + City vs City + Dentist shows opposite display styles new merged vs old Places. AND it changes based on city. Some have all one style or the other and some are flip-flopped. OBVIOUSLY the local intent of the search term is high if it includes the city, regardless of the search term order - so I'm not buying it!

      The only somewhat constant thing I've seen is TYPICALLY the core KW shows the new merged results and the less popular terms show the old 3 or 7 packs. Which means sometimes rank is determined by the new merged algo which is totally diff from the old algo. So you still need to optimize for both.

      However again I'm seeing more of the old style lately and lots of other SEOs I know, coach or work with are seeing it too.
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      • Profile picture of the author Supafly
        Originally Posted by 5starAffiliatePrograms View Post

        I've seen the old style more and more too.

        I recently blogged about the fact that we all thought G was still testing since the layouts were so varied and kept changing. G said no, the change in layouts was here to stay and based on how much LOCAL intent they decided was in the search term, they'd show one style or the other.

        But all along Dentist + City vs City + Dentist shows opposite display styles new merged vs old Places. AND it changes based on city. Some have all one style or the other and some are flip-flopped. OBVIOUSLY the local intent of the search term is high if it includes the city, regardless of the search term order - so I'm not buying it!

        The only somewhat constant thing I've seen is TYPICALLY the core KW shows the new merged results and the less popular terms show the old 3 or 7 packs. Which means sometimes rank is determined by the new merged algo which is totally diff from the old algo. So you still need to optimize for both.

        However again I'm seeing more of the old style lately and lots of other SEOs I know, coach or work with are seeing it too.
        Excellent remarks, Linda.

        Another thing I have noticed is that not only have some of styles flip-flopped, but they continue to flip from one style to the other and back again, as if Google can't make up it's mind which way to show me the listings. This is very interesting to me and something I will continue to observe with my clients.

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  • Profile picture of the author Supafly
    Yes, for some markets and niches, the old 7 pack still remains, though it is still not clear what criteria is used to determine whether the keyword will produce the merged listing or the 7 pack.

    And, as you have noticed, Google has decided to revert some keywords back to the 7 pack format. Google has confirmed that it will use a mix of the two and it appears different results are experienced in different locations. So, what may work for an HVAC contractor in Seattle may be different for an HVAC contractor in Scottsdale.

    That being said, the keywords that are now reverting back to the 7 pack (after they were already changed to the newer, merged format) seems to be a fairly new move on G's part.

    As Google Places is in a perpetual state of testing, it's difficult to tell where all this is going at this point. Maybe others have some insight...
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  • Profile picture of the author jr1228
    Very interesting. I have only started offering Google Places services since the new algo came into play, so now I feel like I am stepping back into time with the old style popping up! SEO is a big part of my Google Place strategy to account for the new style. Personally I prefer the look of the new style, but the old style is nice because a business can appear more than once on the first page (Places + organic SEO).
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