| Google today, October 27th totally revamped the way local search results are displayed. |
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As you can see The old 7 pack has gone and now the map has been moved over to the right hand column and the top local results listed down the center.
Paid ad’s (AdWords) are now more prominent due to their display location in Google Instant Search. This will make Adword/PPC much more competitive and expensive.
Reviews become much more important and visable.
In the new display, not only is Google showing how many reviews it has in its system, but it’s also featuring a variety of third-party sites (like Yelp, Insider Pages, etc.) and calling out exactly how many reviews are on those sites.
Building out your Google Place Page becomes more important.
While paid ads will replace the 7-pack for a number of local search queries, in cases where paid ads don’t appear or when the searcher scrolls down to see local listings … wow, the new display is like having a mini-version of your Place Page right there for the world to see. No extra click needed.
SEO becomes more important than ever
Google specifically says that there are no longer two separate algorithms — one for the local 7-pack and one for traditional search. It sounds, then, like traditional SEO factors will more heavily influence who shows up for local search queries … and Google will then apply the local data to create the search results.
