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2016 Google Local Search Update

By Will McKenzie

Recently, the team at Upright learned about an update to the Google Local search results that will drastically effect local searches moving forward. When someone is looking for a business in their city to visit they will typically type phrases into Google that resemble “Cincinnati Dry Cleaning” or “Seafood in Cincinnati”. When the results for your search appear they will look like the image below which Google calls a “Snack Pack”:

localseach-snackpack

 

In Google’s current format they will include the top three businesses in the searched area to display within this Snack Pack. Ideally, your business will make it into the top three because these three will be seen by the most people, which is the ultimate goal of any businesses online marketing strategy.

So here is the update that could potentially throw a wrench in things, Google is now only going to include Two businesses in their Snack Pack along with One paid advertisement! This update will now make it even more difficult for businesses (even top 3 businesses on Google) to be seen as a top result in potential customers eyes. An example is below:

localsearch-ads

 

At Upright, we have been studying these changes, and even though we are not sure when Google will officially roll this update out, we will be ready to adapt to the changes. Let us know if you have any further questions about this future update or need help with any of your online marketing.