Google is regularly making small changes to search engine results pages (SERPs) to make them more useful. For example, as of this week Google now displays your location in the sidebar, and lets you easily change it if necessary. And while updates such as this may often seem like relatively small details, they aren’t made on the fly; they’re often part of weeks or months of extensive testing to ensure the user experience isn’t diminished.
Two days ago, having performed a search for “Washington DC Acura dealers,” I stumbled across one of these intermittent tests. In most instances, this search query generates the traditional block of local search listings, followed by organic results listings as seen below:
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However, rather than seeing the familiar results and layout, I was confronted with a dramatically different design and a new order of results.
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One of the biggest changes in this Universal Search experiment is that the embedded Google Map is placed along the right sidebar, pushing down AdWords advertisements. While that alone dramatically changes the look of the entire SERP, the other major difference is the integration of local/business directory listings into organic results.
Normally, for the search query “Washington DC Acura dealers,” Pohanka Acura is listed in the middle of the local listings portion of the page, but the dealer ranks first in the organic listings. Interestingly, within the test page above Pohanka Acura is listed first, and the listing itself contains the normal information found in the Google Places listing; e.g. address, phone number, and a flag indicating its placement on the adjacent Google Map.
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After doing a little research I found that local search expert Mike Blumenthal, quoted a Google spokesperson as confirming the layout test: “It is an experiment — we’re continually trying out new tweaks to a portion of our users.” While Google seems to be downplaying this design as a series of mere “tweaks,” could this experiment be a sign of what’s to come?
If this new layout comes to fruition, it could have a tremendous effect on a car dealer’s local and organic listing. As seen in the example above, Pohanka Acura was even more prominent in the experiment. This could be due to a new algorithm that takes both the local and organic listings into account, possibly giving a little more weight to the organic listing. This also proved to be the case when conducting several other searches such as Boston Infiniti Dealers. In this particular search, Infiniti of Norwood not only had the top position, they also held #2.
While there’s no evidence to suggest Google’s new experimental local search results are a sure thing, one substantial weakness might be inferred from this testing. If you’re missing either a strong organic ranking or a strong local listing strategy, you may be negatively affected by this potential design change.
These changes may be launched tomorrow, rolled out slowly over time, or they may not take effect at all. But one thing is for certain — having a properly optimized website and an optimized Google Places listing is important for getting more visibility in the SERPs. And, optimizing both will ensure that your dealership doesn’t get lost in the shuffle should this “test” become a reality.
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