{"id":1599,"date":"2010-01-06T06:30:14","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T13:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2014-12-04T13:16:37","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T20:16:37","slug":"google-is-all-over-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Google is All Over the Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not!<\/p>\n

Well, technically they’re still\u00a0 “on the map”\u00a0 but the map is not showing up any more in Google searches.<\/p>\n

Yes, in case you missed the news,\u00a0 Google local map results are not being shown any more for web designers, for search marketing firms,\u00a0 or web hosting.<\/p>\n

Why? <\/strong>
\nIt’s still unclear, and to my knowledge, there’s been no definitive explanation from Google.<\/p>\n

As a local webhost \/ search marketer \/ developer, I’d like to point out that this sort of… well…\u00a0 sucks to be singled out, and to me it makes no sense.<\/p>\n

A Little History for Beginners<\/strong>
\nGoogle introduced local map results into the mix quite a while ago, and they’ve changed when and how they display several times.<\/p>\n

After PPC ads came along, searching for a local business showed like this –<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

About two years ago, they started showing a map, and either one or three results, when someone did a search that included a geographic target.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then in January of 2008,\u00a0they dramatically tripled the front page real estate<\/a> to show TEN results,\u00a0 although late last year they knocked that number back to just seven.<\/p>\n

\"\"(photos source<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Obviously this had the effect of pushing the organic search results even further down the page, below the PPC ads and below the map results, effectively making the number one organic spot appear in what is really the 14th position.<\/p>\n

The entire web marketing industry changed for local businesses, and a new niche was born, with a different set of ranking factors<\/a> almost completely unrelated to typical SEO.<\/p>\n

What’s Happening Now?<\/strong>
\nNearly two months ago, November 2009, they began to make some more changes<\/a>, and then suddenly were not showing ANY map results for “web design” when a city name was included.<\/p>\n

This was followed quickly by Web hosting, and they have now removed the map results from all SEO, and Internet marketing services type phrases too! Huh.<\/p>\n

On December 14th Brian, a Google employee noted on another thread<\/a> –<\/p>\n

…it looks like a lot of the recent search examples on this thread have to do with web design, SEO, and other services of that sort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that instead of being related to the original issue, Google.com doesn\u2019t bring up map results for these types of searches because the search term doesn\u2019t show much local intent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh really? There’s no local intent on a search for Portland web host?\u00a0 Puh-lease.<\/p>\n

On December 31, a Google employee caused quite a stir<\/a> when he said this:<\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re intentionally showing less local results for web design \/ SEO queries. For example, [web design sacramento] doesn\u2019t display local listings today.<\/p>\n

We believe this is an accurate representation of user intent. In some cases, we do show local listings, however (as NSNA\/php-er noted) [web design in bellingham].<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure some of you feel we should be displaying local results for queries like [Web Design Vancouver]. I understand that concern, but based on our understanding of our users, we feel this is the right decision for now.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But using “In” Counts? <\/strong>
\nBefore Joel from Google replied, someone pointed out that using the word “in” does trigger the maps, but Joel didn’t address that at all.<\/p>\n

Yes, it seems that by using the word “in”\u00a0 – a word that has pretty much been accepted as an SEO stop word<\/a> – users will trigger these drastic result changes.<\/p>\n

Will it’s use just affect Google maps, or will having “in” in your title tags now factor higher in organic listings?<\/p>\n

Perhaps that too,\u00a0 will be industry specific? sure would be nice to get a list of those industries? Unreal.<\/p>\n

Is this Fair? <\/strong>
\nThey don’t need to be “fair”, or even reasonable!\u00a0 Google can do whatever they want, and in this case, it sounds like they want just tell us “thanks and goodbye<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

If someone searches for “plumber Portland” or any one of hundreds of other products or services, they’re going to see local map results, but for Portland web hosting<\/a>, they’re not. That’s just the way it is.<\/p>\n

The fact that this could happen to any industry tomorrow is what’s the most frustrating, and does seem a bit unfair – not so much to us, the “evil industry”, but to the public, who rely on our interpretation and expertise?\u00a0 What are we, as industry professionals supposed to tell clients?<\/p>\n

Over the past year, we’ve been seeing local businesses pretty much ignore the organics, in favor of local efforts, but maybe they should just put\u00a0 “in”\u00a0 before every city name in their title tags? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I Think Google is Being Arrogant<\/strong>
\nIn 2007,\u00a0 I was at the Search Engine Strategies Local conference in Los Angeles, and during a Q&A, I asked John Hanke, the Director at Google Maps:\u00a0 “Besides having an address near the center of the zip code, what factors determine ranking in local search?<\/p>\n

Rather than give me anything useful, he appeared almost shocked that I would ask such a thing, and he actually said he “wasn’t there to give away\u00a0 Google algorithm secrets”! <\/em>(Not even at SES?)<\/p>\n

I was stunned, and some members of the audience\u00a0(who seemed to be mostly advertising executives and PPC managers)\u00a0laughed at my stupid question.<\/p>\n

Today,\u00a0there is a wealth of local search information<\/a> and search knowledge<\/a> like you can’t believe. The entire industry is making Google gazilionaires,\u00a0 and they want to treat us like this?<\/p>\n

Frankly, I think that Google is simply spitting in the face of the very industry<\/a> that helped build them up in the first place.<\/p>\n

The Teaching Moment<\/strong>
\nthe word, “it”\u00a0 – a word that most SEO’s have long treated as just an SEO stop word<\/a>, is now going to trigger these DRASTIC changes.<\/p>\n

However, This fact only applies to some industries, and that list is subject to change, although there IS no list you can see.<\/p>\n

Got it?<\/p>\n

Just like the weather here in Oregon, if you don’t like the way Google search works today,\u00a0 just wait a while because you can bet it’s going to change again, and probably soon.<\/p>\n

Note – In complete irony, this Monday’s snail mail contained a window decal and a letter from Google maps stating that I was a “favorite place” –\u00a0 which is now pretty much pointless!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they’re still\u00a0 “on the map”\u00a0 but the map is not showing up any more in Google searches. Yes, in case you missed the news,\u00a0 Google local map results are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,325],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google","category-local-places-maps"],"yoast_head":"\nGoogle is All Over the Map<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google is All Over the Map\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scott Hendison's Old Search Commander Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SearchCommander\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shendison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shendison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371\"},\"headline\":\"Google is All Over the Map\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1072,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/nolocal.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Google\",\"Local - Places - Maps\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/\",\"name\":\"Google is All Over the Map\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/nolocal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371\"},\"description\":\"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/nolocal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/nolocal.jpg\",\"width\":\"360\",\"height\":\"285\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/google\\\/google-is-all-over-the-map\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google is All Over the Map\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scott Hendison's Old Search Commander Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pdxtc.com\\\/wpblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371\",\"name\":\"Scott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/shendison\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Google is All Over the Map","description":"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Google is All Over the Map","og_description":"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/","og_site_name":"Scott Hendison's Old Search Commander Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SearchCommander","article_published_time":"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Scott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shendison","twitter_site":"@shendison","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/"},"author":{"name":"Scott","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/#\/schema\/person\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371"},"headline":"Google is All Over the Map","datePublished":"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/"},"wordCount":1072,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg","articleSection":["Google","Local - Places - Maps"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/","name":"Google is All Over the Map","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-06T13:30:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-04T20:16:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/#\/schema\/person\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371"},"description":"Google is all over the map\u00a0in the way it displays search results,\u00a0 but it looks like\u00a0 SEO, web-hosting, and web design are not! Well, technically they're","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/nolocal.jpg","width":"360","height":"285"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/google\/google-is-all-over-the-map\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Google is All Over the Map"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/","name":"Scott Hendison's Old Search Commander Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/#\/schema\/person\/3142c7d28dc676725ac62cd6c9de8371","name":"Scott","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba275e23c0aad37526141e715b54cd3eeac27b071e4395b2b39e801ca68355d6?s=96&r=g","caption":"Scott"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/shendison"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pdxtc.com\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}