So we have had the new roll out of the Google 7 Pack, and some updates to the local business centre and now we’re just waiting on the global roll out of their local ads.
It’s pretty clear that Google is sold that locally optimised listings are the way forward, and I can’t say I disagree with them. Providing they get it right that is!
A recent YouTube video by Matt Cutts supports the theory that Google will continue to drive more local based results on even quite generic terms that don’t include a city location with the query.
In the main local results then to show if you search for something with a location term included, for example “seo leeds” is a particular favourite of mine. However more and more you will start seeing the local business listings shown on broader generic keywords like restaurants, dentists and so forth.
Partly this is driven by users who are logged into their Google account, so Google can take advantage of understanding your location, search and browsing history and then show local results specific to your search query.
But moving forward this could also be driven based on IP tracking, so whether you are logged into Google or not, and whether you search based on a specific location or not you’ll start seeing a lot more local results.
I am all for this, but given the lack of accuracy with IP tracking I don’t see how Google can use local listings based on IP and hope to maintain highly relevant results. I regularly get results for Hull, when I am located in Leeds.
Only time will tell, but companies take note, LBL optimisation is becoming a critical part of the overall SEO process.