January 30, 2007 Comments
Maybe youve noticed that search terms that are related to local businesses are now triggering a new, expanded OneBox result at Google. If so, then you wont be surprised to hear that Google has announced a closer integration of Google Maps and Google Local into the traditional search results. Matt McGee has the latest on the announcement over at Small Business SEM.
At this point you might be thinking "hey...I thought the local OneBox had been there for quite some time." Well, you would be right. Whats changed is the amount of real estate dedicated to the locally triggered OneBox and the amount of information up for grab in it.
1. Gone forever is the text-only local Onebox display. The previous Onebox display offered 3 business listings, but only in text format on a gray background. It almost looked like an AdWords display. It took up much less screen real estate than the new display, and was probably somewhat easy to overlook as our eyes have become naturally trained to skip advertisements. Good luck trying to overlook the new display.
2. It looks like the number of ratings and reviews has gone up dramatically. A search like [hotels in seattle, wa] brings back listings with close to 200 reviews, a number Ive never seen available before on Google Maps. From some quick digging, it looks like Google has expanded its review sources to include the likes of TripAdvisor, CitySearch, JudysBook, InsiderPages, Yelp, and AOL.com. And its not just the sources; I?m seeing reviews dating as far back as 2002. Thumbs up to the new sources. Thumbs down on including 5-year-old reviews, which have a good chance of being irrelevant by now.
This is good news for small business owners that serve a specific geographical region. The integration of more reviews from partner sources like TripAdvisor and CitySearch also shows the importance of encouraging your happy customers to get out there to talk you up.
When was the last time you encouraged a happy customer to write a review? When was the last time you went and checked some of those sources to see what people were saying about you?
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Jennifer Laycock is the Editor of Search Engine Guide, the Social Media Faculty Chair for MarketMotive and offers small business social media strategy & consulting. Jennifer enjoys the challenge of finding unique and creative ways to connect with consumers without spending a fortune in marketing dollars. Though she now prefers to work with small businesses, Jennifer?s clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings and Highlights for Children.
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